the mechanics of a short shifter

[bozuzu]

i used that magical red button, but this time no love. how does a short shifter work? moreover, i suppose i should ask how a shifter works. :toilet

i understand the basics. a lever, a ball, a pivot, ok. but why does making a longer pivot make a shorter throw? how does one accomodate for the longer pivot? i guess i really just don't understand what's actually going on down there when you're putting the car in gear.the reason i ask: i have a '97 hardbody ka24e, and today took the shift lever out of a '90 240sx ka24e at a pick'n'pull, and want to see what it will do in my truck. it's way, way shorter, but i think the pivot lengths are the same.rock on engineering :jazz:

[PalmerWMD]

Not a bad question.

I am kinda curious myself what the gurus will have to say.

Fred..

[TommyTheCat]

Im not exactly sure what you mean by a "longer pivot" on the ST-shifter, but I'm guessing the pivot point (the ball) is moving up on the shifter, correct?

So just take a pencil out, grab it with your thumb and finger in the middle and then "shift" the top part. Now move your fingers up the pencil and move it. By adjusting the pivot point up from the center you allow a ratio other than 1:1 to affect the pencil, now if you swing the top half 1mm, the bottom might move 2mm or so forth. I'm just guessing this is all a ST does.

[bozuzu]

pulled the shifter out of my truck. identical design, except different. read: nissan already figured it out. the pivot distance on my truck (distance from the ball-down) is LONGER than the 240's, a LOT longer. however, so is the lever (part above the ball). a small comparison with a ruler and a protractor led me to this conclusion: both shifters are the same, only different. :thinker seriously though; the nissan geometry provides the same shift length for both the 240 and the truck, and they achieve this by lengthening/shortening each shifter proportionately. so in conclusion, the 240 shifter is for sale, and i'm hacking apart my stock shifter tomorrow :ylsuper thanks for the help

[s13sr20chris]

so the truck shifter would make a nice short shifter for a 240 if the top was shortened. maybe i would leave it long as i like the shifter close to the steering wheel.