Current thoughts on shifters? S13

[Rittmeister]

I've been through half a dozen shifters with my car, and I can never seem to find something I really like.

1. Stock shifter - too rubbery. Never really minded the length of throw, but it never felt positive enough.

2. B&M - tried it once, sold it, tried a few others, and bought another I'm currently using. Very positive but "notchy" - I'm not always happy with the effort involved, but I've never missed a shift. I like the short height too.

3. Megan B&M knockoff - worked OK but didn't seal against the tranny very well and leaked as a result.

4. Ebay C's knockoff - the type that clamps around the collar the shift lever sits in. Again, worked pretty well, but leaked like the Megan.

5. Attain - this is essentially a solid version of the stock shifter. No rubber bushing, it's solid steel. Very positive, but it had clearance problems with the console. I had a shop bend it, which caused other issues.

Sigh. I wish there was a solution similar to what I did with my B13 - I tried a number of short shifters with that car and came to the conclusion that stock was best. I wanted a shorter height though so I cut about 1.5" out of the lever and coupled the two pieces back together so I could still use the stock knob.

Anyway - I'm curious whether any of you guys have found other solutions. My current scheme is to mod the Attain to make it shorter since I already have it, or to try to find a Uras shifter and cut it shorter. I fear though that no matter what I do I'll end up annoyed and back to the B&M anyway, notchy though it may be.

[Longfellow]

I have a B&M. Its alright I guess. I'm used to it so I dont mind it to much, but I agree with it beeing a bit notchy. I'm so used to the effort it takes to shift it I dont even notice it anymore untill I drive some one elses car.

Has anyone ever tried a Nismo S/S?

[Rittmeister]

I've never tried the Nismo, but I imagine it'd be a lot like the Attain - essentially stock throw, but much more positive since it's solid. The price of the Nismo always turned me off. The other shifters I've tried were either cheap to start with, or used and discounted.

[Longfellow]

Yeah, but every once in a while you'll find some one selling it for cheap.

You could also get one of those solid bushings for your stock shifter.

[e1_griego]

Stock shifter for me -- I would like to get the cusco metal bushing thing, but that's in due time.

I run the nylon t3 shift knob which I like, but I wish it was heavier. Does anyone have the rubber nismo knob? How heavy/durable is it?

/hijack.

[Matt93SE]

Stock sloppy shifter here. people get in my car and grab the shifter and think it's in neutral because of all the play. I've replaced all the bushings on it, but it still sucks. the plastic cup inside the tranny is worn and flops around.

I'm just going to replace the tranny with a Z32 tranny.

as for shift knobs, I have the stocker on the 240, but run a Z32 anniversary edition on the Maxima. I love it. It's pretty heavy and really smooths out the notchy throws from the modified stock shifter on it.

[Bumnah]

B&M over here. I installed it when I installed my SR. I've never driven an SR20 with the factory shifter, so I have no comparison for it. I like it just fine. I had the GReddy weighted shift knob, but it got too hot to touch when sitting in the sun. I put in the Tomei duracon knob, and I'm very happy with it.

[jmauld]

At one point Tanabe made some bushings to replace the factory bushings in the OEM shifter. I put those in my car and was satisfied with those. It was a nice improvement over stock.

[Rittmeister]

What bushings can you replace in an S13 shifter? Other than the little plastic one at the bottom that goes into the tranny?

I've also given some thought to the HKS shifter return springs...

[jmauld]

Well, I did it on a S14, I assume they are the same though.

There's the little plastic bushing that's about the same diameter as a penny, and then there's a much larger cup that about 2" in diameter.

Here's the kit.

http://www.optionimports.com/tatrbukit.html

[Rittmeister]

Whoa. Where does the "cup" go?

[jmauld]

Inside the transmission.

If you have a copy of the 1995 manual, it's on page 392 (MT-10)

[El_Guapo]

I've been using the B&M With a leather nismo shift knob since I did my 5spd swap. I like everything about it, except!, when I go from 1st gear to 2nd gear it's almost like I have to pull down, quickly go to the right, and then finish pulling down to 2nd.


Then again, it might just be my tranny, unless anyone else has experienced this with their B&M shifters.


Ivan

[a_ahmed]

I hate the stock one period. Sorry...

Long time ago I used to find the short shifter feel weird but now I can't live without it.

I wish I went with b&m but i got the megan racing v2 which is basically the b&m knock off.

For a long time it was vibrating and making some resonating sound... and after 3 days it broke... but then I installed the oem shifter bushing and it's pretty good 99% of the b&m so meh its alright.

Also shift knob wise I had the DSM 2G shift knob... it helps with shifting as it was heavier but recently got a solid metal spherical knob which is like 1lbs+... it feels really nice now.

[jr_ss]

I had an authentic C's and it was great. It definitely reduced the throw and wasn't notchy at all.