mazda miata short throw shifter

[pennyman1]

Has anyone looked at the miata short throw shifter for a swap to our trannies? The 90-97 or 86 - 91 has a 3 bolt pattern - does anyone have access to a shifter to see if it matches? If it does, then we can all have short shifters on our 5 spds. Keep in mind that a popular swap for the km132 in a starquest is a 5spd from an RX-7 with the bell housing from a 87-88 mazda B2600 truck (the bell housing is separate and it is a match to the 13.25 spacing on the 2.6). If the shifter would work but the spacing on the adaptor is wrong, a new adaptor could be made to work with the stick. These shifters are $40 -55 vs the stedebani ones that are 150+ if you can find them. Wadda you think?

[BradMph]

You know who owns a Miata? Hive does I am pretty sure..


One other question about shifters.
There are terms to think on when mentioning a short shifter.
The first is a short shifter that shortens the length of the shift lever itself. Sort of like if you cut your shift lever to a shorter length.
The second is a short shifter throw which shortens the distance you have to move the shifter lever to change gears. Also called a quick shifter.

Folks without a center arm rest console and can go the first route would be fine. The people that have a taller arm resting console (as myself has) can't go with a shorter shift handle. I would like to locate a short throw shifter if this is available, also if anyone knows it's avaialble.

[noahwins]

The Mookeh ones don't fit?

[thehive]

HAHAHAHA man i though the same exact thing and took a look at the shifter in my miata and sadly no, it won't work. the miata like everything about it, is much much smaller

[BradMph]

Starquest club folks are posting request for a bushing to be made for the Mookeh. Haven't searched why though. Think I will look for one of those Thanks Noah

[noahwins]

Mookeh stuff is on eBay. 150 bones.

A Miata short shifter would be crazy low in a truck. You'd be reaching down to the floor and scraping your knuckles on rhe tranny tunnel every time you grabbed a gear. In a Miata, the shifter's at about lap height.

Someone on here used a shift lever only from a 1st Gen RX-7 and it was a perfect fit. So maybe the whole assembly might fit?

[thehive]

yeah, that again was me, on the quest to make a shorter shifter. and no the bases are totally different. but the levers do separate the same, remove the snap ring and apply heat until the rubber lets go.
http://i1172.photobucket.com/albums/r568/thehive201/Mobile%20Uploads/photo36_zps74c1ad9e.jpg (http://s1172.photobucket.com/user/thehive201/media/Mobile%20Uploads/photo36_zps74c1ad9e.jpg.html)
http://i1172.photobucket.com/albums/r568/thehive201/Mobile%20Uploads/photo29_zps04027c6b.jpg (http://s1172.photobucket.com/user/thehive201/media/Mobile%20Uploads/photo29_zps04027c6b.jpg.html)
http://i1172.photobucket.com/albums/r568/thehive201/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_0502_zps7634a2b4.jpg (http://s1172.photobucket.com/user/thehive201/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_0502_zps7634a2b4.jpg.html)

i too have looked at the mookeh shifter and wondered if maybe something could be Frankensteined together but the RX7 Shifter was only $15 at the yard lol

[pennyman1]

the mookeeh shifter is made to replace the mount on the top of the tail housing on a starquest tranny - it mounts in place of the plate the stock shifter mounts to on the tailshaft housing. To make that shifter work, you would have to make a new top plate for the 6 bolt plate on the tailshaft of the truck tranny machined and drilled to mount the shifter in place. I am going to be pulling Geronimo's engine and tranny soon for block repaint and head swap - I will have my stedebani shifter out and will make a template of the adaptor plate I cut down to fit it on the tranny. If the RX-7 shifter shaft can be used with the d-50 mount pieces, then the short throw shifter could be used with the adaptor plate for the spacer. A longer shifter handle can be used if the shaft is too short for your taste, but most of these shifters shorten the throw, not the shaft above the shifter pivot.

[thehive]

Exactly, despite all my efforts I was only able to shorten my throw by a small amount. And I think that is mostly due to the bend in the shifter. With out changing the pivot point of the shifter you can't fully shorten its shift throws. I still love mine thou!!

[pennyman1]

the stedebani shifter was made by a starquest guy that worked out the ratio of the pivot point to shorten the throw of the shifter without shortening the shaft of the shifter. He made 2 types - a straight one, which I have, and one with a 15 degree bend like the original. That may not seem important, until you add a handle like I have on Geronimo - then you see why the 15 degree bend means alot - I had to turn the handle 180 from the way I want it because I would punch the dash in 1,3 and 5th gear. I plan on bending mine while it is out.

[thehive]

see that's just awesome!! a custom shifter hand made by a strarion/conquest forum member adapter to work on a MM, i like the way you think!

[Merrill]

This is how I made my short throw:
http://www.mightyram50.net/vbulletin/showthread.php/3055-Merrill-s-4G64-DOHC?p=26712&viewfull=1#post26712
It's toward the bottom of the post.

If you have the means, it's very easy to do. Once the new CNC is hooked up and ready, I could do a group buy for any who are interested. If you need assistance welding in a shaft spacer for it, I could help there too. Just another option if anyone needed. DIY is way cheaper than buying one either way :lol:

Finding a bolt-on solution would be cool. If anyone needs, I can assist in machining adapters and such for other shifters. Just let me know.

[pennyman1]

I was hoping you would join it on this - I can see a couple of different shifters coming out of this. I can send you the dimensions from the spacer from the stedebani shifter and the particulars of how it was made to see if it can be reproduced, or improved upon. There is even the starquest crossover market for this one.

[Merrill]

You could have just asked lol. Sure beats hoping

I would need the actual part to base dimensions on. There are a lot of specific measurements I need, and they need to be dead on.

Pics would be cool too.

[thehive]

http://nbingaman.wix.com/gntperformance#!short-throw-shifter/cvcx what do you think pennyman1? looks like the parts can be made to work

[BradMph]

It would be nice if the forum could invest into this possibly. Maybe if Camoit can take a look and see what he might think. Should be quite a few here and even non-members that would like something like this in their truck, I know I would jump into the collection as long as it didn't climb over $200 or so.

[thehive]

i agree, we need someone to spearhead a group build/buy

[camoit]

At Merrill.
You have a CNC? What is it. I have a 4060 Router heading this now. But it will be some time tell I get things ready to run on it. That and learning all the software like Solidworks, solidcam and Mach3.
I'm going into drone production.

[pennyman1]

The issue I have with the shifter kit he is offering is that the pivot ball for the shifter is not part of the kit. With the number of these shifters on our trucks, the ball is what broke - that is why the shifter is bad. The basic design of his base plate is like my stedebani - I cut the plate down to about 1/4 inch larger than the shifter gasket. It will work, just need all the rest of the parts to make it whole. Price is also high for an incomplete shifter, but if you are the only game in town, then it is what ever someone is willing to pay. On our trucks, the nylocs would not be needed -the bolts through the plate would go right into the holes on the trucks tailshaft. The bushing for the end of the shifter is also hokey - could see that split and slide up the shifter shaft and fall into the tailshaft and do some real damage. If someone could make the shafts (Merrill?) putting the bend in them would be the easy part. The plate is simple to machine on a cnc mill. Makes me want to put Geronimo's shifter out to see if I can find someone to make the shaft...

[Merrill]

Camiot, I have a 1200x1200 CNC router. Still waiting to get it all hooked up, but it's on Mach3 and I use Mastercam for my design and code. I also have access to a few other machines that can do just about anything.

[camoit]

So you can build the part in mastercam and does it make the gcode for mach3? I'm just setting the hole thing up now. I have herd so many diferent things I don't know who to beleve any more. I know Solidworks will not make gcode with out a plug in like solid cam.

[Merrill]

Yeah I can post the G-code to Mach3 straight off of Matercam. Solidworks is a CAD program, not CAM... huge difference. Mastercam is a no BS program that allows you to design virtually anything in any style (wire frame or solid), tool path it almost any way you can think of, and write/post the G-code. There is nothing else needed.

A lot of people hate using Mastercam. It does take a lot of time to learn and use, but it is nearly endless capability regarding CAM. I won't use anything else.