Does anyone have the Pacesetter Short throw shifter. If so how do you like it and if you installed it yourself any tips thanks

 

There's like 26 separate threads when you do a search on Pacesetter. I'm not saying all of them have what your looking for, but at least you could read through those before starting a new thread.

I like mine, would never do without.
It was kind of a pain to install because I couldn't get my cat off. One of those threads in the search results contains a link to a site that has photos of the install. Good luck.

Search!!!

 

Anybody know if there ever going to come out with STS for the 2002 SE. This is the only mod I would like to do and of course, it hasn't been available.

Jet

 

I put my Pacesetter on last night. Two things:
Be very careful removing your shift **** if you mean to keep it. I was switching mine out for a 2001 AE **** so I was not as gentle. Second, getting the stock shifter out of the ball joint is a royal B*TCH. This is rarely mentioned in any of the other threads on installation. Here is a brief overview of the steps I took.

1. Car up on ramps, open hood, drink beer, watch tv, use restroom. The cat is so damn hot if you don't wait you ARE going to roast something. Take off the shift **** at this point if you are bored.

2. Take off the bottom heat shield attached to cat (4 10mm bolts)

3. Take off cat nuts with a 14mm box wrench (closed end) use a long one and a hammer to help break through the rust and a bit of wd40.

4. Take off cross member behind the cat over the B-pipe. 12mm bolts, don't let cross member bash you in the forehead as it comes off.

5. With cross member off you have plenty of wiggle room to remove the cat, watch for falling crap out of the pipes into your eyes.

6. Remove heat shield over cat 5 10mm bolts, caution razor sharp edges on shield.

7. Remove linkage bolt, 13mm on nut and 14mm on head, don't ask me why..

8. Disconnect spring from linkage, move shift linkage down and out of the way. Remove the 2 nuts holding the ball joint to the bar on either side of the shifter.

9. Remove bolt holding the bar to the isolation rubber, pull the bar down and push the rubber boot over ball joint up and off.

10. The only way I finally got the joint to come apart was to push the joint up a bit, twist it a few degrees until the bolts coming down were sitting on the bar, leaving a gap for movement of the internal parts. Pull like an SOB until the joint begins to come out, then use a flat bladed screwdriver to GENTLY wiggle it out further. Remember to put the screwdriver only on the white nylon underneath the rubber seal on the joint. After a couple of wiggles, you should be able to pull the shifter out of the joint.

11. Reverse everything to put it back in and grease the inside of the joint, the ball, and the inside of the joint holder so it slides back in easily.

12. Bash in the heat shield so the shifter clears it. I bashed mine a bit TOO far and when I start up the cat taps into it.

I put my ball up about 90% of the way on the threads and it is an extreme difference from stock.

This is just how I did it, you might find a better method while under your car, just don't do anything that breaks, cuts or bends ANYTHING (besides the heat shield). This is an aftermarket part being installed by amateurs, I am not a pro, so these are just guidelines, not directions.

Enjoy

 

ah, a subject near and dear to my heart.

My advice - don't buy a pacesetter.

If you do buy one, be prepared to shave down the ball to make it fit in the bracket properly. Installing it without doing so by forcing it in will only result in a shifter that sticks. It will not loosen up over time. In fact, as it heats up it will get tighter. A dremel will work pretty well to shave the ball and will get the ball to approximately the correct size.

As for the install I think the last post is pretty accurate except if you have a universal joint for you socket wrench set you can leave your cat on - this is especially helpful if you find the cat bolts are stuck.

Despite what Russ says - this is not a 1/2hour job. I'd allow at least 2 hours if you have to shave the ball.

I've also helped install a B&M shifter and as opposed to the pacesetter, it comes as one complete unit. It is far superior to the pacesetter IMO. But it is more expensive.

If you get lucky and get one that has the proper size shift ball, it is fine, though.

 

<Lumburg> Um...Yeah...I'm gonna have to go ahead and disagree with you on that...

There are plenty of people that installed the Pacesetter (myself included) that did not shave the ball. Additionally, it seems to be the popular opinion that the shifter does loosen up after about a week. I can attest to that. My shifter was stiff when i installed it, and now it's awesome. It's notchy, but certainly not stiff.
The ball was difficult to get in, but it does fit. There are very few people that altered the ball. Altering the ball has not been the method of choice.
As far as heat effecting the stiffness. I live in Western New York where the temperature ranges from 5 - 95 degrees. I notice no difference in the shifter with hot/cold fluxuation.

 

It may have just been my experience but there are numerous others on the board who have had the same problem as me. As I see it it is likely a quality control issue by pacesetter.

I drove around with mine in too tight for 3 MONTHS. It did not loosen up. In fact, after driving for 15 minutes or so it heated up and got worse. Florida is hotter and more humid than NY so maybe that is why.

Although Russ accused me of being incompetent and claimed that I MUST HAVE DONE SOMETHING WRONG. I didn't.

In fact, the ball was so difficult to get out of the bracket when I went to re-install that it took me about 1/2hour to do so.

After my experience with that product I simply would not buy it again or recommend that anyone else do so.

 

I had no issues with the ball joint fitting correctly. It was exactly the right size...the surrounding mechanism is fully closed around the ball, with no fitment issues whatsoever. I greased it up quite generously.

I agree 100% on what a pain-in-the-a$$ getting the stock shifter rod and ball joint separated is. That took some serious force and the instructions don't reflect what a pain that was.

I love it, one of the best modifications I've made to the Maxima. It does not stick cold, it does not stick as it heats up.

I took the cat off to do the install and after removing the cat, the installation took about 30 minutes. I'd remove the cat if I were you...made the installation a piece of cake.

I whacked the heat shield from top to bottom to give the bottom of the shifter about three extra inches and that was perfect. It is nice to have somebody who can shift through the gears while you hold the heat shield in place so you don't have to do trial & error too many times attaching and removing the heat shield. If you drill a hole it in, that would solve your problem as well.

 

****I drove around with mine in too tight for 3 MONTHS. It did not loosen up. In fact, after driving for 15 minutes or so it heated up and got worse. Florida is hotter and more humid than NY so maybe that is why.****

I also have to disagree with you Max, mine has been in for 24 hours, but I live in GA and it has been as hot if not worse then FLA. Mine is a little stiffer due to a change in leverage and YES the delrin ball IS a few thousandths of an inch larger the rubber gasket in the socket will MORE then take up that slack. I have a long drive and mine stayed the same throughout.
The statement about the heat and humidity is not true for two reasons. Delrin has "Dimensional Stability" meaning it is not going to change size when environmental factors change such as heat or cold.
Also Delrin has "low Moisture absorbtion" which is pretty clear. Both the Nissan side of the socket and the Pacesetter side of the socket are made from this material; which is now being used to replace many industrial metals.
Go to Dupont's website about their product here: http://www.plastics.dupont.com/NASAp...ts/delrin.html

There are a couple things that might have happened to make your shifter so difficult. If you removed your heat shield, it could have fried any lube that was in their, or if the lube used was not heat resistant it might have fried with the shield on. Or the receiving side of the socket is two pieces and they could have become misaligned and could be binding the ball.

 

I think I was pretty clear in explaining that I installed the STS properly. If you are able to identify the potential problems that I may have had installing the STS, why is it that you assume I do not have the technical ability to do that myself?

So, I'll repeat this: I INSTALLED THE STS CORRECTLY The pieces of the socket were properly aligned and assembled. The ball was properly lubed with the lube they sent me. When I uninstalled the STS the lube was of the same quantity and consistency as when I put it in there. Perhaps the teflon lube experienced heat problems but if it did, the resulting problems were caused because the ball was too big. The rubber gasket in my case did not take up the "slack" - it made the fit too tight.


Understand what I am saying - In my case:

THE BALL WAS TOO ****ING BIG

There are others who have had the same problem - just try searching.

I'm simply giving my impression of the product. Feel free to state that your experience differs from mine. But please don't insult me by insinuating that the problem lies with something I did when in fact it was the product.

incidentally, I have also considered the possibility that my shifter setup was smaller from the factory - however, I believe that Nissan's manufacturing tolerances are likely to be more consistent than those of a muffler shop like pacesettter.

 

thanks guys

 

Hey, for all you guys who keep "disagreeing" with Max_Gator...give him a break. You really can't "disagree" with his experience since you didn't have it with him. zman187 asked for opinions and experiences and we all have given him our personal opinions and experiences. Max_Gator, even if he was the only person on God's green earth to have fitment issues...still had fitment issues. I believe the guy, I didn't have the issues myself.

It's all good Max_Gator...go out and drive your Maxima around for a while and bring that pulse rate down.

 

LOL. Excuse the tantrum.

(but I'm not the only one dadgumit).

 

I know...I'm just standing up for your right to have had a different experience than me. Kind of like me telling you that I just drove from Seattle to Portland in 3 hours and you saying, "No you didn't, it only took me 2.5 hours."

IT TOOK ME THREE HOURS DAMMIT!

 

Don't skimp, get the B&M - perfect fit & no breaking in required.

 

Kind of like the pacesetter from my experience.

 

hopefully I won't have fittimant issuses I'm having a performance shop put it in so.. hopefully all will go well if it ever gets here

 

...except this. For me, I'll pay a little more for less pain. But hey, we're both happy with our choices, right? So, everything's cool.

I think the B&M is a good choice if one is contemplating the Stillen STS as it replaces the whole assembly (like the Stillen) and is much cheaper (than Stillen's).

 

You said the B&M was a perfect fit with no breaking in and the PaceSetter was also a perfect fit with no breaking in. That's why I said, "Kind of like the PaceSetter from my experience."

The point about separating the support mechanism from the stock shift rod has nothing really to do with the PaceSetter being a perfect fit or breaking it in. It is about how tightly the stock assembly is put together and that it took some elbow grease to get them separated. The B&M and Stillen replace the entire support mechanism, so you would not have to separate the support assembly and stock shifter, right?

That certainly makes the install take about 5 minutes less time, if that's what you were going for. To each his own, I suppose. In the end, the price difference is insignificant between all three shifters...my choice of the PaceSetter was primarily because it is adjustable and there is no value gained by replacing the entire support mechanism.

 

Nothing is perfect. Every car is not made EXACTLY the same and every product isn't made EXACTLY the same. That's why ten people might have a good experience with it and one person may have a bad experience.

 

Not to put you on the spot but in one of your posts in this thread

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....&highlight=sts

You did say that break in was necessary to loosen up the shifts.

Anyway, the purpose of my original post was not to bash Pacesetter but simply to let people know that there is a third option for shifters that fits perfectly, feels great and sits between the pacesetter and Stillen with respect to price (In almost all of the shifter threads I've seen it's either Pacesetter or Stillen.).

So, if someone doesn't want to take the chance with the PS STS (like me...I saw John's [Max_Gator] pain first hand) they have another option other than Stillen.

 

Correct. The point he is making is that the problems that some of us have experienced with the PaceSetter are due to using parts that are manufactured by different entities at different times. On the contrary, with both the B&M and Stillen, all the parts are designed and manufactured as one complete assembly. Thus it is far less likely that there would be any fitment problem.

But, hey, having said all of that I am still driving around with a PaceSetter.

 

You're going to love this response, but I didn't know what I was talking about in that post. I had just installed it and was thinking I should expect a feel much like my stock shifter, which isn't the case having PM'd around other STS owners...mostly Stillen since that's the one that most folks have installed over the past couple years. Good research job though, let knowbody ever accuse you of not knowing how to use the search function.

Anyway, the purpose of my posts have been to let everybody know that my experience with the Pacesetter has been excellent and why not try it first since its the only adjustable option. If it doesn't work out...buy a different one...although I tend to think it will work out. I have lots of respect for B&M shifters...great reputation, have friends who have dropped them into their Audi's.

Not to put you on the spot, but in this thread...you recommended against removing the front pre-cat on a CA-spec Maxima.

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....threadid=24785



Yeah, I know...silly, ain't I.

 

Just want to share my experience with the Pacesetter STS. I have a 2k maxima and I installed the Pacesetter STS in my car. The stock ball was definitely smaller than the replacement Delrin ball that came with the kit. There was no way the stock coupler could fit around the new ball. It took 5 minutes to shave the ball down to size and install. Other than spending two hours taking the rusty cat out and five minutes to shave the ball, the install took about 20 minutes. It took about a couple weeks for the shifter to really break in. It would stick esp. shifting from 2nd to 3rd. The shifter does feel smoother when the car is cold, but when it heats up, it gets slighter stiffer but it doesn't stick anymore. All shifts are quick and smooth now.

 

When you say you shave the ball, how exactly did u do it...with a dremel or how exactly

 

I've read people using a dremel to shave material off the ball to get the correct diameter. I found it easier and quicker by using a drill press. I found a screw with the same thread size as the ball and screwed it in the ball. The part of the screw that was sticking out, I stuck in the chuck of the drill press. Turned it on, and I used a file to shave it down. Shaved it right down to size.

 

Well, maybe I was the lucky one. I suppose I'm just getting further and further into the ditch with Max_Gator & 2K2DEMAX ain't I?

 

Not to put you on the spot, but in this thread...you recommended against removing the front pre-cat on a CA-spec Maxima.

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....threadid=24785

 

when putting on the sts we aren't removing anything we are just taking out the normal cat so we can put the shifter back in...everything goes back to the way it was

 

If that was a question, then the answer is yes.

 

no it was a comment to the thread above mine

 

I'm extremely happy w/ my pacesetter. I took me a good 4 hours to do, since I had to find the right tools as i went along. Also I did it by myself and I'm a perfectionist (sometime too much). I don't think the ball was terribly oversized. I think the reason for the firmness of the sts is just the change in leverage. My shifter is firm, but never a problem. The mt-90 tranny fluid helped smooth shift out somewhat. I highly recommend this mod to anyone wanting to make their 2k, or 2k1 max more fun to drive. Other than my 2k2 headlamp, this is my favorite mod (so far).

 

Does anybody have the B&M shifter. Saw it a few weeks ago on some site but never heard it mentioned. Any other input on it?