I just bought an FD a few months ago and the first thing i noticed when i first started driving my car was how stiff it was to shift between gears. I have driven another FD and noticed the same thing. I was use to driving honda's and subi's with how smooth the shifter was, but this was kind of a concern to me. The tranny seems to work fine, but is this how a normal FD tranny shifter is supposed to feel? Thanks

 

What do you mean by stiff? Mine is just a little notchy but that might be the short shifter. My TKO600 on my corvette was a real bitch to shift till it wore in.

 

FD's can be notchy with a short shifter, but the stock shifter is actually pretty smooth. Check the shifter bushing and make sure you have some tranny fluid in that shifter reservoir just to be sure, otherwise just get used to it.

 

Yea notchy seems to describe it better, and yes i did forget to mention that it has a mazdaspeed short shifter. But i didnt think that it was going to cause it to feel that way.

 

the mazdaspeed shifter is notorious for being notchy and rattling a lot. Short shifter are just that way, but if you'd like ill trade you straight across for my stock one