What if I...

ScooterBovine · Post by **ScooterBovine** » August 22nd, 2005, 5:26 pm

What if I decided to take a hack saw and cut my shifter shorter... Instead of forking over a little bit of money to pay for a proper short shifter.

What are the cons of this? How much will it affect my shifting? Is there that much of a difference between doing this and buying a real short shifter?

relisys_3200 · Post by **relisys_3200** » August 22nd, 2005, 5:57 pm

when I got my car the previous owner did that to it and let me tell you...it sucked balls. It made for an annoying shift because I still had to reach pretty far to grab it and then pull it a long way down. It doesnt make the throw any different. I can personally tell you that a short shifter is 100% the way to go over just cutting you existing one.

ScooterBovine · Post by **ScooterBovine** » August 22nd, 2005, 6:34 pm

Ah ha! That must be why I am confused. What exactly is "throw"? I thought it was just the height of the shifter itself.

relisys_3200 · Post by **relisys_3200** » August 22nd, 2005, 6:42 pm

a "throw" refers to the actual distance between gears. The short "throw" shifters reduce the shifting distance between gears wereas just cutting the shifter still has the same stock distance.

ScooterBovine · Post by **ScooterBovine** » August 22nd, 2005, 6:45 pm

Ahhhhhhhhh! I get it now. Excellent. Then I will just save up for a short shifter. Pacesetter seems to be one of the nicer ones... I heard the eBay ones snap under heavy shifting or something.

fry_81 · Post by **fry_81** » August 22nd, 2005, 7:06 pm

ya, ive seen a few people cut the shifter to make it shorter, but your still shifting the same distance. if you want to make your own short shifter, what you do is, remove the shifter and weld an extension between where it mounts and to where it hooks into the linkage.

solo_ryder · Post by **solo_ryder** » August 22nd, 2005, 7:11 pm

haha i choped my old one and it worked better. The lower you go thought he harder it is to shift between gears.. I got a ebay short shifter now and it works ok

2fazed · Post by **2fazed** » August 22nd, 2005, 11:55 pm

I compared my Pacesetter to the stock shifter, and it's only a couple of inches difference. If you can heat up and move the ball on the stock shifter, than it would be exactly the same as the Pacesetter.

ScooterBovine · Post by **ScooterBovine** » August 23rd, 2005, 12:50 am

I want my short shifter to end up pretty low... What should brand should I get to accomplish this goal?

solo_ryder · Post by **solo_ryder** » August 23rd, 2005, 12:53 am

all short shifters I have seen are pretty high, like the one I got was almost as high as the stock one....TWS makes a really good short shifter, if you have the money go for that.. Here is some more :

http://corksport.com/tab0.4/store/categ ... train.html

jschrauwen · Post by **jschrauwen** » August 23rd, 2005, 1:31 am

The difference lies within the change in the pivot point on the shifter. The difference in the relative distance from the centre of the ball in the shifter boot to the center of the shifter rod connector linkage (bottom side of car near cat) is how much of a difference is going to be made to give you that short throw feel and effect. Some manufacturers may have different distances bwtween these 2 points (centre of pivot ball and centre of shifter arm connector point) to give that variation in short throw feel.

Keira · Post by **Keira** » August 24th, 2005, 12:59 am

I have a question, like always.

Does it feel different when you use a short shifter? Does it take some time to adjust to using it.
and...
What is the difference between adjustable and non adjustable ones? Are they worth while and can you adjust the height and the throw?

PATDIESEL · Post by **PATDIESEL** » August 24th, 2005, 1:41 am

A shprt shifter does take some time to get used to, but a day or two at most. Usually the learnging is in the knowing which gear you are in b/c it sits differently.
The adjustable ones are height adjustable, but when you adjust the heigth it adjusts the throw at the same time. Like J said, when you move the pivot point up on the lever then the throw is shorter and so is the heigth. The adverse effect is that the lower the shifter and shorter the throw the harder it will be to shift gears. That it what makes a shifter a lever, it's ability to take the amount of force needed to move it and make it less through "Leverage". Simple physics.

So I bought a adjustable Pacesetter and love it. I disconnected the exhaust and played with the heigth untill I found the balance I wanted between throw and force needed to change gears, then reconnected the exhaust. (mind you I didn't drive much with the exhaust disconnected)

projectmx · Post by **projectmx** » August 24th, 2005, 11:24 am

actually cutting the shifter itself shorter does make the shift shorter (by a small degree only) and if cut to the correct hieght makes it easy to get ahold of... mine i cut down and now i rest my arm on the center council and my hand falls directly on the shifter ... looks great and shifts nice... i'll still probably eventually do a real short shifter but i am working on my bp swap first

relisys_3200 · Post by **relisys_3200** » August 24th, 2005, 4:36 pm

mazda78 wrote:actually cutting the shifter itself shorter does make the shift shorter (by a small degree only) and if cut to the correct hieght makes it easy to get ahold of... mine i cut down and now i rest my arm on the center council and my hand falls directly on the shifter ... looks great and shifts nice... i'll still probably eventually do a real short shifter but i am working on my bp swap first

I may be missing something here but how does cutting it shorter make it a shorter shift at all?? I can see the convience factor, but without touching the linkage.....how is it a shorter shift?