Rittmeister
10-07-2009, 09:53 PM
Don't know if anyone will be at all interested, but here's what I came up with...
The gist of my thinking, over the last five years: I don't like short shifters in this car (too notchy/high effort or they leak fluid) and the stock shifter is rubbery because it's made of rubber. There's also the expense: B&M or Nismo $220, Attain or Uras $180, C's and Tomei unobtainable. Screw that noise. Yeah, I know they're less expensive used, but still, screw that noise.
The solution is a little cutting and welding away. Years ago I made a B13 shifter by cutting a section out of the stock shifter shaft and re-joining the top to the bottom, resulting in a shifter that was a few inches shorter than stock but retained the stock pivot geometry. Purists will bitch that this isn't a true short shifter but anyone who's had high school math will acknowledge that by shortening the lever arm you're also shortening the arc through which the end of the arm travels. Take that, purists!
I decided to do something similar with a stock S13 shifter. First, I burned/drilled out the rubber crap in the middle, and was left with this:
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c88/kwstine1/IMG_2472.jpg
This shaft is 15mm in diameter. I cut off the top portion of the rest of the shifter, only to find that it's 14mm diameter and I couldn't join them together the way I did the B13 shifter (which was to slip a copper pipe over the joint and use it as a coupler, with some epoxy to hold it all together. Don't laugh, it never broke). I also realized that the little stub of the top wasn't really long enough for the knob to thread onto.
So, I picked up a stock B13 shifter and used the top portion of that instead. This gave me the length I needed but didn't solve the diameter-difference problem, so I found a local guy to weld it for me. Total cost, $20.
Left-to-right: B&M lever (removed from housing to check length), stock, and my new custom shifter.
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c88/kwstine1/IMG_2540.jpg
The result is a lever maybe 1.5" shorter than stock, without the stupid rubber stuff. Total overall length ended up at 10.25". I shot it with primer and paint to keep it from rusting, and installed it earlier. It feels VERY positive, without the notchiness and high effort associated with the short-shifters.
I don't know if this will benefit anyone but there's the info. Comments appreciated.
The gist of my thinking, over the last five years: I don't like short shifters in this car (too notchy/high effort or they leak fluid) and the stock shifter is rubbery because it's made of rubber. There's also the expense: B&M or Nismo $220, Attain or Uras $180, C's and Tomei unobtainable. Screw that noise. Yeah, I know they're less expensive used, but still, screw that noise.
The solution is a little cutting and welding away. Years ago I made a B13 shifter by cutting a section out of the stock shifter shaft and re-joining the top to the bottom, resulting in a shifter that was a few inches shorter than stock but retained the stock pivot geometry. Purists will bitch that this isn't a true short shifter but anyone who's had high school math will acknowledge that by shortening the lever arm you're also shortening the arc through which the end of the arm travels. Take that, purists!
I decided to do something similar with a stock S13 shifter. First, I burned/drilled out the rubber crap in the middle, and was left with this:
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c88/kwstine1/IMG_2472.jpg
This shaft is 15mm in diameter. I cut off the top portion of the rest of the shifter, only to find that it's 14mm diameter and I couldn't join them together the way I did the B13 shifter (which was to slip a copper pipe over the joint and use it as a coupler, with some epoxy to hold it all together. Don't laugh, it never broke). I also realized that the little stub of the top wasn't really long enough for the knob to thread onto.
So, I picked up a stock B13 shifter and used the top portion of that instead. This gave me the length I needed but didn't solve the diameter-difference problem, so I found a local guy to weld it for me. Total cost, $20.
Left-to-right: B&M lever (removed from housing to check length), stock, and my new custom shifter.
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c88/kwstine1/IMG_2540.jpg
The result is a lever maybe 1.5" shorter than stock, without the stupid rubber stuff. Total overall length ended up at 10.25". I shot it with primer and paint to keep it from rusting, and installed it earlier. It feels VERY positive, without the notchiness and high effort associated with the short-shifters.
I don't know if this will benefit anyone but there's the info. Comments appreciated.