Shifter Play Problems

[1990new]

OK...I'm pretty new to ff.com and I'm what you young kids would politely call a "senior citizen". So if I am not following the rules in adding this new thread, or in any other way, please let me know the rule I have broken and I will not break it in the future.
Background:
I have owned 5 festivas in the past 21 years. My wife has a 1990 with 82428 original miles on it and I have a 1992 which I rescued from a Junk Yard in 2007, and my son (SFestiva here) now owns the 1990 that I bought new. In the past few years I have replaced the engines in all three of these with engines from FestivaMotorsport (The engine in the low miles 1990 had to be replace after water was sucked into the air intake a few year ago).

Here are the details of my shifter problem.
Info ( ) is just added for clarity and can be skipped over.

Actual Miles on my 1992 Festiva Gl: 249,696.

(In case you look at my gas mileage post, my old speedometer showing 214,358 was replaced with used Speedo with tach which showed 161,194 in February 2009. It now shows 195,932 so I have to add 53,164 to get the true mileage on the car.)

The shifter has tons of play in it and I would like to fix it.
I have linkage bushings for it and will replace them.

For the first time, I took the shifter apart to look at the parts on the inside.
Problem is, I don't know if they are worn to much and I need to get one of the short shifter replacements or just put it back together.
I could just put the bushing in and see if that solves the problem completely but, I would like to get others oponions first. I have taken pictures of all the parts of the shifter and would like to upload so you can see.
Haven't figured out how to do that yet but am working on it (success).
In the meantime...knowledgeable member please respond.

[doylerl]

It is quite amazing what new bushings can do. Replace those and put it all back together. If you still don't like how it feels replace it with a short throw. I am guessing that you will be happy with just the new bushings.

[1990new]

Thank for the quick reply doylerl...
What about the rubber cup at the bottom, know of anything I can do about that?

[hotfordcat]

If you want to fix everything the sixth post down on this link gives all the Mazda part numbers and discriptions.

http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34857&highlight=shifter+bushings

[navdoc101]

Shifter

From another "Senior". Now it would be real nice if we had a thread on how to use ALL those parts. With pics if poss. :tongue1: What part goes where?

[1990new]

Thanks

Fellow "Senior" Navdoc101 .. Looks like we are in the minority on this site.
Yes...the pictures do help as time goes by.
Lots of young folks here..that's nice to see. We have two grandsons (7 and 2) that we plan to pass our two festivas along to when they start to drive, so I have to keep them in good shape.

Thank for your help to all that responded. I have the shifter arm bushings but will get the stabilizer arm bushings from Mazada and put it back together using the original internal shifter parts. (The rubber part looks a lot like a steering knuckle cover. I'm going to look around to see if I can find something close that might work.)

[Charlie1717]

Fellow "Senior" Navdoc101 .. Looks like we are in the minority on this site.
Yes...the pictures do help as time goes by.
Lots of young folks here..that's nice to see. We have two grandsons (7 and 2) that we plan to pass our two festivas along to when they start to drive, so I have to keep them in good shape.

Thank for your help to all that responded. I have the shifter arm bushings but will get the stabilizer arm bushings from Mazada and put it back together using the original internal shifter parts. (The rubber part looks a lot like a steering knuckle cover. I'm going to look around to see if I can find something close that might work.)

Wish my grandpa did that for me! Welcome to the site! Sorry I was no help just wanted to say you are a cool grandpa :p

[1990new]

SFestiva is my youngest son

Thanks... We do love our grandchildren.
BTW.. My youngest son is on here as SFestiva..
My oldest son drove my original 1990 that I bought new throughout his college years back in the mid 1990's. Now my youngest son has it to drive during his college years. (My daughter, the middle child didn't drive a car while at college; automatic only driver also.) Thank goodness the youngest delayed college and joined the USMC. He's out now and his college is paid for. College expense was a struggle for us having the first two in at the same time.

I'll keep a watch out for you posts.

[bravekozak]

The whole shifter assembly is available from Kia for about $61.75 + shipping from Korea. Instant fix.

KKY0146100B LEVER ASSEMBLY, CHANGE

[1990new]

The whole shifter assembly is available from Kia for about $61.75 + shipping from Korea. Instant fix.

KKY0146100B LEVER ASSEMBLY, CHANGE

Exactly what I'm looking for.
Questions:
Have you ordered one? (Why is the website in Russia and text in Russian?)

Why hasn't Roger at Festivamortorsport latched on to this?!!

I would greatly appreciate it if you would provide me the details on how to order one.

[1990new]

See the Thread "Shifter assembly repair Howto with pictures".
The boot on the bottom of the shifter is actually shown in the protege diagram
on the top. It is the correct part and fits perfectly.
The thread also has the shifter parts diagram and a Mazda parts invoice showing part numbers and prices as of April 2011.

The parts came in today and now my shifter works like new (with a new bottom boot too).

[Twistiva]

Exactly what I'm looking for.
Questions:
Have you ordered one? (Why is the website in Russia and text in Russian?)

Why hasn't Roger at Festivamortorsport latched on to this?!!

I would greatly appreciate it if you would provide me the details on how to order one.

Just PM'd you the details.

Cheers.

Twister

[sam_0115]

just wondering on the protege "how to" on the below...

"18: Take the lever back into your car and shove it into the shifter-lever housing. B&M users, you will need to put all your weight into pushing the aluminum housing in there. It is a super tight fit.

After pushing the lever in place, make sure it is angled the right way so you don't install it backwards on the next step"

I think this is the reason why after i installed the new bushings, 1st, 3rd, and 5th gears are hard to shift

any suggestions on what is the proper way?

[1990new]

My shifter assembly was very easy to slide into the housing. Maybe the protege is a tighter fit. I put the top plastic bushing in so the wider groves are front to back and my shifter works great so this must be the way. It appeared to me that the top bushing could probably turn on it on under the spring so this may not be your problem. Make sure you have the linkage arm in so that when connecting to the gear stick, the longer part faces the passenger side of the car.