Custom short shifter

[ChinoCharles]

My friends and I took the stock shifter off tonight and hacked about 3 inches off of it and pitched it toward the driver about 10-15 degrees before welding it back together. The mod took about an hour and 15 minutes from start to finish, and best of all, it was FREE. I will post the couple pictures I took soon... all I can say is I have driven about 15 miles on the new shifter and it is amazing. I would guess about a 50% shorter throw, and it is placed perfectly for a person of my height. I'll probably get TWM's bushing kit next week and I will be all set. Just wanted to share in my joy... :thumbup: :thumbup:

[Katana]

Nice!

We need a tutorial soon!

[Chris07LB]

Nice Charles.. I'd be interested in some pics of your process.

[ChinoCharles]

Okay, here are the before and after pictures of the shifter assembly.

Before
1160

After
1161

If you unscrew the shift knob and pull the boot off you'll see a plastic stopper set into a groove in the shifter. This is where we made the first cut. The second cut was made at the tick mark drawn with a sharpie on the before picture. We then used a grinder to establish the pitch that we wanted and welded the top piece with the threading to the bottom. The original plan was to just cut and rethread the shifter, but there were some issues with the fact that the threading is tapered from the rest of the shifter. It would have required tools we didn't have at the time, and honestly I think we ended up with a better end result anyway. All I can say is my shifts have been hilariously fast and I plan on taking some in car video soon so you can all see. This is about as in depth as I am going to get as far as a tutorial just because I wouldn't recommend anyone doing this at home. The kid that helped me was someone I had known for 5 years and just got finished putting individual throttle bodies on a Toyota Supra... I could trust him with the stock assembly. Worse came to worse, I was going to just pick up the TWM shifter. I'd guess mine is a lot shorter, though.

If you're anywhere near Northeast Ohio he agreed he would do the same for other Yarii for 75 bucks. He will make you sit in the car and hold the knob and measure the shifter for where you sit which is a luxury you just can't find in the aftermarket.

[riceboy]

You must have long arms... or short legs, or a combo.. I was going to install the TWM but after seeing the end result it looked like it was way too short. In any case as long as you're happy it's all good... btw did you reuse the OEM plastic boot or did you install an aftermarket one?

[Adamantite]

ChinoCharles,

How tall are you? And how far back is your seat positioned?

[Katana]

Νice work there.Does he come in Greece??Hahaha!

[heylookitsjames]

So you just shortened the arm? did you shift the fulcrum point at all?

[ChinoCharles]

You must have long arms... or short legs, or a combo.. I was going to install the TWM but after seeing the end result it looked like it was way too short. In any case as long as you're happy it's all good... btw did you reuse the OEM plastic boot or did you install an aftermarket one?

I do have long arms actually. I'm 5'11'' and about 160 pounds. What can I say, the ladies love me. :barf:

I do have the factory boot and knob on right now until I can find an aftermarket one I like that fits the specs. Sounds like a good search to start after this actually. :smoking:

How tall are you? And how far back is your seat positioned?

5'11''... the seat has 14 positions from front to back and I am on the sixth from the back. About in the middle I guess.

So you just shortened the arm? did you shift the fulcrum point at all?

Nope... the only modification made was to the arm. We didn't even take it out of the housing, which was admittedly risky but the plastic took the heat and it still performs as if stock, it just takes more force to throw. A heavier knob will help.

This was a total Monster Garage moment. If you do this to your car you're an absolute moron...and having said that I'm really glad I did. More images soon.

[riceboy]

ah...... i see.. well hey as long as it all works out for you.. g/l on finding a suitable shifter boot.. please let us know what will work as I'm sure others would like to replace the plastic!

[ChinoCharles]

I looked around for a while last night and established that it will be a nightmare. I'm not worried about that right now, the stock boot and knob are working out OK for me. This week I'm doing some interior painting and buying a new goodie. Yayyyy

[riceboy]

new goodie.. hmm can't wait to see that... btw jcove did a leather shift boot awhile back but I think that it still needed some finishing touches to complete it... is the plastic boot all squished down like in the TWM?

[ChinoCharles]

Yes, the plastic boot is completely crunched down, actually to the point where a couple of the plastic clips on the bottom snapped. Now to go back to OEM I will have to buy the shifter assembly and the boot, which sucks... good thing I bought it! I will probably end up ordering a custom one as soon as I know where I am going with the interior. I am going to be painting some of the panels to match the outside next week. Oh, and its looking like power windows and door locks from a1electric.com next week too. Freekin' SWEET!

[riceboy]

i haven't seen jcove post in awhile.. but here's a pic of his shifter w/ new boot... maybe you can pm for more details... i think it's a huge improvement on the stock boot...