Not as dirty as it sounds im afraid.

I was just wondering if there would be any problems with cutting the gear stick on my manual down to a more manageable size??

it seems like a really easy job which just means that i havent thought of all the problems yet, has anyone else done this and what problems (if any) did you encounter??

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Kieran

i wouldnt recommend doing it urself, unless your a great welder

you can buy a short shifter kit from a few places. i forget who makes them now, i think rpw is one, and someone on here is in the process of mass production

i hate this problem LOL.

you could take it to a machine shop and get them to cut it down and put a new thread on to screw the knob onto. shouldn't cost too much (cheaper than a short shifter) and will have the same affect as a short shifter (anyone that disagrees needs a physics lesson)

leave it alone

aside from a slightly longer throw a longer shifter is a million times better! seen inside a rally car? the shifter is giant and almost steering wheel height


my car has a silly short shifter (stock) and its stupid, i wish it were taller

i hate this problem LOL.

you could take it to a machine shop and get them to cut it down and put a new thread on to screw the knob onto. shouldn't cost too much (cheaper than a short shifter) and will have the same affect as a short shifter (anyone that disagrees needs a physics lesson)

so your saying, all i need to do to make my own short shifter, like the ones we can buy. is to cut the top off a little bit?:confused:

leave it alone

aside from a slightly longer throw a longer shifter is a million times better! seen inside a rally car? the shifter is giant and almost steering wheel height


my car has a silly short shifter (stock) and its stupid, i wish it were taller

Have a closer look next time and see how far that long gear stick moves, stuff all in a rally car. The linkages make up for this. In all respect they have short shifters!

In a normal car the throw is huge, so by cutting the gear stick down it requires more force but less movement, still a short shifter. But not as good.

A good tip, replace all the bushes in the gear linkages, the difference will be far more than cutting. Just my 2c

i agree about short shifters. my mates has one in a certain nissan model, lol, and it sucks ****. the throw is too short. it is too clunky.

as for rally cars having long gear shifters, that is so they don't have to move their hand far off the steering wheel. the throw that they have is incredibly short.

In a normal car the throw is huge, so by cutting the gear stick down it requires more force but less movement, still a short shifter. But not as good.

actually it is pretty much the same. a short shifter is longer below the pivot point than a standard shifter. if you cut a stock shifter down so that the ratio of the top section to the bottom section is the same as a short shifter, the throw and feel will be the same as a short shifter. it will feel just as notchy and require just as much force as if you had the same ratios and the overal length of the shifter was 3 feet long.

a short shifter is longer below the pivot point than a standard shifter. if you cut a stock shifter down so that the ratio of the top section to the bottom section is the same as a short shifter, the throw and feel will be the same as a short shifter.

why did u say this then?! lol


i hate this problem LOL.

you could take it to a machine shop and get them to cut it down and put a new thread on to screw the knob onto. shouldn't cost too much (cheaper than a short shifter) and will have the same affect as a short shifter (anyone that disagrees needs a physics lesson)

because it is all about the ratio of top to bottom. cutting the top has the same effect as lengthening the bottom.

i hate this problem LOL.

you could take it to a machine shop and get them to cut it down and put a new thread on to screw the knob onto. shouldn't cost too much (cheaper than a short shifter) and will have the same affect as a short shifter (anyone that disagrees needs a physics lesson)

wrongggggggg

I have the RPW short shifter in mine. The guy I bought it off had it fitted in Vic. It's great!! I don't think you should cut the stick as it's not that long anyway, and it can look stupid with the knob sitting on the floor. If you cut it you probally wont be able to use the factory knob cause the shaft gets fatter as you go down.

im pretty sure cummings did a DIY for a short shifter. look in the DIY section of the forum.
im a big fan of the short shift , have a drive in an STI there pretty much button shifts.. so nice

i cut half my thead off(20mm or so), with a hacksaw, so stock knob still fits an its gd, just a wee bit shorter. No harm in that surely

The hacksaw idea was the one i was going for, this was purely going to be look-based mod so i had no idea that it would affect teh length of the shift throws (dumbass now that i think about it) down the track i was planning a short shift kit, would that have an impact on anything.

like i said originally it seemed like it would be too easy, i just prefer the WRX stubby knobs over the rally style 6 footers.

Thanks for everyones help tho

Kieran

So has anyone done the "Well put it back in and do up your zipper" line?

:D

wrongggggggg
right actually.

http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/3924/shortshiftertp4.jpg

you can see just how much shorter you can make the throw by cutting to shifter. and depending on the short shifter kit you can actually make the throw shorter by cutting it than you can buy spending money on a short shifter. even though it doesn't look it the diagram i drew shows the cut down shifter having exactly the same throw as the short shifter. most short shifters still use a relatively long top half of the shifter.

right actually.

you can see just how much shorter you can make the throw by cutting to shifter. and depending on the short shifter kit you can actually make the throw shorter by cutting it than you can buy spending money on a short shifter. even though it doesn't look it the diagram i drew shows the cut down shifter having exactly the same throw as the short shifter. most short shifters still use a relatively long top half of the shifter.

in the majority of cases the pivot point is so low you can't cut enough off the top to make it worthwhile, all you end up with is a shifter that looks stupid hiding inside the gear boot and you get fun problems like hitting the console.

there's a reason short shifters change the pivot point.

If your stupid enought to cut it below the console you deserve to have the problems you encounter!!!!

2'' is all you need off to get a better feel!

If your stupid enought to cut it below the console you deserve to have the problems you encounter!!!!

+1. even 1" would be enough.

no point in going rpw's short shifter. yes the throw is less but its actually taller than the standard shifter. I had to cut about 2" off it to get it to a decent height. But yeah it did make it more clunky than it used to be.

no point in going rpw's short shifter. yes the throw is less but its actually taller than the standard shifter. I had to cut about 2" off it to get it to a decent height. But yeah it did make it more clunky than it used to be.

Huh, taller? The one I had used to sit inside the gear surround.