short shifters

noxneon · Post by **noxneon** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 7:31 pm

ok, this is a picture of a stock length shifter from the junk yard ($6) compared to the shifter i have now, approx, 5 inches shorter, not much play after th booger installs. so my question is, with no arogance meant at all, what are the + and - of a maddog sts???

i cut it below the bend

Post by **Vinny** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 8:22 pm

Wow, that has to be the shortest shift lever I have ever seen in a Neon.

The advantage of a MadDog or other similar short shifters over what you have, is that by changing the geometry in other locations in the lever system it allows shorter throws with less effort, in addition to allowing a more comfortable shift knob position. In addition it shortens the side-to-side movement. You can see in these pics how the pivot point has been raised and the extension welded into the lever that shortens the side-to-side movement.

Installed with stock knob (somehow I don't have a pic of the current Sparco knob):

noxneon · Post by **noxneon** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 10:30 pm

naw, im to damn short to have somethin like that, if you saw how far up i had to move my seat to drive comfortably, youd think im like 5 foot zero, not 5'8, besides, i like havin to muscle the shifter a little. anyways im trying to find a tap and die set for running threads on that shifter, i think it might be 15 mm, or 9/16, but no one here in town (portland/ or) seems to know where i can find those sizes, or metric calipers for that mater. you guys know of anyone( people/websites) that might have those sizes of taps and dies??? any info would be most helpful.

Post by **Vinny** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 11:46 pm

I'm not sure on those tap sizes. What are you trying to do, put a threaded-on knob on it? You should just buy a short-shifter and use a knob that goes on with set screws.

noxneon · Post by **noxneon** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 12:08 am

tried that, thats what that knob is, it just scores the shifter and gets all wiggly like stale jello

, no im gonna do my shifters right from now on, i just need to make sure i have the right tap and die sizes. and im thinking of maybe getting a hobby lathe, be able to custom make people some shifter knobs of whatever they want,

Post by **Vinny** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 9:23 am

Try using loctite on the set screw threads, and use the nylon spacers supplied with most set-screw type knobs. That's what I do and have never had a problem.

Post by **Diablo0** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 9:48 am

Vinny wrote:Try using loctite on the set screw threads, and use the nylon spacers supplied with most set-screw type knobs. That's what I do and have never had a problem.

Thats what I've done and haven't had a problem.

<-- running a 2nd gen Maddog shifter and love it

noxneon · Post by **noxneon** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 4:27 pm

i seem to be way to strong or something

cause i've scored the crap out of like three shifters with that knob, kinda annoying. 'sides, i really want to have a threaded and screwed shifter, have it on there real solid, but still be able to remove it and reuse it

Post by **Vinny** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 5:23 pm

Maybe look into this:

http://modernperformance.com/dcx/srt_st ... knob.shtml

It's made for Neons so it should be very close to the shaft size, and it goes on with eight set screws instead of the usual 3 or 4.

noxneon · Post by **noxneon** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 10:33 pm

too much for just a polished chunk of Al. naw, Im gonna be really stubborn about getting my shifter threaded, I could do cross screws to keep it locked down. any help from anyone is still always appreciated.

SLOW R/T · Post by **SLOW R/T** » Thu May 04, 2006 12:00 pm

looks really short