juddz

The Sparco logo **** (early 03 MSP) is not threaded. It has an allen screw in the side, that you tighten that down to snug it up to the shift lever. Nearly all aftermarket ***** are like this.

Doh! You coulda had a Sparco **** in your car....

meGrimlock

i am using an aftermarket **** now and i have to keep tightening the screws w/ the dinky allen wrench. the dealer told me the mazdaspeed **** would be an exact fit (which i prefer), however, i did not see any screws to tighten it down.

http://www.finishlineperformance.com...&preadd=action

this is the pic, and coincidentally the same dealership! though it doesnt go for $39, the lowest they let me have it for was $47.
-meGrimlock

juddz

Hey,
For those interested in the 03.5 MSP ****, Grimlock is right - it won't thread on due to the threads being higher up in the ****. But, I found a cheap & easy solution for this when I put mine on. I went to Home Depot, and bought a variety of 1/2" nylon spacers. They fit tight over the threads, and as you thread them on, the spacer near the bottom will expand as it tries to make it around the taper. Tightened just right, the **** will fit nice and snug over these spacers. You should plan on leaving the top 1/4" of the threads exposed, however. Coat the threads and the rest of the rod with vaseline. Then, put some thick epoxy or adhesive into the ****. When cured, this adhesive will form new threads in the ****. The vaseline will act as a barrier, so it won;t adhere to the threads/ post. After this, you'll be able to take it on/ off again easily, and it will stay in place.

Other options would be to replace the shifter with a short shifter for MSP, but then we are just adding more money to a simple problem. Or, you could remove the boot and file down the counterbalance on top of the shifter, to effectively "lengthen" the threads, but this takes time and a lot of filing.

My cheap and dirty solution ought to cost about five bucks to do.

macdaddyslomo

ahhh...or you could do it right and get the MSP shifter to go with the ****...then not only will you look cool, and not have this new **** sticking WAY out,but it wont feel like driving a pickup truck anymore either...I bought an MP3 shifter and **** and BOY it made a difference...I couldnt be happier

juddz

.... that would have required additional patience, to wait for another week to order and recieve the shifter! When it's eight o'clock on a work night, and you WANT IT DONE RIGHT NOW for no rational reason, what else are you going to do?

It's not too tall for me, about the same as it was with the stock **** (which I find to be ergonomically correct and comfortable for my lanky proportions). In the end, it worked out okay, looks and feels great, and I'm definitely satisfied with the results! Pickup truck? Man, I only wish my old Ranger had a slush box this sweet. Damn, I'n not sure if that wasn't an oar that I used to shift that old POS.