Short Shifter owners

[red_sir]

Got a question for you guys with short shifters. I just put in a B&M replica shifter off Ebay. Throws feels great, tight and short, but when I put it in 1st, 3rd, or 5th the shifter will hit the bezel surrounding the shifter. So I was curious if you guys with real B&M's and other shifters also experienced something similar. Obviously I don't expect the B&M to have this sort of clearance issue, but are their shifters placed really close to the front too?

BTW, this is the shifter I bought and the arrow points to where it hits the bezel.

[red_sir]

Figured out the problem... the shifter was sent to me backwards and I installed it that way. It's fixed now and all is well.

[The Mic]

ha, how can a shifter be sent backwards?

[Badfish]

ha, how can a shifter be sent backwards?

It was put together by monkeys.

[red_sir]

Hey, come on now. I'm sure that 6 year old in China who made the shifter was just having a bad day.

[HondaRacer]

Ya, mine was sent backwards too. Just take the 4 bolts under the rubber boot and slid it out, watch out for the springs and flip it 180 degrees.

[Chezedik]

Yeah, I shortened my own and had to put it in backwards to clear the console. So it was actually probably in right, and for whatever reason that is just how it is.

[kingin]

just buy the real thing you pay for what you get i bought obx last time and it sucked the shifter is 2 pieces screwed together and after driving abit it will get loose B&M feels so much better

[DjPantsSpecR]

my knock-off C's is so ridiculously knockoff it doesnt even unscrew like the OBX, and i bought it from a guy for 10 bones, with no mounting hardware

and it works great, with homemade mounts it doesnt rattle. its purely coincidence that i blew a clutch spring out the next week

[95lstegman]

Got a question for you guys with short shifters. I just put in a B&M replica shifter off Ebay. Throws feels great, tight and short, but when I put it in 1st, 3rd, or 5th the shifter will hit the bezel surrounding the shifter. So I was curious if you guys with real B&M's and other shifters also experienced something similar. Obviously I don't expect the B&M to have this sort of clearance issue, but are their shifters placed really close to the front too?

BTW, this is the shifter I bought and the arrow points to where it hits the bezel.

really, i was thinking of buying one of these since it looks like the B&M with about a third the price (or a quarter, depending on how much you pay for a B&M, but i see about $185 shipped). i even started a thread and of course everybody said "well, it's a knock-off, and knock-offs always suck". i reminded them of the Megan coilovers and the conversation ended with only biased opinions having flown. please be more specific. no rattling, no leaks, no small concerns other than how to get one quickly?

[red_sir]

Sorry for the late reply, I forgot about this thread. I did have more problems with the shifter. Here is what I posted on another forum:

"@$^$^$@%@$% It's one thing after another with this POS. After handing in a paper at school that I spent the whole morning frantically finishing, as I was leaving my Ebay specialty shifter fell apart and left me stranded! The round base thing came off the plate that mounts to the transmission! I live like 45 mins away from school too so I had to call a friend to pick my *** up, go home to get tools and the stock shifter, then go back to school. It turns out the shifter didn't come with the screws that attach it to the plate. Somehow it stayed on there long enough for me to get to school in the first place. I'm partly at fault though for not thoroughly inspecting the thing before installing it. Anyway, I plan to keep using this shifter. The throws are so nice and short now. Plus I think everything that can go wrong with it already has so it's gotta get better from here." and...

"Maybe I just don't learn, but honestly, I still think most of these ebay knockoff shifters are decent quality. The problems I had really weren't a big deal, they could've been avoided if I had just taken my time. I think you'll be fine with any ol' shifter off ebay as long as you take a few mins to thoroughly inspect it and make sure everything is assembled correctly and nothing is missing. And for $36 shipped, I can't complain."

About rattling, I'm not too sure. It didn't rattle during normal city driving, but I never got a chance to really test it throughout the whole rpm range. My car is currently down (adding more goodies) so I won't be able to give you an answer soon. And as for leaks, I don't expect a problem. The shifter I got came with a rubber boot on the base so it should be ok.

[95lstegman]

i bought one off ebay with a rubber boot for $54 shipped. i picked one that is made of steel instead of paying ~$35 for aluminum. i've seen my share of broken honda shifters that are aluminum, and the S13's shifter is thinner at its thinnest point than honda shifters. in any case, i'll be watching out for anything out of place, but i'm hopeful, and i still think that whatever comes up can be fixed for less than the $150 price difference between this and the real B&M.

i'll keep you guys posted when i get the thing installed and if there are any problems with it. and if there aren't i'll tell you exactly who to buy from!

EDIT: that horror story you posted sounds like one of the ones that doesn't come with a whole new base, just a goofy thing that adds onto the stock base to relocate the shifter ball a little higher. i would avoid those like the plague w/o any horror stories.
Modified by 95lstegman at 10:21 AM 12/5/2005

[red_sir]

No, mine did come with a new base. It's just the base is made of two pieces (the round thing under the rubber boot, and the plate) that weren't properly secured together.

Do you have a pic or link to the shifter you bought?

[95lstegman]

ebay item

[red_sir]

That looks like the exact same one I have.

edit: I just checked and the shifter is magnetic so I think it's made out of steel too.
Modified by red_sir at 8:25 PM 12/5/2005

[popogto]

for 240 shifters, its just basically a stick. most problems comes from the mounting hardware or careless installation. so i think ebay cheapOs are fine. but i wouldnt ebay for anything complicated.

[95lstegman]

well i will definitely take it apart and put it back together my way before installing it. i don't trust an ebay knock-off to be put together well. for the most part i stick to tried-and-true parts unless A) the part is so cheap and not difficult to install that i can remove it and throw it away without feeling that bad, or B) i can find solid evidence that the part is a GOOD knock-off.

in this case, it was a mix of A and B. for $54 i won't feel that bad, and i've seen a couple people say it's great, and only the story just mentioned say it's bad. it's not exactly a miracle of tolerances and machining, and it doesn't have many parts, and none of the parts it has other than little screws and such can break (unless they're total crap).

so, i'll see how it goes, and report back in a new thread with a full review of the disassembly, reassembly, installation, performance, and concerns/notes.

[95lstegman]

UPDATE:i bought one. it was $54 shipped. it was from eBay. it was a steel model, not aluminum. the shifter itself was installed backwards by whoever put it together.

the nylon cylinder on the bottom fits VERY tightly. it was actually a beeotch to get in there at all. i took the whole thing apart and and used loc-tite red on every thread in there. now for the review:

it shifts VERY tightly. i also changed the MTF with RedLine MT-90 while i was at it. the shifter is hella tight. 0 movement, period. the shift action is quite positive, mostly because of the fluid i think, and slop is nonexistant. i measured the throws, and it's 1.5" from neutral to any gear other than reverse, which throws farther than the others. it's so short i have a problem knowing whether or not it's actually in gear sometimes .

overall, i'm VERY happy with it. i also used zip-ties to hold the rubber oil seal in place over the shifter cup. it came with a stupid metal wire wrapped around it. all in all, it was WELL worth the money.

[wild_maxx]

hey red_sir you get what ya pay for

p.s. this is "sk8142_nismo" from UNITY server. hahahah

[red_sir]

lol you stalker!

[95lstegman]

hey, i made a digital video of my new shifter. it's 1:39 and 44.9MB. will we-todd-did-racing.com host it you think?

also, on a separate note, i parked at my friend's house, and everything was normal. when i left, my gears were noticeably harder to get into and fifth totally blocks me out. the fluid level is good. and when i try to bleed my clutch slave cylinder, fluid shoots out of it when i open the bleed screw even before any pedal pressure is applied. seems like the master cylinder is bad?

[wild_maxx]

lol you stalker!

not stalking just funny how i found ur post. lets see some pics of your car.