I wrote a small book replying to someone looking for an sts for 5.5 gen cars. I'll keep it simple. There is a company called watkinsco (watkinsco@adelphia.net) that I learned of while farting around on e-bay. It's listed as an Altima, sentra, maxima 02-05 short throw shifter in e-bay(part#7958372600) They make a sts that is way better than the stillen version which is only one piece that attaches to the actual shifter, and then the TVM piece which is only one piece that attaches to the shift cable actuator under the factory airbox. The watkinsco sts has both pieces, and it works real nice. Guess what ? It's only $150 and it takes a chimp 20 minutes to install it. First to second is noticably reduced, but second to third and up are a lot closer, and the shift patern on a whole is tighter. I hit all the moving parts with a silicone lube spray just for the hell of it, and the sts shifts like butter. Check it out guys, and ladies (of course) I might be a maxima neebie to this forum, but i've been modding my cars for fifteen years. Trust me on this.

 

There are five pages of guys looking for a short throw shifter for a 5.5 gen maxima, and I'm hand feeding this forum with a great shifter I found, and no one has hit my thread with any input. Maybe I have the wrong title, not catchy enough. Just kidding, just trying to help out. Am I the only guy who goes through 4000 maxima parts on e-bay to find this stuff?

 

dood... you're a little on the slow side...

here's 10 pages of posts about the 2002/2003 STS: http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=358619

FYI - The STS that Stillen is selling is the exact same thing as the one on ebay by "watkinsco" - Which is the same one that you can buy through HP Autoworks, which is the same one you can buy through Mossy Nissan....

They're all made by one guy - Steve Watkins. So I don't know how you could say that the Watkinsco one from ebay is so much better than the stillen one, SINCE THEY'RE THE SAME ONE! Steve Watkins is also "companyman" here on the org.

As of right now, there are only 2 manufacturers of STS's for the 2002/2003 Maxima - Steve Watkins (ie: Watkinsco, Watkins Manufacturing and Fast-Shift.com) and TWM.

How do I know all this you ask? Because I'M the one that started the thread about getting an STS made by TWM for the 2002/2003 Maxima AND I'M the one that met with Steve Watkins, with my car, so he could prototype the STS he makes....

Also, as for greasing the shifter... there's another whole thread about it: http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=377189

You might want to look around the org a little, before you start post whoring everywhere about stuff that's already been posted... You did what, 4-5 posts in different threads about the 2002/2003 STS all without looking around to see if it existed already...?

All your STS's are belong to me!

 

.......Damn......

 

 

 

Sorry to **** people off, but I responded to a thread where someone was saying that there was NO sts for our cars, which we all know isn't true. There were five pages of people wondering when the sts was coming out on the thread I read last night, so I thought that someone needed help. Before Stillen had the two piece unit, they only had a one piece unit on the shifter itself. Stillen got the two piece unit from watkinsco. I DID NOT MEET STEVE PERSONALLY, BUT I SPOKE TO HIM ON THE PHONE WHEN I PLACED MY ORDER, AND HE TOLD ME THE WHOLE STORY OF HOW THE STS CAME INTO PLAY. Before I was a member to this forum I still looked over the threads to see if anyone had found an sts for us, and didn't see any threads on it, so when I saw a thread about it last night, I decided to try and help out because whoever wrote the thread was under the impression that there was no such product available for us, so I'm not the only one who didn't see previous threads. The only reason that I didn't buy the Stillen kit the first day it was out was because it looked like junk, and I wanted to wait to see if someone else would come out with something better. I waited and got the watkinsco sts through e-bay at the beginning of March. I had the sts on my car before I ever wrote about it in a thread. Sorry I covered something that had already been touched upon, but I responded to five pages of inquiries trying to help out. And if hnda etr was the guy who met with all of these people then why the hell would he post a thread for help when he already knows the scoop? I responded to that thread LAST NIGHT! If hnda etr knows so much about watkinsco and all the other sts kits, why the f*ck was this thread posted last night?

 

............that doesnt make any sense.......they are the SAME THING?!?!?!?!?

 

Steve at watkinsco told me that he was the one to build the better sts to replace the original stillen design. I'm going off what the guy told me. Yes, stillen has the two piece design NOW, but originally it was only a one piece that sucked.

 

Did ya notice the dates of the posts on that thread? I can only assume you're referring to this: http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?p=3849306 which was started by Hnda Etr in August 2004. His last post in that thread was in December, and was a reference to: http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=358619

The only reason why that thread was on the first page was because someone else asked about the TWM STS... and not because those 5 pages of posters had recently asked about a STS.

 

thank you for clearing that up PUPPETMASTER because I was getting blasted by hnda etr, and I didn't understand why. I'm not new to cars, but I'm new to the forum. HNDA ETR my apologies.

 

No problem... just trying to help...

Welcome to the .Org...

 

Puppet..........you "Peacemaker" you!!!! .......i'm not even out of popcorn yet.

 

course I still would like to know the differences between the TWM and Watkins. Ive heard lots about the Watkins (www.fast-shift.com) but the TWM ive heard nothing of.

 

Once again... is your friend...

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....hlight=TWM+STS

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....hlight=TWM+STS

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....hlight=TWM+STS

 

I swear to you I did that, but only came up with two posts.

you get me every time.

 

Maybe its time for a $20 donation... cuz that search function never lets me down...

 

Yea yea yea....thats on my list with the DDE's and the STS. Ill get there. I plan on doing it when I order my ORG stickers.

 

Welcome To Last Year

 

WoW, So your the one that wrote the emails to HP Autoworks and TWM Performance about getting the STS made for the 5th Gen Maximas. Wow once again, because I thought I was the one that wrote both companies. I guess I should go back to the threads and find the ones you started. Why do people insist they are the ones doing all the work here. Give others some credit.

 

No! I'm Sparticus

 

i invented the wheel...

i'm special too!
hehehe

 

We have one, and we are also running a group buy/intro price on it:

http://forums.maxima.org/showpost.ph...9&postcount=65

Check that post out for details. I have a limited quantities left right now. I don't want to make an official new thread because I'm not sure of the sponsor rules on this forum, and we tried to contact the owner with no response.

 

No problem...

 

That may be true... I also wrote to B&M about an STS for our cars.. But I AM the one that started the thread that got a WHOLE BUNCH of org members to email TWM... Why don't you read that thread and you'll see where TWM posts - saying that because of all the emails they were getting, because of MY thread, they were moving forward with the production of the STS....

Anyone can send an individual email to a company... but it takes numbers to make a difference.

And FWIW, Brian Catts (of Cattman Performance) was the one who I talked to first about an STS (after talking to Stillen and emailing B&M). He's the one that brought up TWM (He talked to them at SEMA, I believe, about an STS). I mentioned that I would start a campaign on the org to get people to email TWM and he fully endorsed this.

 

This is true... originally, Steve only had the one piece design - the one on the tranny - He developed the 2nd piece (the one mounted to the shifter inside the car) after the first one was released. This is why Stillen and HP Autoworks originally only had the 1 piece STS.

[edit] The 1 piece design does NOT suck. The only drawback is that it moves the shifter forward, towards the front of the car, instead of leaving it where it is stock - meaning that the shift pattern moved up a little bit.

Most people that got the 1 piece unit were not that bothered by the shift pattern being moved forward, however I know that that was the only thing that bothered Steve.

Looks like it bothered him enough for him to figure out a way to return the shift pattern back to like it is stock - hence the 2nd piece to the STS2 kit. [/edit]

 

If you look at the TWM unit, you can see that it looks a lot flimsier than the Watkins one. Also, Steve uses a stronger grade of aluminum billet to make his out of...

And hey, buy USA! (TWM is in Canada)

 

Oh, and I'm also the one that is prototyping the SSR/SFR turbo kit for the 2002/2003 Maximas...

You didn't happen to email them about a turbo kit did you...?

 

Great deal on a very worthwhile product..... (I see that yours is a Watkins Manufacturing piece too... )

 

And PoLo is the one that got Energy Suspension to make bushings for our car...

 

And mjg is the one that got Volk to make rims.... (ok, I'm lying here...)

 

Postwhoring is bad......

 

and what do we call what you just did.....

 

....gettin' calt' out!

 

Is the watkins sts still available to the public?

 

Do the free STD mod and spend the money elsewhere

 

welcome back 2005..lol

 

Discontinued, but some people still have it. One sold in the classifieds like last week.

You can have the free STD mod, I'll pass on that.

We don't need to know what you have.

 

And your point is, I saw this as a good topic and I wanted to ask questions about it? WTF is up with people these days and making stupid comments?

 

As far as I know, they are not producing this anymore.

I do have the STS mod done, and it works great. Reduces the throws and helps the shifting feel more direct combined with the ES bushings.