How to: diy short shifter

[voy89]

First of all I want to thank mX-MEN from www.mazdaspeed.pl (http://www.mazdaspeed.pl) for this idea, as he did this first.
I was searching mazda forums and came across cool idea of making my own and free short shifter that works the same or very similar as the one you would buy.
*this was done in mazda mx-3 and pictures are of a shifter from mx-3 also, but this will work in any car with manual tranny

so here's how you do it:

short istructions how to take out the shifter;
1.take off the shifter knob
2. take apart center console and take off shifter boot
3.get under the car and unscrew the shifter from bar that goes to transmission
4.take out the shifter with all bushings and rubber

then take a picture ar remember how the bushings go (2 plastic pieces, metal and rubber gasket and metal ring that holds everything) then take everything off.

now we can proceed to making stock shifter into short shifter.

heres how the shifter looks like with everything off
http://images43.fotosik.pl/71/d05471976303b748.jpg

measure length from end of that ball to middle of bushing(here 45mm)
http://images39.fotosik.pl/67/71b74d89a01c67a7.jpg

to get the short shifter effect you have to move the ball up, in this example 15mm was enough and I did the same but I've read that people moved it up to 25mm

now you have to get the ball down with a hammer or something because the diameter is too big to move it up.
http://images38.fotosik.pl/67/19f52c2f41e3c33d.jpg

then grind it so you can move ball to your desired height.

http://images41.fotosik.pl/67/91d9956c64769358.jpg

http://images40.fotosik.pl/67/2d25ada3964114d4.jpg

http://images37.fotosik.pl/67/a0a1a89807920b11.jpg

move ball up (15mm from original in this example)

http://images43.fotosik.pl/71/37a4e6ffc158d76e.jpg

this is how it looks after

http://images41.fotosik.pl/67/69c5db36c2f3256b.jpg

and ready to be put back where it was

http://images48.fotosik.pl/71/df38f99ccb092a6b.jpg

Note:
-this is for mx-3
in protege's there is no spring
-if you grinded too much and ball is too loose you will need to tack weld it in couple spots to keep ball in place

this is very easy to do, it takes couple hours with breaks for beer

I am very pleased of the end result. the shifts are nice and short.

here's liknk to the original post

http://forum.mazdaspeed.pl/viewtopic.php?t=34650
*** this site is in Polish so most of you will not understand it***

if you have any questions concerns or if you noticed that I missed something post or pm me.

[00bluees]

does the ball move on the pro/p5 shifter? if so i hadn't noticed. i was planning on just welding in an extra inch or so of bar stock the same diameter below the ball (or whatever measurment makes the same throws as a twm etc)

[voy89]

the ball will move but it's very tight so move it down first cuz it's easier and shorter distance to move, then grind a little so it can be moved up

[00bluees]

wicked i was not aware that it even moved. just assumed it was one solid cast piece or something.

anyone have a true short throw shifter they can measure up so i can make mine to similar specs?

[DuRWooD]

Nice, I already separated my two piece stock P5 shifter, I'll have to do this too.

[voy89]

wicked i was not aware that it even moved. just assumed it was one solid cast piece or something.

anyone have a true short throw shifter they can measure up so i can make mine to similar specs?

on twm site it says that it's 2'' height reduction

[00bluees]

on twm site it says that it's 2'' height reduction

yeh but thats not all in the ball location. most of that is just shorter on the top half.

[voy89]

i would say that if your shifter is stock height move the ball about 20-25mm up

[00bluees]

bump for a great free mod.

just did this today once i FINALLY got my shifter out of the car to replace the bushings.

flipped the shifter upside down in a bench vice around the shifter with the ball on top, put a drill bit with the same diameter as the hole in the base of the shifter through to prevent deformation and pounded the ball down hitting on the base of the shifter using a 4lb sledge. then using a bench grinder ground some of the shaft off above where the ball sat. flipped the shifter around in the vice, used a deep impact socket to go over the threads of the shifter so the impact would be on the socket on the top of the extension piece, pounded it down. then for good measure put a couple tack welds on the ball (not that it would move)

overall i moved mine a very scientific 17mm. :lol: it wouldn't move any more than that without starting over so i just tried it out. works great. no real noticeable height difference which is great for me, but a real noticeable difference in throw length. could have moved it more for a shorter throw, but i don't want a huge difference between my 2 cars or i'll misshift constantly when i go between cars.