DIY Custom short shifter. (NOT TRUE SS. 56K BEWARE)

DIY Custom short shifter. (NOT TRUE SS. 56K BEWARE)

Ok, here is the step by step on how to ruin your shifter within 2 days of buyign your car. (like I did)

Warning. This mod DOES NOT make your car have a true short shifter. It WILL slightly lower the throw distance between shifts, but DOES NOT add lenght to the bottom which is needed to actually properly reduce throws. This will also help those guys that want to know how to put on aftermarket shifter knobs.


1) Pull off the shifter knob by turning it (lefty loosey, righty tighty)



2)once the shifter is off, decide how short you want to go. I chopped about 2" off mine.

Use a hacksaw to cut it. A dremel tool with cutoff wheel will also work, but tends to bind up and skip away quickly. this will easily scratch your interior, or cut yourself. A hacksaw has much more control

Note: the reason the top is rusty is because it was sitting in the back of my trunk for the last year. I really did do this mod 2 days after I bought the car.




3) You should now have an end similar to pictured below. Doint worry how rough it is. At this point you will need to have your new Shifter purchased and with you. I got one at walmart that had a leather top on it that closely matched the leather steering wheel. I figured keeping a stock look would e best for my interior. (I dont think that anymore)




Side step) Your shifter may need the top to be tightened if its not a one peicer. I put mine on and had the top loose for almost 1 year before I finally pulled it off to tighten it. Thats the only reason I am doing this DIUY. I had to take it off anyway. Find the philips screw inside the chaft part of the shifter knob. Tighten that as tight as you can without stripping the screw or threads.




4) Next put the knob screwy peice onto the shifter. It sucks when you have it all in place and find out you forgot this step




5) Select the length of set screws you would like to use to tighten it down. I found the 3 shorter ones worked the best. I DID NOT use the plastic boots that you are suposed to put over the shifter shaft. They just DID NOT FIT in. Once the 3 screws are tight though, it will never come loose. If you want to use the rubber things, thats your choice.




6) Sit in your driver seat and hold the knob where it feels comfy to you. You want to find the best position based on your seat position. Remember, this mod is for your enjoyment. So dont get your wife to pick where the shiter should sit. She can deal with it after its set in place




7) Once you have the position set, start tightening the screws. You want to do each one evenly so none of them are sticking out too far. If they are out too far you wont be able to screw the bottom peice on.




8) YOUR FINISHED.



A couple new step you may consider. Fold the top of the shifter boot inside the top to make it look cleaner. I have been meaning to make my own shorter boot for the last year. But never get around to it. Partly because I cant decide on the color I want to go with. Besides I think it looks fine like this.

Final Install Notes) Even though I only cut 2" off the actual shaft the shifter sits about 2.5" lower than stock. The reason is that the aftermarket one sits lower on the shaft. The way I decided the amount to cut off was to hold the shifter beside it at a hight that felt good. I then marked the shaft at the bottom of that knob. Then I stuck the knob on the shifter and marked the bottom again. This let me know how deep it sits. From there you can figure out how much to cut. I recomend doing ti 2" to start then go lower if you want.

I hade the Toyota dealer ask me what I did to my shifter when I took it in. All the techies thought it felt much more sporty after it had been cut, and wanted to know how I did it. I never did tell them though. Last thing I need is warranty proiblems for a 2" chunk being cut out of my shifter.

If you have any questions, post them up. Or add to anything I missed.




METH,

I will add this to the DIY section if you can copy the pics and post them on the server. I maxed out my website to be able to post these up here. SO I need to delete them soon

Stinky,

I just cut mine today. Instead of just taking it off the top, I took out a center section (I purchased a new shift set from Toyota just in case) and then welded the top piece back on. I used a TRD shift knob, and voila - psuedo-short shifter! Of course, then I read the thread the TMW is coming out with ours in a week or so....oh well! But great DIY - and it's a great fix to make the car way more fun to drive.

THANKS!

If you have access to a welder you can mnake your own into a short throw of the true style. Just weld that peice you chopped out onto the bottom and voila, true short throw. I just dont have access to a welder to do it.