Micro Image Short Shift Kit- prototype review

[SAV912]

Just ordered my kit last night, like a fool. On a Sunday. When MI is closed, I presume. XD

Went the whole nine yards and ordered the full kit, AND two quarts of Redline MT90 off Amazon. They should hopefully arrive the same day (crossed fingers) and I'll get to work. I'm pretty thrilled as everything I've done so far is suspension and audio related. Time to get to work on making a little more power and using what is there more efficiently. I started to get a slight third gear grind on quick shifts so hopefully the new fluid will help things.

-C

[Altitude]

Originally Posted by KSIbucky

There is no tool known to man that can reach that. I took out my intake and battery and there is just no way. My car is sitting in my garage now with no battery no linkage and no intake because I needed to post this. Did you cut the bracket that holds those wires that are connected to the bracket that holds the shift cables??? Also how do you get the cables out of the bracket???

You can reach them using a socket wrench. Pull out the airbox and the battery tray (and by tray I mean the whole thing bracket and all - you'll need to remove all the plastic clips holding wiring harnesses to it.) The wiring harness bracket mounted to the cable bracket needs to be unbolted.

I think the bolt for the wiring harness bracket is 12mm and the bolts holding the cable bracket are 14mm.

Got mine installed yesterday and the worst part was getting all the plastic clips unmounted from the battery tray bracket. The clips holding the shift cables in the bracket can be a little annoying, but I used a big honkin' flat head screwdriver to pop those out. (Sorry - no pics)

Not a difficult install at all and worth for the improvement in shifting.

[cali yaris]

^ Good to hear. If you took any pics, we could sure use them!

[Altitude]

Originally Posted by cali yaris

^ Good to hear. If you took any pics, we could sure use them!

Sorry - I'm not one to take pics when I do installs - slows me down too much

I'm curious about those two washers/shims you included...we're they for the bracket mounting bolts? I didn't end up using them and the bracket bolts didn't seem to have any problem going in all the way with the new bracket.

[cali yaris]

The TRD kit includes two washers. Did the stock bracket use any washers?

They might be to accomodate the difference in thickness between the two brackets?

[Altitude]

Yeah, the stock bracket bolts already had washers. I figured it was to adjust for the difference in bracket thickness but it doesn't really seem to need them.

[Black_griffin6]

I too am having a lot of trouble with the bracket. I was probably fooling around with it for about 3 hours and never got the stock bracket unbolted, or the shifter cables out of the stock bracket. Which do you do first? Undo the bracket or take the cables out? I still haven't installed the SSK or the bracket yet, since I was to put in the bracket first then put in the SSK. If anyone can post pics, you would be my hero. XD


The good news is I was able to install the shifter bushings for the in cabin and engine bay. Though, those snap rings are bloody hard to do.

[Altitude]

Take the shift cables out of the bracket before unbolting the bracket. You'll have much clearer access to the bracket bolts that way. Also, unbolt the silver wiring harness bracket from the shift cable bracket first too. Aw hell... here's a brief step by step:

- Remove air filter box. (10mm)
- Remove battery.
- Remove battery tray bracket (12mm) (also, unclip as many of the wiring harnesses that you can at this point)
- Remove the pins holding the cables to the shift levers and pull the cables off (careful with the washers)
- Remove clips holding the shifter cables in the bracket. (See below)
- Remove shifter cables from bracket. Push them back towards the firewall until the collar clears the rear of the bracket. Then move them out of the way.
- Remove silver wiring harness bracket from the cable bracket. (12mm)
- Remove the two bolts holding on the bracket (14mm)
- Reverse process.

For the cable clips:

Use a flat head screwdriver - you can wedge it between the exposed cable collar that the bracket slips into and the "L" of the clip itself. Pry, twist do whatever you can to push them up. If you get them up enough you should be able to stick the screwdriver into the gap you just created and pop them out.

[Black_griffin6]

Okay, that makes much more sense now. Yeah, I saw the silver wiring bracket behind the cable bracket, and I couldn't fit anything behind it to get to the bolts.

I wish these came with instructions. The shifter bushings were pretty self-explanatory, but the SSK not so much. I must be being very blonde today.

I'll probably try it again in the morning, and if I have any luck, i'll post pics to do a DYI for those who were just as clueless as me.

[cali yaris]

Here are the instructions.

http://www.microimageonline.com/downloads/PTR46.pdf

[Black_griffin6]

Originally Posted by cali yaris

Here are the instructions.

http://www.microimageonline.com/downloads/PTR46.pdf

Thank you very much! This should help a bunch! I was actually looking for these all last night but I couldn't find them.

[goliath1812]

So the instructions say to access the bracket bolts from underneath the car. Has anyone tried that yet? If so, is it any easier, and do you still need to remove the entire battery tray to get the cables loose from the bracket?

BTW, thanks for the install sheet Garm :)

[Altitude]

Originally Posted by goliath1812

So the instructions say to access the bracket bolts from underneath the car. Has anyone tried that yet? If so, is it any easier, and do you still need to remove the entire battery tray to get the cables loose from the bracket?

BTW, thanks for the install sheet Garm :)

The picture in that PDF is taken from under and behind the engine, though I don't think it's necessary to get at it from underneath. Removing the battery tray gives plenty of room to work on it from above. If you go from underneath I would say you can leave the tray in place.

With the tray removed, it was easy to get a standard socket wrench back there with plenty of room to ratchet (as long as the cables are removed first.)

[Black_griffin6]

I got it installed! I have yet to try it out though.

[SAV912]

Just received mine two seconds ago. DAMN, Garm does not fuck around when it comes to selling things!! Ordered Sunday, got it today. Tracker says he shipped it out Monday morning. That is service!

I'm thrilled. My Redline fluid should be arriving UPS today as well so while I take a crack at the bracket and shifter, hopefully it shows up so I can do the fluid change as well.

Will report back with feedback.

-C

[SAV912]

Went outside about half an hour after post above, and just finished. It wasn't an easy install, but not mind boggling either. I printed the TRD directions that Garm posted earlier and while it was helpful as far as tools, the pictures seemed not much of good. They might be pictures of an xD or from an angle that I can't figure out.

Some pointers:
-The battery cable harness is a bitch to keep out of the way so I ziptied it out of the way until I was finished.
-The silver cable bracket that holds some of the battery wires was easily far and away the biggest pain in the ass of the whole install. The short shifter was a breeze and getting to the back of the bracket to change it was relatively easy once I got the damn useless silver cable bracket out of the way.
-I grabbed an extension bar and put an 18mm socket on the end of it and fit that socket over the handle of my breaker bar in order to get more leverage. Somebody short like me would find this very useful since I was already leaning into the engine bay. It also required less pressure to crack the bolts on the back of the bracket this way. Highly recommended for those of you having difficulties getting the bolts to crack. Once they are, it's a breeze.
-Use plenty of lithium grease or liquid wrench to crack the bolts on the bracket itself and to help get the U plates out that are on the shift cables.
-To remove the shift cable U plates, instead of prying at them with a screwdriver (I didn't want to bend them), I grabbed a huge pair of Channelock pliers and clamped on the little lip that they have and wiggled side to side while pulling up. They slid right out really easy after a few futile attempts at prying them up with a flathead.

Impressions:
-I've only been up and down the street with it for now and I still haven't changed the fluid to Redline yet, but THIS. IS. AWESOME. Fore and aft is tight as a virgin now, and it actually enables me to shift with my armrest down now. When I would shift into 4th without the kit, my hand would go almost under the armrest thus having to move the armrest out of the way when in busy traffic.
-About the only negative is the large gap between side to side movement as opposed to fore and aft. I also keep using more pressure going into 3rd and 5th because I'm used to having to push it a bit since the throws were so long. I suppose these are things that I will get used to over time, but overall I am very pleased so far.

Many beers to Garm and Micro Image for this product!!

-C

[cali yaris]

^ Nice and thanks! Feedback and reviews are welcomed!

My understanding is that the short shift kit only shortens fore and aft movement, not side-to-side, as a "true" short shifter would. Glad you like the improvement!

Did you do the fluid too? That will further smooth out your shift feel.

[SAV912]

Hah, the man himself posts as I'm writing up my prelim review. Thanks again, Garm. This is a fantastic must-have IMO.

-C