RiceWagon:

what is the size of the left over piece? is it the same diameter as the extension piece that came off? i would want to re-thread the shifter so that i could use the stock knob or get a VooDoo knob. VooDoo knobs are made for Miata's, but will fit a Protege. however they are threaded so as to provide a better fit.

You do realize that you are just shortening the shift lever, not the shift throw by removing the extension from the top of the lever right? You would need to cut the short piece between the ball pivot and where the shift rod bolts to the shift lever, and weld an .5" to .75" extension over the two sides to reduce the shift throw.

Short throw shifter???
 

Hey guys... I drove my buddies WRX yesterday...it was nice, but now I MUST have a better feeling shifter :doh: The gearbox on the WRX is AWESOME. Anyway...the question is...What short shifter options are there out there? I heard that the Pacesetter short-shifter for the 95 Protege will work...is this just BS or is it true?
Thanks for any input on this.:blue:

TRI-Point enginering makes one. Supposed to be really good !

The manual transaxle equipped 1st, 2nd and 3rd gen Proteges all use the same shifter. There are Pacesetter and B&M shifters available that fit. The B&M short throw shifter (#45079) is listed as fitting the '89-'99 Ford Escort ZX-2 & '92-'97 Mazda MX-3. It will fit any Protege model, I currently have this shifter installed in my '00 ES. Pacesetter has an adjustable throw short shifter (#01-0610) is listed as fitting the '92-'95 Mazda Protege and '92-'97 Mazda MX-3. It will also fit any Protege. You can also modify the stock shifter to reduce the throw and height of the shifter. At least one Protege owner has done this and posted excellent instructions earlier in this thread. The B&M shifter replaces the stock bushings at the shift levers pivot point with its own built in assembly. This may be more precise than the stock nylon? bushings. There are replacement bronzeoil bushings available from Corksport to replace the stock shifter bushings which should help.

How do you like the B&M? Has anyone heard anything about the Pacesetter? If I get the B&M, should I also get the Bronzoil(?)bushings even though it has its own assembly? I dont want to do the shortened shifter mod...car is too new to start ripping things off..I would rather just replace the shifter assembly with a better one.
Thanks:bt:

I think the B&M shifter is great. I like the shorter throw and height of the shifter. I added a MazdaSpeed carbon fiber shift knob from Corksport. You can't use the bronzeoil shifter bushings with the B&M shifter, that's the point of the built in aluminum pivot. It's very precise and requires a little getting used to the slightly increased effort due to the shorter height of the lever.

are there any drawbacks to getting a short throw shifter?
-does it wear out anything faster? etc. ?!

does it just shorten the distance between gears you hafta move it AND the length of the shifter? or does it just shorten the shifts?


thanks!

more questions and an assumption...
 

Would that even be possible without a whole lot of work on the linkage side of things?

As I undestand how the simple short throw conversions work, you are just changing the length of the arm above the pivot point and thus reducing the required linear distance at the tip of the fulcrum that you need to complete the same arc on the other side. This would be why the short throws require a little more elbow grease to shift the gears.

If my assupmtion above is correct, then what you are simply doing is shortening the required linear distance between shifts. I recall reading that one of the other side effects of this is that, even though it requires a little more force to do, you can move the shifter faster from gear to gear. One of the side effects of that is that you do not allow your synchronizers in the transmission as much time to do what they need to do and they tend to get worn a little more quickly.

With the short throw shifter I would imagine that there is a little more finesse required when moving quickly from gear to gear.

I am sure that I am missing something about how these mods work... so I'll wait for someone to fill me in.... thanks:bt:

All aftermarket short throw shifters I'm aware of shorten both the height of the lever above the pivot, and lengthen the lever below the pivot. The short throw shifter should not wear anything out any quicker than stock if you shift the same. Short throw shifters shorten the shift throw by lengthening the shifter below the pivot point, reducing the height of the shift lever above the pivot doesn't affect the throw length nearly as much, and is usually done for a sportier appearance.

Removing estension on P5 shifter...
 

Before starting the task, I'd like a bit more info :

1- Can somebody post pictures of the procedure

2- Can someone explain why there are no more threads left on sticks coming out of the floor once you remove the extension ?

3- Why can't we reinstall the original knob on the shortened stick?

Re: Removing estension on P5 shifter...
 

I think your second question answers your last one.:D

I only have one stick coming out of my floor :p ...and the extension is glued to it with industrial strength adhesive, not screwed on.

Pretty good answers...
 

...I think I'll ask the fellow at our machining shop to machine me a threaded sleeve, or I'll thread myself the main stick. Any pictures anyone ? I would appreciate ....

somebody actually wrote up a .doc file with pictures in one of the yahoo based boards on how to modify your stock shifter - i couldn't find it @ protegetech or mp5online.com's yahoo section ... i think i saved it to my hard drive but i can't seem to find it either.

if i find it, i will post it or a link to it later on tonite.

sorry!

k, found the .doc on my computer but don't have any webspace to host it or upload it to - i tried the yahoo group @ protegetech but it said something about not having enuf space alloted to upload the file. the .doc is actually written by a protege5 owner though - so us sedan owners might be left out.

once again, it's not written by me, i just found it somewhere - can't remember where. all the applause goes to the anon. author until he/she speaks up!

send me an email to jowett@email.com and i can attach it to the reply i send you. it's only ~170kb and it's pretty thorough with about 4 or 5 pictures in it!

if the author wants me to stop, i will! :dunno: