Short Shifter?
 

I forgot to add this to my last thread.
the shifter on ny car feels like I am changing gears on a bus, too damned long. is there a short shifter kit available form an aftermarket company?

Thanks Ro

P.S. how do I get a picture of my car on my Signature?

yes, both kartboy and B&M make them, and alot of people have them . i myself have the b&m, but my brother had the kartboy. i really like them both and they give the car a great feel. either way you will be happy with them. kartboy also makes bushings, which i recomend installing along with the short shift kit. it'll take all the slop out of the shifter. i think www.nopionline.com has the bnm and the kartboy can be bought from www.kartboy.com . thats where we got our shifters. www.srmotorsports.com also makes one, but i dont think anybody really knows much about it, and ive never run into anybody who has one. hope that helps

www.twmperformance.com also makes them. They seem to be really nice and include ball bearings for the shift linkage, but the kit is a bit more expensive than the others ($150 with the bearings). Also the MP3 kit is the lowest and shortest I have seen yet. The only difference between the MP3 and Pro5/Protege shifters are the threads. Also the MP3 one has a lower neck to fit a taller shift knob. I will be ordering mine very soon and I will let you know how it turns out...

Thanks
 

Thanks For all your help guys

i know im kinda bringing this back from the dead.....

i have a great deal on the kartboy shifter/bushing/knob here

You can always remove the exstension that is on there from the factory, rethread the top of the shifter, and reinstall your knob, its free and is just like the MP3, the MP3 has a tall shift knob too and the first Protege5 knobs look even lower

But that does nothing to reduce the throw of your shifts...

exactly, i dont know why people even bother to do that.
that is one thing that i think is VERY rice, and i dont think much is.

the other ricer thing: 5 in exhaust, but not even full catback, just to be noisy

anyways, back to topic, removing the extension makes the shift knob lower, but does not reduce the throw, which is the main point of a short shifter.

i am sorry if i seem dumb here, but how would lowering the height of your shifter NOT reduce the throw? that doesn't make sense...

by lowering the height of the shifter, your hand would travel less distance to go from one gear to the next, thus "shortening your throw"... so am i missing something here, or did i misread your email?

You are correct, MP3wannabe and KYEDPR5 are not, although they kind of are...

lowering the shift height will reduce the throw. If you shift by grabbing the lowest part of the shifter you can, by grabbing way down on the shaft, you will not have to shift the lever as far as if you grab the top of the knob (that sounds too sexual). Think of it this way: If the stock shifter was 2 feet longer on top, you would need to move it a lot longer than the normal shifter you have now, if you are grabbing the endpoint of each...

Aftermarket short throw shifter have a longer section under the pivot point, which shortens the "throw" even more. It is ignorant to not realize that even aftermarket short throw shifters have a shorter top section too, which helps to reduce the throw as well. So the aftermarket companies do it in two ways...You will reduce the throw by hacking the extension off, just not as much as if you went with a aftermarket piece...

Carefull dude, you are the one that is confused...

Your hand moves less yes. But the shifter linkage moves exactly the same distance as it did before. It does not make you shift any faster. Your hand will move faster but that is all that will be faster. Just think about it. Your only making the shift require more effort.

by removing the extension you need more force to shift, because you now have less leverage to move the same amount of mass. think back to your 8th grade science class, and simple machines, if you move the focal point toward your hand, the top half doesnt need to move as much to have same effect.

take a pen, and balance the middle on your finger or something on your desk. move one end and see how far the other moves, now move the pen to the left, but leave your finger or whatever where it is. notice how much less you have to move the right end to get the same effect on the left. now take you pen and remove whatever sections ou can, and place it back to the original balance point, move the shorter end, with the other end stil long, it doesnt move as far as easily does it?

you can also simulate this by grabbing your shifter down towards the bottom of the shifter. notice that it is alot harder to get it in gear.

So what exactly is the point of getting these kits then?

a short shift kit moves the fulcrum (i think thats the right word) to a position that gives you a much shorter distance for the knob to travel, but a similar amount of effort. it allows you to shift quicker because you dont need to move the shifter as far.