what are they? what do they do? and why shouldn't i make my super uber mega ultra crazy bionic mecha jedi frankenstein voltron alien shifter?

 

Syncros are a system that uses rings that go around a sloped surface on the actual gear. When you move the shifter these rings, which are grooved inside, start to slip over this sloped surface causing the gear to match the speed of the gear you are going to engage. This lets the gears match speed before engaging so there is no need to speed match using driving techniques. It prevents amateur drivers from "grinding" the gears. This is just a simple explanation as there are more parts involved but simply they match speeds of gears for you.

Your super maniac shifter Frankenstein would work BUT you may have to raise the shifter body a bit more than the Skunk2 bushings or you may bottom out on the floorboards. The problem comes from the shift throw being so short and the mechanical advantage of using an extended lever below the fulcrum point you exert much greater mechanic advantage. When using this new longer lever and the shifter changes gears you COULD overpower the syncros because of of the greater mechanical advantage. You actually FORCE the syncros onto the forcing cone BEFORE it would normally moved using the normal shifter. Your arm puts much more force into the moving parts and you may force the syncros TOO FAR onto the forcing cone. Moving the syncros too fast and too far is the problem because it causes advanced syncros wear.

The simple way to say all that is think that you are now Frankenstein and you are much more strong than your normal puny self and you yank the shifter it will end up being TOO HARD AND FAST AND THAT CAUSES THE SYNCROS TO TAKE A BEATING. If you do you mods just try not to bang the shifts too hard and your syncros will last as long as normal.