My homemade Short Shifter!

[hckrphil]

So I picked up a stock Festiva shifter from a forum member. I also had one from a Civic that I was GOING to use, but wasn't really thrilled with the quality of it.

So, I decided to make my own.

First I cut the shifter below the ball.



I then added an extension piece of steel between the 2 pieces I cut making it slightly longer than the civic short shifter shown. This was done using my Hobart 140 MIG welder (love that welder)




I'd have to say although not as PRETTY as the civic short shifter, it should be just as strong as the stock Festiva shifter. It looks funny because the original neck on the Festiva shifter is actually very thin, and the piece of steel I used was a larger diameter.

I then sprayed the entire shifter silver.


Hoping to get this installed tomorrow.... I'll let everyone know how it works out.

~Phil

[Basement_Modder]

Looks good after the paint.

[windy1]

bushings

where did u,get your new bushing,for shifter? have a part #? mdoyleufo@gmail.com

[ejp2fast]

how much longer would you say this shifter is from stock? looks close to 0.5 inch...

[getnpsi]

Longer than stock is ok if the throw is ahuge redux. I have another car where the short shifter is lower than when my arm is on the armrest and I'm kinda bummed about that. I like to rest my arm and it be straight across to the knob. I know most of us do not have consoles with armrests but i intend to fix that issue too. great work on the welding, i want to buy a welder and just dont know how to shop for one.

[yelo festiva]

napa

where did u,get your new bushing,for shifter? have a part #? mdoyleufo@gmail.com

you can get the shifter bushings at napa, part # ATM0771303. they are $1.40 a piece

[sketchman]

Longer than stock is ok if the throw is ahuge redux. I have another car where the short shifter is lower than when my arm is on the armrest and I'm kinda bummed about that. I like to rest my arm and it be straight across to the knob. I know most of us do not have consoles with armrests but i intend to fix that issue too. great work on the welding, i want to buy a welder and just dont know how to shop for one.

Longer than stock part is on the bottom. Throw is shorter, but the knob didn't move at all.

[hckrphil]

Ya, my knob height is same as stock, you'd never know by just looking at it (unless you layed under the car to look at the nub. Classic mis-conception about a "short shifter" is that people think the shifter height is just "short" when really its how far you have to move the lever (1st to 2nd to 3rd, etc.) which will be traveling a shorter distance.

I'm going to take my other stock lever that I removed, and increase the distance above and below the pivot point. I'll try to make it with an even shorter "throw" than this one referenced above.

The one above is probably about .5" longer on the bottom than the stock. The next one I'll do maybe 1" - 1.25".

At what point is it TOO SHORT of a throw?

[CharlieZ]

At what point is it TOO SHORT of a throw?

I don't know but the next step is shift paddles at the steering wheel.

[sc72]

you can get the shifter bushings at napa, part # ATM0771303. they are $1.40 a piece

I have tried to get them here in Iowa and no go, if you can get them in your area i would be greatfull.

[hckrphil]

I ordered mine online and paid the ridiculous shipping charges to get them..... probably ended up spending $12 for 6 of them. Order them right from NAPA's website.

[rollertoaster]

I cut and lengthened the lower arm of my shifter today. It took about 40min including looking for an appropriate metal rod to weld in.

I still need bushings but I don't plan on paying for them. I measured the old ones and I'll just turn some delrin ones on my buddy's lathe.

Even with shot bushings it's a huge improvement over stock. No more shoulder dislocations during 1-2 shift. Haha

[Grey Vw]

The next one I'll do maybe 1" - 1.25".

At what point is it TOO SHORT of a throw?

I tried doing 1" but it wouldn't work so I just went with .5" and it worked fine. It may have been my bad fab skills or that I didn't place the white retainer ring in the correct direction.

[blkfordsedan]

I'm going to take my other stock lever that I removed, and increase the distance above and below the pivot point. I'll try to make it with an even shorter "throw" than this one referenced above.

If you make it longer above the pivot ball you'll increase the throw. To decrease the throw you can either lengthen the lower arm (like you did), shorten the upper arm, or both. Maybe that's what you meant, Sorry if I misunderstood. You can, however, bend the stick so it relocates the knob farther back without effecting the throw ratio. I've toyed with the idea of taking the old shifter stick off of my Mustang, cutting the festiva handle off about 2" above the pivot ball, drill & tap 2 holes in the remaining "stub" and bolt the mustang stick to the Festy shifter assy. The knob would be about the same height as the stock Festy, but it would move the knob back to almost between the seats. I may try it when I do my B6 swap.

[Christ]

Too short shift throw occurs when you can't slow your personal reaction enough to not have gears grind, or when you no longer can feel the engagement of the gear interlock (dog teeth).

Short shift throw is not a performance enhancement, for the record. Its a personal preference. I say this because to some extent, the shift time is governed by how fast the engine and transmission speeds match for the next gear. If the engine hangs, or revs slowly, you need to slow your shifting down to avoid using the clutch slip to take up the difference in speed between the crank and input shaft.

That is, of course, unless you're one of those people that thinks "grabbing gears" means using all the strength in your upper body to "snap"the shifter between gear selections. If that's the case, short shifters will take .001s off your 1km times, because you can now get into gears exactly as quickly as the synchronizers can compensate.

All that said, I like this mod. I can't weld (that I know of), so I would have used the Civic shifter. Alot of econobox cars seem to have very sloppy, muted shifters, among other things. If the quality of such things had been addressed by the oem, the current car culture might be slightly different than current.