Ok, so my girl gave me my christmas present early, a mazdaspeed short throw shifter from RX7.com.

So originally I had been looking up the B&M due to the fact that I kept hearing that there were issues with rattling on the Mazdaspeed replicas. So my girl contacts a few places and finds out the B&M is discontinued, but looks up the mazdaspeed unit. She asked about the rattling issues and they assured her that they fixed a tolerancing issue that is typical with the replicas, so no more rattling.

So she ordered the unit form me and I managed to install it yseterday. Install was easy, pretty much pull out the old shifter and put the new pieces in with the spacer (make sure to read the instructions, as I can see someone placing the spacer on there wrong and throwing off the install). Install was pretty easy after I figured it out.

At first I thought I has installed it wrong because I couldn't find first or second gear, I could only find 3rd, 4th, 5th, and reverse. After a few minutes I realized that 1st and second were there, but the pull to the left between 1st and 3rd is very small, so small you have to re-orient yourself to the new position.

THe shfting with this unit is firmer, you definately do have to put a little extra effort into the shift, but its already beginning to loosen up a bit (put about 40 miles with med level shifting on back roads).

The unit is extremely smooth though, and you can audibly hear the *snickt* sound I have been looking for but didn't realize I had been looking for. I am extremely impressed with this unit. Honestly, with this little change, the driving feel feels completely different, I kind of wished the car came this way.

And oddly enough, I drove around with the unit at different rpms with the music off to listen for a rattle, and at times I thought I did hear something, but it was so faint I couldn't tell if it was me just making things up or if it was an actual sound. Considering the fact I usually drive with the music on, this is not going to be an issue.

Overall, extremely impressed with this unit. Definitely recommended.

 

I thought the rattling complaints were mostly for the B & M styled design, not the Mazdapeed/Pettit/rx7store styles. I do hear slightly more gear noise through my Pettit, which I attibute to the shaft not being isolated in rubber as the OEM shaft is. But it's pretty minor and with no rattling.

 

There are various shifters iv had and all of them have rattled in 3 of my FD's...someone somewhere said the rattle is car specfic and not shifter specific

 

Hey Guys,

Ok, so a couple of days in and the shifter has settled in nicely, it's a little easier to shift now, and still have a very nice *snickt* when shifting.

So the rattling has popped up, it is very mild, and with the music on even on low, you can't hear it, the only time I can hear it is when the car is in high rpm and the music is off and I'm not on the gas (engine quiet). No complaints about the rattling though, I can deal with it.

I think I know where the rattling is coming from though, and why it's car specific.

So when you look at the short shift kit, after you pull out the old shifter and all the necssaryold components, the first new component you put in is this collar/spacer that acts as the new base for the shifter. Now this collar basically fits around the old pin for the old shifter (shift point) and sits in the old shifter housing. Now there is an extremely tight tolerance between the collar and the housing as well as the pin. The collar isheld in place vertically from loads applied by the new wave washers and new bushings, but there is nothing preventing it from shifting side to side and "clicking" against the inside of the shifter housing and the pin. Different cars have different tolerancing, so dependant on the slight difference in tolerance of the housing from car to car, the rattling is different from car to car,

So I think that's where your rattling is coming from, that collar vibrating against the old pin and housing. Now if you wanted to get rid of the rattle, you could place a thin rubber sheath around the collar, or put some silicone between the collar and housing, but you run the risk of the tranny oil breaking down the rubber/silicone and those silicone piece now being in your tranny oil, to be honest, the best bet would probably be a machined thin ringe of plastic that would squeeze in between the collar and the housing, but that would be car specific, so you'd have to really do it for your own car.

Just some thoughts.