How to shorten the height of your shifter
Many of us purchase short shifters for the simple reason of shortening throw. Alot of us seek a shorter height to accomidate the shorter throw. Unfortunately, most popular and reputable short shifters don't come much shorter than stock height. This proceedure will show you how to effectively shorten your shifter in about 10-20 minutes tops.
Materials needed:
1 - 10mm X 1.50 stud thread bit
1 - "Wrench" or "handle" for the bit
1 - Dremel (or similar portable rotary tool). A hacksaw works too, but will take much more effort and will be a pain to do with the shifter in the car.
1 - Reinforced cutoff wheel for Dremel (or similar cutoff wheel/attachment for other tools)
1 - Towel
....and a little bit of elbow grease.
-----------------------------------------
*DISCLAIMER* I am not responsible for damage to your vehicle, shifter, or tools. I will show you the proper way to do this, however it's up to you to execute proper procedure. Keep in mind this is also assuming you are using a twist on knob (not a set-screw shift knob). I would not recommend doing this modification to cheap ebay shifters, or hollow aluminum shifters that tend to break. You'll want something beefed up like a Skunk2 (what this mod was done to), or some other heavy weight/solid shifter. You CAN do this to a stock shifter, however your throw length will not be shortened, simply the height (if that's all you want, go for it ).
Step 1:
Take off your shift knob. Wrap a towel around the shift boot and console immediately around the shifter to catch metal shavings from cutting and the immediate threading (can be messy stuff).
.
Double check to make sure you have the proper thread bit by attempting to twist it on. It should twist right on with little or no force like a shift knob.
Step 2:
Take your trusty Dremel or rotary tool with trusty cut off wheel:
And start by cutting about a ¼" - ½" off the shifter:
Try to make the cut as straight as possible. Go back with a sanding bit or wheel and flaten out the top and cut portion. You can always come back and cut more if you feel the need, however if you don't have a counterweight knob of some sort, I wouldn't recommend cutting more than an inch down. Doing more could ruin the counterforce balance of the shifter and could make shifting a PITA.
Step 3:
Pull out your trusty thread bit and wrech:
Begin threading down the shifter. Make sure your bit is 10mm X 1.50, that is stock Honda thread. It should twist right onto the remaining threading on the shifter. Depending on what shift knob you have, thread about 1½" - 2" down from the top of the stick. Longer shifters we'll say about 2¼" from the top. IMO, it's best to get the end of the stick as far up and into the shiftknob as possible. This will retain the most counterforce when you are shifting. I was suprised to find that I had about three quarters of an inch left to thread my Skunk2 knob down onto in order for the shifter itself to go all the way in with the shifter as is from Skunk2. If you have a knob that is stubborn about alligning the 1-2-3-4-5-R markings (like my Skunk2 knob), you'll need to thread down, then put the knob on, then thread some more to allign as necessary. It took me about 6-7 times doing this to allign perfectly, but I'm anal about that.
So when you are tightening a shift knob onto the shifter, you are simply hitting the end of the thread, not the end of the shifter inside of the shiftknob.
Pic of my cut and threaded Skunk2 shifter:
Step 4:
Put everything back together.
The end result:
Skunk2 short shifter before:
Skunk2 short shifter after:
All and all, about 3/4" of difference. The knob will go down about another ½" w/o the lock nut, but I wanted to retain it for anti-theft purposes. Shifting still feels tight, while being a wrist-snap away from gear change. Kinda reminds ya of a Miata or S2K shifter, eh?
Many of us purchase short shifters for the simple reason of shortening throw. Alot of us seek a shorter height to accomidate the shorter throw. Unfortunately, most popular and reputable short shifters don't come much shorter than stock height. This proceedure will show you how to effectively shorten your shifter in about 10-20 minutes tops.
Materials needed:
1 - 10mm X 1.50 stud thread bit
1 - "Wrench" or "handle" for the bit
1 - Dremel (or similar portable rotary tool). A hacksaw works too, but will take much more effort and will be a pain to do with the shifter in the car.
1 - Reinforced cutoff wheel for Dremel (or similar cutoff wheel/attachment for other tools)
1 - Towel
....and a little bit of elbow grease.
-----------------------------------------
*DISCLAIMER* I am not responsible for damage to your vehicle, shifter, or tools. I will show you the proper way to do this, however it's up to you to execute proper procedure. Keep in mind this is also assuming you are using a twist on knob (not a set-screw shift knob). I would not recommend doing this modification to cheap ebay shifters, or hollow aluminum shifters that tend to break. You'll want something beefed up like a Skunk2 (what this mod was done to), or some other heavy weight/solid shifter. You CAN do this to a stock shifter, however your throw length will not be shortened, simply the height (if that's all you want, go for it
). Step 1:
Take off your shift knob. Wrap a towel around the shift boot and console immediately around the shifter to catch metal shavings from cutting and the immediate threading (can be messy stuff).
Double check to make sure you have the proper thread bit by attempting to twist it on. It should twist right on with little or no force like a shift knob.
Step 2:
Take your trusty Dremel or rotary tool with trusty cut off wheel:
And start by cutting about a ¼" - ½" off the shifter:
Try to make the cut as straight as possible. Go back with a sanding bit or wheel and flaten out the top and cut portion. You can always come back and cut more if you feel the need, however if you don't have a counterweight knob of some sort, I wouldn't recommend cutting more than an inch down. Doing more could ruin the counterforce balance of the shifter and could make shifting a PITA.
Step 3:
Pull out your trusty thread bit and wrech:
Begin threading down the shifter. Make sure your bit is 10mm X 1.50, that is stock Honda thread. It should twist right onto the remaining threading on the shifter. Depending on what shift knob you have, thread about 1½" - 2" down from the top of the stick. Longer shifters we'll say about 2¼" from the top. IMO, it's best to get the end of the stick as far up and into the shiftknob as possible. This will retain the most counterforce when you are shifting. I was suprised to find that I had about three quarters of an inch left to thread my Skunk2 knob down onto in order for the shifter itself to go all the way in with the shifter as is from Skunk2. If you have a knob that is stubborn about alligning the 1-2-3-4-5-R markings (like my Skunk2 knob), you'll need to thread down, then put the knob on, then thread some more to allign as necessary. It took me about 6-7 times doing this to allign perfectly, but I'm anal about that.
So when you are tightening a shift knob onto the shifter, you are simply hitting the end of the thread, not the end of the shifter inside of the shiftknob.
Pic of my cut and threaded Skunk2 shifter:
Step 4:
Put everything back together.
The end result:
Skunk2 short shifter before:
Skunk2 short shifter after:
All and all, about 3/4" of difference. The knob will go down about another ½" w/o the lock nut, but I wanted to retain it for anti-theft purposes. Shifting still feels tight, while being a wrist-snap away from gear change. Kinda reminds ya of a Miata or S2K shifter, eh?