I read somewhere on the internet about shortening a Maxima's (manual tranny) shifter with a hacksaw but don't remember where. I was wondering if anyone knew anything about this and if it's possible due to the threads at the top of the shifter. Just curious about it. Thanks!

 

if you get an answer to thsi please postit..i wanted to get a short shifter but im not sure if they make them for a 3rd gen..and if this is possibl eid do it...thanks

 

yes, you can cut the shifter with a hacksaw, but then you'll have to make new threads at the top (there are tools that do this fairly easily)
that won't actually shorten the throw though, but it still may feel a little better

Stillen makes a short throw shifter I think
I know Pacesetter does (which you can get from carparts.com)

I have the Pacesetter and it's great; it's adjustable too
I got mine off ebay

 

I also have the pacesetter shifter. I don't know about yours Craig, but mine has two sets of threads, one lower than the other so you can cut it and move the shift **** down. I haven't done it yet but I thought that was cool feature.

 

yeah, that's what I meant by adjustable; you can move the ball on the lower threads to adjust the height
granted it sucks to change once you've installed it since you have to do everything again
I had mine in the middle at first, but then moved it to the shortest throw recently (not a big difference but a little)

 

I really want to get that PaceSetter short shifter for my 93 SE, I hate the super-tall stock one. But how easy is it to install yourself? Did you guys do it yourself? And if you didn't how much did the install cost?

 

I installed mine; it would have been a ton easier if I could get the catalytic converter off, but I couldn't so I worked around it

you have to remove the heat shield above the cat and then remove a few bolts to replace it

it's a dirty job, but not all that hard

 

Sounds good to me, I ain't afraid of no dirt. As long as it comes with a diagram or some sort of general instructions...it does...right?

 

Actually Craig, I meant that there is two sets of threads ON the actual shift lever itself, not the ball that is at the bottom. On the rod itself, there is a set of threads at the very top that the shift **** is attatched to, and below that about 3 inches there is a 2nd set of threads so if you want to cut the actual lever you can do so and still have threads to screw a shift **** onto. Mine has this, I don't know if they put out different models depending on when you purchased it.
-Adam

 

mine did have that, but I didn't realize taht was what it was for
that's a pretty good idea maybe I'll do that someday

as for instructions, it came with written instructions which didn't help me out. I found a 4th gen site that showed the install on a 4th gen which was pretty similar so it helped, but you can figure most of it out by taking apart bolts until it comes out
search on google.com for "maxima short shifter install" or something. The site had vbmax in the address or something like taht

 

Yeah it took me like 3 months to figure out that was what it was. I always thought it was to keep the shift boot from slipping down but it was too low, so then I realized what it was! Eventually I would like to cut it, but I dunno if it would be too low.
-Adam