MX-3.com

as some of you may know i just recently picked up a 92 mx3 with a kl-ze swap. the car seems ok but i just had one major concern...its hard as hell to shift this car, lol. like it doesnt really go into gear very easily at all. its like the shifter almost has to be forced into gear. sometimes however it is easier at times than others but i just dont understand why. i think the cars gotta short shifter, im almost 100% sure of that. but i dont think that woudl make it THAT hard to get into gear. anyone have any ideas or have the same issue?

I found all V6 MX-3's all pretty hard to shift into gear if you're not used to it, or if you're shifting from a really high RPM. I find that if you shift and rev-match it properly at like 3.8k or so you get a incredible fast and smooth shift with almost no change to the car's momentum. Maybe it has to do with the light-a-- flywheel I have from the original K8 that's preventing me from matching properly most of the time. But, I know that if I shift properly it will feel very good and solid and you won't need to force it.

cant help you out, this is my first car and the only standard car ive driven. But i dont feel it hard at all to shift, the only consiterable gear to shift into is 2nd on my car and thats it. all the rest i can easily shift into gear with say my pinky finger.

depending if it is an adjustable shifter it can be more difficult to shift into gear the lower it is adjusted. For me, mine are adjusted to an 75-80% reduced throw and some people who sit in my car find it hard to shift.

Also I've heard that the tranny being low on fluid can cause difficulty shifting...

The socket at the end of the two shift rods is a press fit over the ball/pivot assembly at the base of the shifter. It is held by two rubber keys. If there is excess wear or one of the keys has dried up and fallen apart, the shifter drops down 0.5 to 1" and becomes very stiff to operate. Try pulling up on the shift lever to see if it moves far. If it does, shifting should be easier, but you'll have to try to rebuild the damaged joint. I have a short shifter adjusted to the max, with a long shift rod for rallying. It shifts like silk, as long as the socket is not faulty.

First thing I would check would be to see if its a REAL short throw shifter and not a hack job. If you hack a stock shifter off so its shorter.. it will actually make it MUCH harder to shift. Its not changing the pivot point of the shifter only reducing the torque by shortening the lever so to speak. So.. take off the shift knob and take a look.. does it have threads? If the shifter has threads.. its a real short throw shifter. If the shift knob is held on by allen head set screws.. likely its a stock shifter just hacked off.

Tunes67

um, what Tunes67 said is right thats if the shifter was basically cut to be made shorter, however there are plenty of short shifters that are not threaded, so you gotta see how short in length it is and if it looks like if it was cut. another thing i want to add, Harder, is not Bad, mine started to shift real hard after i put my bushings in, well its not hard its firm and most ppl with old beat up manual car find it to be hard compared to what they have. i wouldnt worry about it unless its not going in or if its grinding.. you'll probably get used to it.