hey everyone,

with my past two cars... a 1974 duster and a 2004 saleen focus, it was possible to do a certian mod on both of them that i did. what i did was took the shifter out, cut it with a hack saw/band saw and then rethreaded the stalk with a die. i already have the m10/1.5 die needed to do this. what i was wondering was is this possible with this car and if anyone has donbe it yet. the reason i ask is that the portion under the threads is tapered and a completely different thicvkness than the threaded part and im questioning whether you can rethread this shifter at all. any and all advice would be greatly appreciated.

-seth-

 

you're best bet would be to cut a section out and reweld it back together so you can keep the tapered portion intact.

 

Whats the shifter made out of? Aluminum?

 

I think they're steel. I'll have to play with my stock shifter on of these nights to know for sure.

 

i would suggest forgetting the threads and going for a using a universal shift knob, you can play around with different sizes of vacuum hose and similar things to use to keep it from spinning around

 

o yeah the shift lever is aluminum

 

Hate to burst your bubble, but by simply cutting the shift rod your not affecting the geometry of the angel thus having no affect on the actual shift.

In short your not making it a short throw shift by cutting it.

so as to stop any doubts in what is obvious...

What is a Short Shifter

 

i am not looking for shortening the throw i am looking to shorten the shifter so that the knob is in a morer cpmfortable position for me. doing this will be doing the same thing that using a countersunk knob will... but ill still be able to keep the aluminum sport knob that i love.

 

How much lower did you want the shift knob to sit? The mugen shifter will drop the shift knob height about an 1"...

 

Are you talking about the OEM shift knob? If so, you can drill it out and drop it about 1.5-2 inches.

 

im talking about the optional aluminum shift knob

 

Not quite. The length of the arc that the shifter knob has to move is ultimately what you want to reduce. You can do this by either/both of:

a) Shortening the shift rod (and/or using a countersunk shift knob that lowers the knob height). This keeps the same shift angle, but the length of the shift arc is reduced.

b)Reducing the shifter angle(installing a 'short shifter') This reduces the angle, which also reduces the arc of the shift.

Most short shifter kits do both to get max reduction in shift throw(arc) length, but you can reduce the throw(arc) simply by lowering the postition of the shift knob.

The link above mentiones this too, in that their product combines both a reduced angle (short shifter) and a shorter shift knob. Doing either will reduce the amount your hand has to move. Doing both maximizes the gain.

Extract from the quoted link above (my bolding):

"In many cases, the shifter shaft is also re-designed to be shorter than stock thus creating a sportier look and feel, as well as aiding in reducing the linear throw length when coupled with the reduced angular throw. "

 

i thought somebody has cut the shifter already and done this...am i wrong? i thought i read about it on here about a year ago. can't remember who did it.

 

i tried it a few days ago but the die jammed as soon as it hit the taper

 

You might want to look into a countersunk shift knob that will just go lower. I also got the optional aluminum shift knob, but just wanted it to go lower too. Being lazy, I just ended up getting a different knob.

I settled on the team voodoo shift knob, which is also aluminim, but it's round (about 2" ball if I remember right"). It lowers the shift height about 1" or so, and weighs about the same, or just slightly more, than the Honda aluminum knob. About $40, and I really love it, even more than the Honda aluminum knob.

If you can get into an S2000, it's about (maybe exactly) the same size as that one - just wanted to float another option....