I have driven 3 maximas with sts's. 2 were pacesetter, 1 b&m. I loved the way the shifter was shortened, and how quick the shifts were. But, The shifting itself felt clunky and clumsy. even a little cluttered. So, I got ambitios and chopped the $hit of the stock rod!
I have an aftermarket shift **** that has hex key screws that screw against the rod to hold the **** on, so what i did, is dremeled out the shift **** collete, which was hollow. after doing this i could ram the shift rod all the way up into the **** so that it hit the inside of the top of the ****.

I figure this took off an inch alone. so i didnt want to take too much off. After some close examining and measuring, i figured 2.5'' was the perfect height. I took of the trim around my shifter and I hacksawed that much off in about 15 minutes. Then there was the problem of the two little bumps on the rod that were meant to hold up the shift boot right up to the ****. Well i took a hobby file and took care of those! SO i rammed the shift **** back on and felt it, felt good, but the shift boot fell down.
What i did to solve this was get a tiny hoseclamp from my garage, and take the rubber piece that sits on the bumps to hold the boot up, and i HOSEclamped it right to the rod, so it stayed in place and held the boot right up to my shift ****.

Then of course, i had to take the car for a ride. This setup is GREAT. I can lay my arm right on the center console and flick the shifter through the gears nice and swiftly..Best of all? NO CLUNKINESS! The shifter is smooth as butter still, looks great, and i can shift easier, with less effort, and a tad faster!

If you dont have the money for an STS, dont like their clunkiness like me, and dont plan on selling the car anytime soon, i HIGHLY reccommend this cost-free 20 minute "mod" It really looks and feels worlds better. Sorry, but I don't have pictures because my digi cam is broken at this time.

 

Good work, but this has been done years ago. There is also a good write up on it some place with pics. I have had mine cut about 2" for a few years now.

 

I'm sure its been done before, and i'm certainly not claiming to be the first but i just figured people would like to know that its a nice alternative to that notchy feeling. Thanks for the feed back!

Btw, must be nice to have a 5spd I30... Not many out there!

 

Putting synthetic in my tranny helped eliminate the notchy feeling with my STS.

 

Does anyone know where i can find that link with the write/pictures? thanks...

Chris

 

Its Not rocket science man! Just chop that motha with a hacksaw ghetto style

 

an alternative to keep the boot up is using a couple layers of electrical tape on the rod, it's held my boot in place for a while now. I also used a few layers of tape around the upper portion of the rod to keep the aftermarket shift *** from moving around. Those 3 hex screws tend come loose if there is too much play between the rod and the inside of the shift ***

 

thanks for the advice...that will probably work even better!

 

I'm automagic but i was wondering how you screw on the shift **** without threads. I ask because I like to learn as much as possible.

 

The shift **** has three little screws on the outside that you screw inward and they work like a vise clamping the **** on.

 

anybody find the write up w/ pics yet?

 

hacksaw+sweat= short throw shifter.
How's that?
Not to be a smarta$$, but how much more simple can it be. I did this when I bought my max in '00

 

I have done this to a few cars, and I must admit it works well. It's true about the STS being clunkey and what not. On one car we hacked the stock shifter and it looked great and shifted smoothly. Then we installed a STS months later to find out that it looked stock (long lever but short throw), had lots of slop left to right and was very notchy. The only plus side was the shifts got very short (duh). I'd recommend this to anyone who likes to save money and doesn't care about putting it back to stock.


There is another way to do this, but it involves welding.....well i think it would work on nissans. Cut a section out of the lever and weld the top back on so you can keep the threaded part....but this could break over time.

 

another way is to cut the shifter and then tap threads on it.

 

or just buy an aftermarket **** :

 

cough,cough.... IF you want to use the stock ****
"Thanks Mr. Obvious"

 

I have done this a couple of times, when you remove the stock **** and start hacking, (if you have a dremel it will take about 20 seconds to cut)
slide a garbage bag over the shifter to catch all the metal shavings quick and easy cleanup.

 

It doesn't sound too bad, I just don't wanna screw anything up ghetto riggin, that's why it's nicer to have a visual.