So yesterday I went out and picked up a Top Element shifter bushing. I must say I never thought that my Stillen short throw shifter would feel any better, but it does. Way better. The change is somewhat hard to describe. The gear shift lever just slides into gears. No more trouble finding gears, or hitting the shift gates. I’m truly impressed by this product, and recommend it to anyone with 5spd Maximas. The installation was a breeze, too about 20 minutes or so. The hardest part was getting the cat out of the way, and the heat shield. But all in all pretty simple install. Anyways I’m enjoying my 5spd even more now.



RANT!!

Anyways… While I was under the car I was looking at the cat that’s on my SE-L. It’s an RT cat. I was looking inside when I noticed that, there’s chunks’ missing from the inside. I’m like WTF, so bad cat it is. No wonder I’m not passing my emissions test. So I replaced this cat with the one from my old 97 Maxima. I also noticed that the flex section on my Y pipe has pretty much collapsed. The opening is about the size of a quarter now. I’m pissed at how Stillen makes some bad azz products, and some ****tie ones like this y-pipe.

 

It's always good remarks from you and your shifter. You must love that thing. Too bad stillen couldnt get the Y pipe correct.

still want those tails? PM me.

 

I agree with you 1FSTMAX. The shifter bushing makes the shifter feel so much better in our cars, it's amazing. Even with a stock shifter the improvement was awesome, and then with the Stillen shifter it made it that much better. Makes the car shift like a high end performance ride. This is a must have part for every 5 speed.

 

wow sounds realy good.
how much is the part?
can anyone explain what the bushing does? i guess it keeps things tighter and ..bushed.
i cant find any google on a "Top Element shifter bushing"

 

Top Element Tuning makes these parts, and the company is owned by Andy who used to be on these forums. He made me some nice stuff when I had the 5th gen, and is areally cool guy. Contact him at sales@t e tuning.com or top element tuning on aim.

 

i have the shifter bushing installed for 2 months now.

with the i notices crisper shifts with my b&m short shifter.
and its a lot easier to find the gears now.

i like it

 

ooo - i might if he doesnt

1fstmax - did you hear something different to make you suspect the cat? ive heard of guys saying they hear rattling from the cat when it goes bad. I have an RT cat as well.

 

whats the site where you can purchase these bushings?

 

Yes, this sounds like a must have. Who do i need to contact or where can i purchase this part? Just email sales@t e tuning.com? Are the spaces in there? I'm always looking for another way to improve the 5spd on the max.

 

You guys should just contact the email Kloogy posted above. It's without the spaces though.

 

I wonder if i can do a local pick up on this part? I live in Oxnard, near LA and I frequent Covina.

 

Do they have a website or something that lists their other products?

 

i would go 2 TOP ELEMENT TUNING for any of my auto needs.Andy is a cool dude. he helped me out alot with parts and when my car was down.hopefully if hes not 2 busy i can get my coilovers stalled by him cuz i trust his work

 

Anyone interested in purchasing email them @ sales@t e uning.com (no spaces) - they emailed me right away and gave me a price of $45 for the new bushing.

 

their site is currently under construction..

 

This is good to hear. I just purchased a shifter bushing kit from Energy Suspension. I plan on installing it along with my B&M STS... Can't hardly wait!!

 

I've read about this bushing, I'm still trying to convince myself to buy this small piece for $45; so far I'm not having much luck.

 

to me this mod is worth every penny...

 

$45 for a rubber bushing? Thanks but no thanks

 

Flex section. You can buy another one from most websites and cut/weld a new one in yourself. That's what I had to do on my catman. If it's the really short version (ie..4" flex), that is too short. Not enough "flex in the flex perse". It will just crush/break/leak etc... I used a combination of a 8" flex (with a 10" or so total length) and a 4-gen carsound cat (shorter than a 3-gen version). So my total length is about the same. Takes some measuring and welding of some pipes but it was worth it. I used to blow flex sections every 3-4 months. I've done this DIY over a year ago with absolutely no signs of leakage.
http://community.webshots.com/album/130755966JCNcyY

 

What's the difference between this and the oem shifter bushing??

 

It is filled with polyurethane. It is a hell of a lot stiffer.

 

The Energy Suspension kit is only $5.

 

I thought Energy Suspension only made one for the 5th gen is there one available for the 4th gen now? If so where can I order?

 

My understanding is that it fits all FWD nissans (maxima, I30, altima, sentra, G20, 200sx, 2000nx, etc.). For $5, I figured its worth a shot. I got it from Justin @ www.everythingnissan.com. Call the 1-800 get a hold of him.

 

I'm just going off of the online catalogs I've found... they list a part number for 5th gens, but list "n/a" for the 4th gen. I would assume if they were interchangable then Energy Suspensions would market them as such.

Let us know if it fits and how well it works.

 

Will do............

 

im actually doing a fed spec conversion, and getting rid of the front pre cat. I'll be using my cattman ypipe off my 97 which has a longer flex section that's lined.

 

If you ordered the part for the 02-03 Max then you are out of luck. Around 2002 Nissan converted to cable shift and it is completely different from the shift linkage that every FWD Nissan used before it. You can use ES part #7-1103 from a sentra. It replaces the front shifter bushing. You have to cut the rod that it uses and replace it with a bolt.

The *** one replaces the rear. I have both and plan on installing the soon. If I can't get the rear one out of my parts car then it will be sooner than I thought. The rear one will probably make a bigger difference since it is closer to the shifter and has more play.

 

the energy supension bushing is different than the top element one i have.

 

simple don't buy it... im just giving a review..

 

It is a polyurethane bushing assembly in a metal housing/bracket. Well worth the money for its quality and shifter feel improvement.

 

HOW DIFFICULT IS IT TO CUT THE ROD AND RE-BOLT IT TO PUT THE ENERGY SUSPENSION BUSHING IN? ANY PICS OR WRITE UPS?

 

Umm... I think cutting it would be a little extreme. I have the ES support rod bushings and they look like they will fit. However, you are right about installing them... Some how, that pivot must come apart so the new bushings can be inserted. I think that cutting the bar bould be a little too much though.

So far I think I am the only one that has purchased them I will post pics a little later in a seperate new thread as the ES shift support rod bushings are different than what is being discussed in this thread.

 

Hey, hows the tranny work doing?? I haven't been following much, did you get everything put back on? How did you get the new support rod bushings on if you already did that?

 

The tranny works great!! As soon as I got a used oem flywheel, took the signal plate off it bolted right up to my fidanza and put everything back in in about a day.

Fired right up and I took it for a nice long test drive... Everything is solid. The 5th gen clutch feels great. The B&M STS was a little notchy at first, but its wearing in nicely. I am babying the hell outta the clutch and the tranny (no shifting above 3000) for about 500-1000 miles. I will post an install thread later when I get the chance.

I have the ES bushings but when I saw that it was going to take some work to get them in, I just went ahead with out them... I will put them on someday.

 

Good to here! I am sure you are still getting used to the new pedal height and you probably peel-off unintentionally because you are used to giving it more RPM before engaging the worn-down clutch. BTW, did you install the main rubber thing for the shifter mount?

 

Yeah, the clutch is definitely a little tricky. I removed the extra bleeder line from the three way junction box on the clutch lines (the one that curly cues under the ABS, comes back up, hugs the strut tower area, and serves no purpose except for allowing you to bleed the system somewhere other than the slave). I plugged up the hole on the junstion box with a bolt. Some of the other guys have done this and they said it made to pedal feel a lot less mushy. Then, I replaced the 2 lower rubber lines with 1 SS clutch line. All that along with the new clutch...

I did in stall the new main rubber shift mount from nissan. This shifter is slop free!! But, because I installed it along with the B&M STS its hard too say what was reponsible... either way at only $10 in was worth it!!

 

I'm sure the Fidanza has a lot to do with that too, the lightened flywheel spins up and down alot faster than the stock one so the pedal will take some getting used to.

I have read several write-ups on the installation of the main rubber shift mount but I'm still uncertain on what to do exactly. Does the whole mount come off and will the main rubber piece come off w/o any cutting? If you could provide me a small how-to, that would be super.

 

I'm totally lost here guys.....

I just installed my B&M shifter last week and didn't see any bushings etc etc. Unless of course you guys are talking about replacing the stock rectangular rubber that the OEM change rod attaches too....

How is the T E T bushing different that the Energy Suspension bushing?

If the T E T bushing has polyeurathane and is stiffer, wouldn't that make shifting more difficult?

Anyway, I've only put 100 miles on my B&M STS and I like it, 3rd is a little tricky, but I figured I would get used to it. Trying to understand how this bushing can really help us 5spd guys with "easier shifts" and "cripsper shifting"= I just don't get it.