So, I might win an award for longest time before finally installing a part I bought. I got the eBay short shifter for my '98 almost 2 years ago and finally decided to get off my ass and put it in today. Well, let me say, that thing is a PITA. I'm sure many (probably almost all) of you did it quicker than I did. I was just concerned that in the end it actually was in right and worked! It seems like everything is ok - shifting feels great, the throws are definitely a good bit shorter but most importantly, firmer. My only concern is that I'm worried that main shift cable will end up popping back off, it didn't seem like it was on as well as it could be when I was done but I just couldn't get it on any better. So we'll see. If I feel a "pop" while shifting...in goes the clutch, down goes the brake, stop the car, and pull out the tool kit out of the trunk and pull out the console on the side of the road to reattach the cable. Profanity would ensue.

I didn't take pics of each and every step, but I did figure I'd try to get a good before and after (without the shift knob on) so people could compare, if they're curious.

Before:



After:



Since I figure someone will probably post saying "hey, can you post a how-to?" I'll give the link for the thread I followed to figure it out.

Picture "how-to" for 95-99 B&M short shifter (same as eBay)

It's not really hard, but unless you're really confident about what you're doing, don't plan on being done and driving the car in an hour...2 may be pushing it the first time you do one. I blew far by 2 hours doing it. That's all I'm gonna say, I'll probably get pseudo-flamed for that. Lol

Ok, I'm back to this again. A while back, my short shifter basically fell apart after only being installed for about a month (the tiny plastic cap on the small ball on the side of the shifter had broken, and the pieces holding the spring part to the pin, if anyone knows what I mean, had all fallen off). It worked great when it was in beforehand, felt rock solid and all. Then I had the car taken in to have the brake lines replaced when I was trying to do the brakes (they were just too stuck for me to get off). They had to tow the car, and the stupid driver that came to get it decided to try to drive it up onto the flatbed (even though I didn't think it was a good idea, with no brakes). Well I don't know for sure if he did anything to the shifter (he ended up not being able to get it on there but instead used the chains to get it up there once he had the car at least behind the flatbed, but only after trying to drive it up there several times and not having a good way to stop it...I don't know what the idiot thought he was doing), but when I got the car back that's when the problems started, and it went to crap very shortly after that. I had no proof he did it and especially since the short shifter was an aftermarket part, I knew that the dealership would probably simply blame the shifter and want to replace the whole shift mechanism with an OEM one.

So anyways, I got a new short shifter and went to install it, and after getting it in, it just plain doesn't feel right. I can literally "twist" the shifter in place with it installed, probably about 1/8 of a turn total. I have no idea what's wrong with it now. Like I said it felt fine when I first installed the short shifter, now it feels like crap. Any idea what might be wrong?

Perhaps this has something to do with it, but I've also never been able to figure out what all of the random weird looking washers and all are supposed to be for. This second shifter came with two of the ones that have teeth on the inside of them, and two of those W-shaped things that I'm pretty sure are meant to hold another washer over the end of the rubber gasket on the spring part. Problem is I had to put another washer or two over the rubber gasket so that any of the other pieces they included would have something to actually hold on to. And what in the world is the thin looking almost complete washer with two tiny rings on it??? (It kinda looks like the Greek letter omega, except the two "ends" are tiny circles.)

I thought I had this damn thing totally figured out the first time I put it in, and I might have and some @!#$ screwed up the whole shift mechanism, but I'm not sure what the problem is. Any ideas?

the twisting bit: check and see if the shift shaft is twisting in the pivot ball. if it is, on the side opposite the lever with the small ball you'll see a hole, it has a grub style set screw in it. you'll need a allen key to take it out, put some red threadlocker on it, and reinstall it.



JBO Stickers! Get yours today!

I'm just curious, I bought an ebay short throw, and didnt cut the base like that picture how-to says to. Why does the base need to be cut?

sayin0487 wrote:I'm just curious, I bought an ebay short throw, and didnt cut the base like that picture how-to says to. Why does the base need to be cut?

To ensure that the shifter has a full range of motion.



Tinkles

2003 Cavalier 1SV
Bagged and Blown

^^^ yes i put mine together the first time w/o doing the cutting and i couldn't hit 2nd gear than tore it back apart and redid it and it worked ok till later the actual shifter ball got slop in it causing the stick to wable all over the place so i took to apart and used a stock shifer cut down and then i used the billet arm that comes with the ebay shifter and ground and cut to make it fit onto the stock shifer than i also used the billet shifter bushings on it to and now it works great as good as stock but with a good tight firm fell to it i never have to worrie about missing a gear unless i just can't hit the gear for myself

Now all i need to do is get rid of the @!#$y slop in the shifter while its in gear damn thing moves fron't to back and side to side. I think it might be the slop in the cables or maybe a bs type of mount on the tranny fork arm. anybody know how to fix this part?