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Personally I think they are a waste, as I seem to make up time on gearchanges compaired to others with short shifters... (I dont have one). Sure they are nice and all, but I just think the money is better spent elsewhere (going in to a new gearbox maybe :rofl:)

Short shifters are a great concept., however, I do not trust the coordination of my clutch and shift work enough to justify one. I've seen many people **** their syncro's with them. Like sydneykid said, it is driver error.. but the longer pivot only contributes to driver error.

They will mess things up sooner or later - no one can shift perfectly, nor have perfect clutch timing.

Alot of Honda guys have notchy transmissions caused by short shifters. Most often it's the ITR's with their stock short throws. At first, the short shifter seems amazing, and over time the transmission becomes alot more edgy and temperamental. I've expirimented and formed my own opinions on them with my experiences using them in my own cars and friends cars - the outcome is always the same.

Me = against short shifters.

I just change my shifter to C's original short shifter, it's smoother than original shifter and it's much shorther.

 

I did everything by myself , there is no dramas at all, instruction says everything clearly.

It took me 40 minutes to install (I'm a noob :rofl: )

 

Erik

dude are you the guy who bought frankys car ???

Also can you PM details on where you got your original Cs shifter for your car..

been looking for one for awhile and people say that the Cs factory went bankrupt and you cant get them anymore...and I dont wanna get a copy.

A little OT but I have installed a short shift (copy of C's or some home brand type) - it's a solid brass one and I don't see it snapping or anything and it really does make the box feel a LOT nicer. Unfortunately sometimes the stick itself gets too hot to touch (which makes quick gear changes a must and stops you from resting your hand on the shifter heh heh)

Just one question - how do you tell if you're going too fast for the syncro?

you'll be able to tell if your shifting to fast for the syncro's by ear and by feel. More so with the short shifter, as you'll have more feel. Basicaly if you have to force it your going to fast. you can still change gears fast and be gental at the same time.

It may take a bit of time to get used to the feel, but you'll know when you do get the change right.

I'm a bit worried about the heat getting through the shifter though. the only time 've ever seen a hot gear stick is when its got a metal knob and its out in the sun. It surtainly shouldnt get to hot to touch just from driving.

i was going to cut my shifter down 2 inches and then get a mate who is a machinist to re-thread the end of it to put gear knob back on.

will this be any different than buying a short shift kit?

carro

Cutting your shifter will only make the lever shorter not your shift. Thats why they are called short shifter and not mini gear stick. :D

Read what sydneykid wrote a few posts back and it will help answer your question.

Does anyone know the difference between a shifter for RB25 and RB20?

Can you fit a RB20 short shifter in a RB25 box?

The fool who sold me the crappy shifter is trying to tell me that there is no difference and only the bolt lengths are different?

I have a RB25det box and RB20det box side by side with shifters.The RB20 one fits the RB25 one fine except that little nylon bush at the end is way to small (read like half the size!) and is very sloppy.

Yeh they fit but they dont work properly and they make a shitload of noise

Occassionaly it would pop out of the selector in the box and over time it would probably stuff up. No good if you want reliability and safety or control.

A picture showing the comparison between the no name short shifter and the standard shifter;

1903Shifter_Comparison_Small-med.jpg

I can confirm that the no name shifter is 16mm longer from the pivot point to the point of engagement with the linkage than the standard shifter. It is 58 mm and the standard shifter is 42mm. The gearlevers are the same length from the pivot point to the knob, being 210 mm. So this means a 20% reduction in gearknob movement for the same amount of shift linkage movement. That was what was advertised and it does in fact achieve a 20% reduction in shift movement.

There is another benefit I overlooked previously. The 16mm spacer under the pivot point moves the shift up wards, and since it si the same length above the pivot, thsi means the gear knob is 16 higher in the car. Hence 16mm closer to the steering wheel, which means less time spent moving the hand from the wheel to the knob when changing gear.

This is of course exactly the opposite to what would occure if you simply cut the shifter and moved the gear knob lower down on the shaft.

Dissadvantages/advantages that I can see when comparing the standard to short shifter;

1. There is no rubber isolation of the top half of the shifter from the bottom half (that's what the bulb is half way up to the knob). This means there will be more vibration passed to the gear knob. On the other hand it means better feel as there is no rubber dampening between the gearbox and your hand.

2. The lack of rubber insolation measn that the heat from the gearbox will pass up the metal lever all the way to the knob. This no name shifter came with a chrome plated gear knob, which will get hotter than the standard gear knob. If this becomes an issue I may try a plastic washer and some teflon tap on the thread to isolate the gear knob from the shift. That may stop some of the heat transfer.

Hope that was of some use.:cheers:

PS; thanks to gR33ddy for supplying the standard shifter used in this comparison.

i was going to cut my shifter down 2 inches and then get a mate who is a machinist to re-thread the end of it to put gear knob back on.

will this be any different than buying a short shift kit?

carro

Yeah. it will be different. a short shifter kit works by shifting the pivot point higher on the stick, making the length below the pivot ball longer. ther installed length of the shifter is not nessasarily any different. It's the actual ratio of the gear stick throw that is diferent. as an example mine is 12mm longer bellow the pivot point than the standard stick. So for a given movement of the gear lever the lower end of the gear stick moves further than when it was standard.

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