Anachronism

Most of you know that a Short Throw Shifter (STS) shortens the throw by lengthening the portion of the shifter below the pivot point (the plastic ball), and lowers the height by shortening the portion above the pivot point.

For example – The Adjustable Pacesetter STS overall is only slightly shorter than the stock shifter. The Ball (pivot Point) is on threads, putting the ball at its lowest position gives nearly stock throw and slightly lower than stock height. By raising the ball you lengthen the portion below the pivot point and at the same time shorten the portion above the pivot point, this shortens the throw and lowers the height.

Hmmm… Raising the ball shortens the throw and lowers the height…

I am cleaning out my shop and I come across my stock shifter. I throw it in my vice, grab my biggest pair of pliers and twist the ball back and forth until I can slide it up. I gouged up the ball pretty bad, in retrospect a strap wrench or at least putting a rag between the ball and pliers would have been a good idea . However the ball does require a significant amount of force to move so you might not be able move it without grabbing it directly with the pliers.

You can see the section below the ball on my stock shifter is now the same as it was on my pacesetter, about 3/4" higher than stock -


I was able to clean up the gouges with my dremel and some sandcloth. This also took some of the smooth finish off the ball, but it does not seem to be a problem. I was going to drill a hole and put some sort of set screw in the ball to hold it in place, but it seems to be on there pretty tight so I left it alone.

I have had the Pacesetter in my car for about 6 months. The Ooglie stock STS is higher than my Pacesetter but the throw is about the same. However I had my Pacesetter adjusted fairly conservatively so if you are looking for an extremely short throw this is probably not for you. My shifter now sits in the stock position (front to back) or slightly rearward of stock. But the difference is probably only less than ˝”, it is nowhere near the shift cutout like the pacesetter was.

Shifting feels smoother than the Pacesetter all around . It has only been about a couple weeks but no problems yet. You could probably cut the shifter to lower the height some or get a shift **** that sits lower. I may get a Sola Luna to lower the height a bit.

Of course if you try this you do it at your own risk. It wouldn’t hurt to have another stock shifter or STS on hand in case something goes terribly wrong (ball cracks or something ) There will be a used pacesetter for sale soon I think

clee130

Ooooooh ... interesting.

It would be even more interesting if I didn't have an auto.

blizz20oma

iTrader: (1)

So you can move the ball w/o loosening it too much?

Nice tinkering around, regardless.

Anachronism

All I can say is I was able to move the ball on mine and it is on there very tight at it's new position. I cannot gaurantee that anyone else will have the same results. Since I already had an STS in my car and the stock shifter was just kicking around my shop I had nothing to loose. I would not try this if I did not have a back up shifter in case something went wrong.

rbeyer

iTrader: (1)

interesting...don't know if I'll be bold enought to give it a try. I have been putting off buying the B&M since there has been a lot of interesting topics regarding sts's lately.

JeffesonM

iTrader: (5)

Very interesting indeed... I get a little red X for the pic. Email it to me jmerchan@hcsus.jnj.com and I'll put it up if you want.

Iilac

iTrader: (65)

Good find. Now I want to get another stock shifter and try out this mod.

Lordrandall

iTrader: (4)

I tried this with my stock shifter and I wasn't able to get the pivot ball to move. I didn't use a vice however, so it probably just takes more force.

Good cheap mod!

thanpto

I don't know if this would work, but try heating the shifter rod and then cool it down in the freezer. Hopefully, the cold will contract the rod and make it easier to move the ball.

njmaxseltd

iTrader: (19)

The OSSTS is born!

chinaonnitrous1

iTrader: (12)

max7

This is a good mod. I already installed my Pace but this will be good info for someone that has not gotten one yet. Good post!

Raf2kMax

iTrader: (2)

time for a 5 or 6 speed swap

SonicDust187

iTrader: (11)

On my 98 the ball of the stock shifter was part of the shifter and one cant move it.

Anachronism

It's hosted on my cardomain site and I can see it on my wifes computer (It doesn't have the cardomain logo on her computer ). Maybe car domain was down when you looked before More pics are here -- http://maxima.cardomain.com/member_p...=207173&page=8

I used a ridiculously large pair of pliers to move the ball, they where the first ones I picked up so I never tried it with a normal size pair of pliers but it was on there very tight. I used a back and forth twisting motion until I got the ball where I wanted it and it was still on there very tight. Be carefull not to crush the area where the shift linkage attaches in the vice.

Unless your car is somehow different (does it look like mine in the pic above?) -- the ball is plastic and the rod is metal so they are obviously two different pieces. I assume the ball is formed on the rod somehow. As I said above it is on there very tight and requires a significant amount of force to loosen.

SonicDust187

iTrader: (11)

I dont have my shifter anymore but I believe the ball and shifter were metal and one piece.

95emeraldgxe

congrats, your the father of a new mod!