So i figured id start posting DIYs to help out our Canadian section instead of looking thru the archived stuff. Mods lmk if its all good.

So I have always been curious how a short shifter would feel in our cars, I have raced hondas, miatas and s2000 with short shifters and i was in love., heel and toe, and rev matching was butter.

Anymawho, i ran across a used authentic B&M short shifter (apparently these are discontinued) $100 shipped to my door.

Before you start, make sure your ebrake is UP or the wheels are Chalked/blocked!!! Dont be retarded and unsafe

B&M shifter assembly:



I cleaned out the old grease and decided to make sure the pivot ball, plastic inserts and springs were in good working non seized order:

Unscrew the four allen bolts on the black top cover and you get this:Make sure you take the cover off slowly, the springs are under a little bit of tension, no t enough to shoot all over the place but better safe then sorry:



Here are the springs with their bottom metal inserts: Clean them for the new grease:


Next out comes the shifter: After cleaning, this is all that you should have, not more, not less. Also clean the actual shifter housing and get rid of all the old grease. It also gives you a chance to make sure that there are no foreign debris in the housing that may cause it to bind:


I used wheel bearing grease for mine


shaft greased


insert the shaft in first, then followed by the springs with the metal round inserts on the bottom of the spring. The grease will help them stick to the bottom of the spring.


then install the black top cover:

I added more grease in after the cover was on.

Remove your center console to gain access to your shifter assembly:

 

Remove the 4 10mm bolts holding tunnel cover in place:


you get this:


Remove the 4 12mm bolts holding the stock shifter assembly in place. Have a rag ready as there will be a little bit of transmission fluid leaking as you remove the oem shifter assy. Also make sure u clean the silicone/rtv on the mating surfaces before dropping in the new one:




stock vs. B&M short Shifter:


Drop in your new shifter assembly, I made sure to keep the oem in neutral before i removed it to make it just a drop in affair. I also used some high temp RTV gasket between the new shifter assy. and the transmission.

Tighten the four bolts, and just reverse the removal steps of the covers to complete the install.

What i noticed immediately and obviously are the shorter throws, a little bit notchier (good to me) and less sloppy feeling. I will come back with a better review once i actually drive the car..lol.

Enjoy and happy shifting

 

sick nice write up

 

yeah nice write up, i have been looking for a sort shofter for a while, have not been able to fins anythign good only the ebay crap and i am not wating my time with that.

how does it feel?

hybrid

 

Wow, this is very nice write up, thx alot for the time and effort~

 

Nice write-up, I was going to order pettit's short-shifter over the winter, anyone else tried it?
I presently have the AFE in my 8 and love it, feels like a rifle bolt but a lot noisier that stock.

 

just note for everyone thinking of getting these, some rubbing issues on the right side could occur. search the forum. I had the same issue.

 

Nice write up man~

 

This is great. Id love it if we had our own DIY section. Keep it up for us newbies.
PK

 

nice write up mate, i just got a knock off b&m style shifter, and you pretty much explained everything, but i come across a problem, my knockoff shifter didnt come with a bush like the one on the ORIGINAL b&m pictured above.. where can i get the bush.. or can i just swap over the stock one

 

use the stock, AFAIK they dont come with the b&ms or knock-offs.

 

Great write up ! Just recently got a B&M style short shifter and this guide made it all the more easy to install : D

 

Glad I was able to help ya!

 

I have a mazdatrix short shifter in one gslse and a (banned forum vendor) short shifter in my other gslse. Both function the same, a shorter throw, little notchy and some shifter buzz in third and forth gear.

 

I installed and everything was fine, however there Is some play in the shifter. Any suggestions to stiffen it?

 

...Viagra! ... budump psh!

 

Great job mate. I want a mazdaspeed SShifter but the comments of SShifter owners talk of rattling and buzzing sounds would freakin irritate me. Hopeful there will be a fix or design that won't have a better than average chance of unwanted rattling.

Cheers!!!!

 

was the play present in your stock shifter?

I would check the bushing at the bottom of the shifter, its normal to have a little bit of play in the shifter. The only other way I can think of to stiffen the shifter (side to side play) is to maybe put on stiffer springs (the little ones on each side of the shifter ball) but i dont think those exist lol, unless you find something you can use.

I have no complaints with my shifter at all, no buzzing/rattling noted. Ive been very happy with mine so far.

 

yeah I just install my Cs shifter and it feels great..... to help with the slop i would suggest to check your shifter return spring as well as you shifter boots all 3 of them as well as your bushings you should be installing new bushings as well.


Hybrid

 

nice DIY write up!

 

+1 like a boss lol

 

hehe, he said shaft.

 

I just ordered a replica of BM from rx7 store. They say it doesn't come with any bushings so does that mean I have to get the little bushing on the bottoms of for shifters? My shifters is loose so I am trying to get all new bushings w the BM.

I don't see the thick aluminum nudging in the picture does that mean the BM won't need it since the BM comes with a "tower"? Thanks to anyone who knows

 

The short throw is much better. Highly recommend the swap.

 

Hi Kenspec and everyone,

I got a replica of BM short shifter from rx7store and tried to install it today but ran into a problem. As you can see from my pictures, it seems like my shifter tower is off to the right, which gives me problem gaining access to the two right tower bolts. It seems to be centered pretty well on yours so did you encounter this problem? I will try to get some rotating end extension rods from autostore tomorrow to see if any will fit but it concerns me because I don't know if my transmission is mounted off centered or something.

Anyone has any ideas?

Also, the little bushing on the end of the shifter was completed gone and I only retrievedn two tiny little broken pieces from the tranny itself, so I think tranny had already ate the rest of it. Would this cause problems?

Thanks