I've been looking into the mods that can be put into my Maxima and I think the short shifter is a worthwhile investment. Anybody have any experiences with them and can recommend some good brands? Also, about how much does a good, decent short shifter run? I've seen them ranging anywhere from $30 (Ebay crap) to over $200. What's the best short shifter I can buy value wise without spending an arm and a leg on it? Thanks.

 

B&M or TWM shifters. Both would run around $130ish

 

I bought the pacesetter one IIRC, for ~$85 on ebay. Make sure you get one that is adjustable, and one that actually lowers the stock shifter. Having a short throw is fun, but lowering the shifter to get it out of the way of your cd player is crucial.

On a side note, I don't particularly recommend it, as to make it fit, I had to lower it all the way down, so the throw is MUCH too short. Even at that, it is all the way to the front, and touches the plastic trim piece, kind of annoying.

 

i have b&m in my car. as with any short shifter, the throws are significantly shorter, albeit a little bit "notchier" than stock. i also like that its not too high up, i like the shifter a little lower than stock.

you gotta pay to play. good luck!

im leaving the 4th gen world soon, well technically i already left it since i have a new car but its still for sale.

 

B&M... Best STS out there.

 

yeah B&M FTW, you wont have any problems after its installed.

 

Yup.

A little while after I installed it, I started getting a rattling in 5th gear. I was p!ssed. After a few more thousand miles it kept getting worse and in other gears too. I thought it was the B&M but it turned out one of the bolts that holds the shift rod to the tranny was slowly coming loose. Eventually, the nut cam off and the bolt became dislodged and the shift rod separated from the tranny. The car was stuck it gear!!! I had to pull over an call a tow truck. I put new bolts in with lock washers and lock nuts on the shift rod and the rattling was gone.

I wrongfully blamed B&M.

 

SRE is the best by far, cheapest, solid construction - made from steel, no issues with the shifter sitting to close to the front gears after install like other people have had with the b & m. It's like $23 shipped.

 

Where can I find this shifter?

 

Ebay, but no longer available.

 

Is this short shifter any good?

 

that is the one i have. i like it. But think it needs to be more sloid feeling, but it has been good, no problems. i would reccommend it, but i bet the b&m is better.

 

The B&M shifter is the best built shifter out.
All the others are just as functional but dont have the quality the B&M unit does, so its up to you how much you wish to spend.
Personally, I bought the 20$ OBX one off ebay, It is SS and not the aluminum and Ive had it on for well over 3 yrs and no issues. The STS just shortens throws, not height so if you want that short shifter look you will hve to hack it, many have including myself.


i30ds,
I had the same thing happen to me, although it never rattled before it came off...
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....ht=fun+shifter

 

Is the SRE one adjustable? For that price it sounds like it is not. Also, does it lower height at all? Or just throw? Personally, the stock throw didn't bother me, it was just height. I probably should have chopped my stock shifter.

 

You too huh? I thought for sure I would be the only one to have this happen to. It really sucks. I had to call a tow truck because I was stuck in 4th gear (happened on the 4-5 shift). As soon as I went to shift, the shifter had a **** load of free play and the whole shift rod crashed down on the heat shield over the cat. I instantly knew what had happened. I slowed down and pulled into a chruch parking lot and looked under the car and saw the shift rod hanging down.

 

So you dont have the heat sheild in place?

 

^^^ Same thing happened with mine but i was able to tighten it and get new bolts before anything like that happened.
Oh BTW get the B&M. i like it a lot

 

I still have the heat shield. The rod separated from the tranny not the shifter like what happened to you. So it was the other end of the rod hanging down. The effect is still the same though. No shifting. All I had to do for the fix was jack up the car put the rod back into the tranny shift fork and install a bolt with a lock washer on one end and a lock nut on the other.

 

Good thing you got to it. I just thought the rattling was from the B&M shifter. It kept getting worse and worse because that bolt was getting more and more lose with each day.

 

How did you go about hacking it Flava? I was laways thinking that the STS didn't lower the rod height and you confirmed my suspicions..

 

I used a Dremel tool.

 

I put one of the cheap short throw shifters. I've had no problems with mine. I guess I got lucky.

 

and then rethread it?

 

Nope, had to use a universal type of shift ****, that clamps onto the shifter versus threading onto it.
In order to get a threaded **** onto it, you would have to take some of the diameter off, and then have it threaded. Since the shifter was shortened, its quite a bit thicker down low then the top section is.