MX-3.com

Hey everyone...I was wondering if anyone has purchased any make of short shifter kits for the mx3? This week-end the rubber bushing where my stick shift holds into at the floor fell through..
To order a new one from mazda is like 100 and to order the short shifer one is only 50 bucks more. Just wondering if it makes a difference and if it came with the rubber bushing?

I just intalled a B&M short shifter. At the same time I had bronzoil bushings put in as well. The shifting is a lot tighter now and requires a good deal more force (strength).
Steve

to fix your problem your gonna need to buy a new shift linkage<p>buying a short throw shifter wont fix it<p>the part should be about 150 bucks thru mazda

I just took 2" off the top with a hacksaw. It's a little stiffer to shift, but not enough to complain about.

your shifter lever isn't the problem, its the shifter arm that physically bolts to the transmission. There are two rods, one is the shifter rod which is connected to your shifter that is used to actually move the shift forks in and out of gear, and then there is the shifter arm which is what the shifter lever is encased in. <p>the stupid rubber on the shifter arm over time deteriorates causing the whole assembly to fall through the floor and ride on the exhaust. this happened to my Protege.<p>I ended up going to the junkyard, and pulling a shifter arm off of a 93 323. They charged me $15 for it and it has held up so far. but i've only had it installed for 2 months so far. <p>
Good luck!! BTW mazda charges like 150 for that assembly new. But used ones from junkyards might be a good bet as long as you test them out before hand (push on the top of the shifter to see if the whole thing falls through, if it seems solid, pull it!). <p>BTW: this is a common occurence of early 90's late 80's mazda cars...they all had this RETARDED design for their shifters. The new mazdas still do, but they have a supporting bar thing that keeps it from falling if it DOES deteriorate...it just hangs on a rubber bushing instead.<p>Good luck !

here is a pic of the "arm" i'm talking about. it pushes up into the metal plate that is bolted to the cars floor. the shifter goes on top of it and the shifter rod is bolted to the bottom of the shifter lever (but both of those ar'net pictured)<p><p>and BTW disregard the text I put about the bushings. This picture was illustrating these bushings I'm selling through a company (they are the same bushings SRD performance sells).

I got that piece from a dealer brand new for like $90...