rebuild shifter vs cheap short shifter
 

So I'm doing a 1.8 swap and I have the motor out. My shifter boots are shot and I figured I should just replace them and perhaps the shifter too.
I fond the boot Kit for $39 fur both boots
and then the cheapo shifters off Ebay for $50
Or I also found this http://pages.ebay.com/motors/link/?nav=item.view&id=130757559567
To rebuild the stock shifter.
Anyone have experience eather way?
Rebuilt shifter turtent vs Ebay short shift?

The cheap eBay ones need some modification to work well, but otherwise they're a decent buy. Once modified, they have a good look and feel, I'd prefer a good condition stock shifter honestly. The rubber in my stock shifter is shot, and it's really the only reason I'm keeping the short shifter.

Stock.

if you found both boots for $40 that's a really good deal. I've replaced them recently and couldn't find them that cheap. (years ago they were about that much).

I'd stick with oem.

I keep reading the cheap short throws suck, and if you really want one get the mazdaroadster one or something to that matter and that at $200 it's a freaking bargin for how nice it feels.

I've helped install an ebay one years back on a 91, and it was a POS and made our already notchy trans worse.

i don't know for the miata buy for all the other car's i have try with crappy shortshifter it was shit too. the frist few day's it was cool because the shifter was feeling new and shorter but past that little high, it wasn't a nice feel.

plus the shifter already feel so direct and precice, i don't know why put a shortshift.

I like the ebay one I got, but the bottom bushing was way to big to fit in the turret, and it got sloppy around 5th gear with no bushing in there (which is also probably bad for the shift turret). So I put the stock one back on.

Just get a stock one.

Relevant ad:

Attachment 239745

Too bad they don't have a miata version huh?

I had a civic short throw in my altima. It was awesome.

This

East Coast Miata

/thread

wait, so these are just shifters with a short knob height?

I'd want a real short throw shifter with a change in fulcrum point with an extended rod length personally.

Then buy the miata roadster one.

On the subject of rebuild, didn't IL motorsports just come out with new boots that are supposed to be made from a tougher material than the OEM ones? Why no one has made one from fiber reinforced buna-n is beyond me.

I would.

You have to do some work to make the eBay ones work. I had to replace both bushings with stock, grind down the bolt to fit in the oem bushing, Rtv three locations, and then it finally performed well. I've had a couple people comment on how it feels good. Great? Probably not. But I'll take it for $28 shipped.

if youre looking for a good replacement shift boot, get this:

Gearshift boot Mazda MX5, Eunos, Miata 1989-2005 - Detailed item view - DoctorMX5 - all your MX5 needs

they really are awesome and dont crack/fall apart like the Mazda units.

I replaced the bushings in mine (Rockauto, I think) and that made enough of a difference that I'm completely satisfied in how it shifts.

My vote is for stock parts.

I love my eBay short shifter. Granted, I rebuilt the whole thing using OEM parts, but I like the feeling of it. I made a thread reviewing it if you search.

Write up pweeze?

Edit; I guess that was the write up

Yup, the big part is the little pin that sits in the slotted bushing. It comes from the land of Ebay as a turned down allen head, and didn't fit in the shitty plastic bushing that came with the shifter. It quickly ate up the bushing and felt like garbage. The lower bushing on the pivot didn't even fit, so I popped on an OEM one and used that. Later on I upgraded to 5x racing's aluminum bushing.

So that lower bushing is step one.
For the slotted bushing, you just drop in the OEM piece, although I had to do a little grinding to get it to sit all the way down. Then I chucked the allen head bolt in my drill press, and held a piece of sand paper up to it for a few minutes, checking every 20 seconds or so if it fit in the bushing.

Modifying the to make the slotted bushing fit in the shifter and the allen screw to fit in that bushing is step two.

Then there's actually a paper gasket on the lower shift boot to seal it to the shifter turret. So with the added spacer (that's the piece that changes the fulcrum), and a plate that goes on top, it adds 2 locations that will leak if not sealed. So I siliconed that up, along with my lower shift boot cause the paper gasket had ripped by this point.

That's step 3.

This made a decent shift that I enjoy. I'd rather have an absolute brand new stock shifter from the factory, or have $200 to spend on that roadster one, but I don't.

The end.

Does anyone else have any feedback on these?
Its unsettling to see a shifter sodomising a boot, but if it lasts longer like they claim then Ill live with it.

The MR short shift kit comes with both boots (OEM) so keep that in mind regarding the $200 cost.

Hey Guys, I know this has probably been beaten to death, but this is my opinion on stock vs. ebay short shifters. I had a stock 91 shifter that had worn out and felt it was time to try short shifters. I bought the Megan Racing short shifter I believe for $45 at the time, which is about the same in terms of cost and quality for all ebay shifters. I installed it and have been running it for the last two years or so. The throw into gear is much shorter, and for about the 1st 8 months or so it was very smooth. However, getting into gear became more difficult and more like a task over time (very notchy). I decided to see if I could improve it, so I bought the 5X Racing brass shifter bushing and new plastic crescent, back to center insert; together costing about $40. However, these new parts do not work on the Megan Racing short shifter to my knowledge, because the brass bushing will go on the the shifter ball, but is requires a great amount of force, and the crescent insert will essentially not fit into the short shifter's spot. SO, I decided to put these new parts on the stock shifter, which fit as designed. The brass bushing is supposed to essentially allow the shifter ball to float, it does not actually grip onto it, and the insert went in with ease. HERE is the verdict, the stock shifter with the brass bushing and new crescent insert from 5X Racing improves the smoothness of the shifter and allows to go back to center, however the throw is back to stock and is farther than the short shifter. The Megan Racing short shifter does decrease the throw and feels smooth for a while, but the smoothness does not last forever. I am going to leave the stock shifter since I prefer smoothness to throw. HOWEVER, it is up to you. If you are the kind of person who wants shorter throw and can deal with the notchiness (very), then go with the ebay short shifter like I did. If you are the kind of person who likes the stock shifter and want to improve it, you just have to upgrade a few of the components; there's not a lot of cause to buy a whole rebuild kit. I hope this helps someone else even if this debate has been going on for centuries.

This is a 6 year old thread...

Yea, I know @dglb99,
I just remembered when changed out my shifter 2ish years ago, this thread along with others had a lot of opinions that did not pin a lot down. I was just posting my findings so that the next person that comes across this thread could use my info. Kinda like posting the answer to a problem thread; you always hope that person will come back and tell everyone else the solution.

After some time using this shifter I can honestly say I don't like it. It rattles really loud. Gets very hot. And it makes my hand sore after a drive. The idea behind it and not using bushings its great on theory but the feel of the stock shifter is just way more convenient. Ended up taking mine off and leaving it in my parts rack.