New Short Shifter Kit

deviant · Postby **deviant** » Mon Aug 22, 2011 10:41 am

I meant to update this to.

Yes it is the diameter and height of that bottom bush that varies. Such an odd thing to change from one model to the next! Miataroadster shipped a replacement bush out to me free of charge so it was fixed with no inconvenience to me.

The kit is seriously easy to install. If you have a full interior it should only take you 30mins or so and with no interior like my car it takes 10 minutes.

My car is not road legal so I had to wait to test it out but when I finally got on track...wow! I got the 'long' gear stick which is angled towards the driver and places the shift knob not to far from the steering wheel, my hand pretty much just falls on to it. The shift motion is longer than stock but you can feel what is going on with the bottom of the lever and I can now shift with accuracy and without having to think it through. I found before that going from say 4th - 5th I could not push the lever forward from 4th then hard right against the gate and forward for 5th, with the stock shift this would put you in dead space so I had to go from 4th and then aim somewhere between 3 and the dead space to hit 5, it was to slow and to easy to grab 3rd. Going from 5th - 6th was the same, I could not hold the lever hard to the right and pull straight back as it would jump in to the dead space and 'catch' on the reverse gate so it was a case of aiming between 4th and the dead space and hope to catch 6th instead of 4th! Those problems are now fixed.

I did wonder if I would have to relearn my car a bit with the gear knob being in a completely different spot but this was not a problem at all.

93_Clubman · Postby **93_Clubman** » Mon Aug 22, 2011 12:14 pm

FWIW, from memory there were differences between the NB8A 10AE 6 speed & the NB8B 6 speed. Perhaps the same applies to the NB8A Heritage model 6 speed & the NB8B 6 speed.

de Bounce · Postby **de Bounce** » Mon Aug 22, 2011 1:19 pm

93_Clubman wrote:FWIW, from memory there were differences between the NB8A 10AE 6 speed & the NB8B 6 speed. Perhaps the same applies to the NB8A Heritage model 6 speed & the NB8B 6 speed.

Would appear that some of these early 6speed boxes were also fitted to early (to Jan 01) NB8B!

93_Clubman · Postby **93_Clubman** » Mon Aug 22, 2011 1:37 pm

de Bounce wrote:
93_Clubman wrote:FWIW, from memory there were differences between the NB8A 10AE 6 speed & the NB8B 6 speed. Perhaps the same applies to the NB8A Heritage model 6 speed & the NB8B 6 speed.
Would appear that some of these early 6speed boxes were also fitted to early (to Jan 01) NB8B!

My understanding is it was the Aisin AZ6 6 speed transmission that was fitted to the MX5, but I guess seeing as manufacture commenced in Dec '97 immediately following "direct transactions" with Mazda, that some development of the AZ6 would have ensued as it became more popular in the MX5. See Dec '97 on Aisin's webpage here:
http://www.aisin-ai.co.jp/english/company/outline.html

and1 · Postby **and1** » Mon Aug 22, 2011 2:58 pm

Just wondering how much it cost you guys to get in into Aust? Especially you deviant as you are in Perth as well.

deviant · Postby **deviant** » Mon Aug 22, 2011 3:27 pm

and1 wrote:Just wondering how much it cost you guys to get in into Aust? Especially you deviant as you are in Perth as well.

$225 for a 99-01 'tall' shift kit. $45 postage. It arrived in about a week.

jerrah · Postby **jerrah** » Mon Aug 22, 2011 3:35 pm

Is there an easy way to identify which 6 speed you have?

de Bounce · Postby **de Bounce** » Mon Aug 22, 2011 3:53 pm

jerrah wrote:Is there an easy way to identify which 6 speed you have?

de Bounce wrote:The older box uses a 19mm bushing and the later is a 22mm bushing, as far as I can establish this is the only difference between the kits.
I would recommend anyone buying this kit for a very early 2001 NB8B ask Miataroadster to include both bushes.

Pull out the shifter and measure the diameter of the shifter bushing.

and1 · Postby **and1** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 11:46 pm

A question for those who have installed this shifter.

Did you have a gap between your small shift boot and the riser plate?

This is my situation:

I'm assuming I got the wrong Delrin bushing for my SE?

and1 · Postby **and1** » Sat Oct 01, 2011 2:23 am

Delrin bushing is in as far as it can go and the riser is on right. The new kits are sent out with the gaskets pre-glued into position and if that wasn't idiot proof enough he went to the trouble to right 'face down' and 'front' to orientate the riser plate.

Waiting on a email from MiataRoadster to see what can be done.

de Bounce · Postby **de Bounce** » Sat Oct 01, 2011 9:57 am

Agree, there should not be a gap.
Check that the derlin bushing is fitted correctly and fully in the socket.

When I received mine, it came with an inappropriate derlin bushing (later replaced by Bill)!
I removed the plastic bush from my OEM shifter and fitted it to the SSK
Took a number of tries before I got it into the socket correctly and eventually the SSK fitted down fully

As a side note, when Bill supplied the appropriate derlin bushing, I removed the OEM bushing and fitted the replacement.
I went for a fair drive and was disappointed with the revised feel of the shift action.
I removed the derlin bushing and refitted the OEM bushing to the SSK.
IMHO the OEM bushing on the SSK provides a better feel.
Also found the standard shift knob has a better feel than a voodoo magnum shift knob.

deviant · Postby **deviant** » Sat Oct 01, 2011 4:12 pm

That is how mine looked with the incorrect delrin bush. You can use the stock one and it will all fit together.

Having use the new shifter a bit I still really miss the snick-snick-snick two fingered, ultra fast shifts of the 5 speed gearbox. I'm not sure that the tall shifter MASSIVELY changed the feel of the 6 speed box but in my opinion it changes it enough to remove the need to think about the 4-5-6 changes.

and1 · Postby **and1** » Sat Oct 01, 2011 5:28 pm

Hey guys managed to fix the issues. Stock bushing was still there hidden under all the crappy grease that was in there. So everythings back in and hoping I will be able to go for a drive later to test it out.

Cheers for the help although I wish I had been a little more thorough :oops:

de Bounce · Postby **de Bounce** » Sat Oct 01, 2011 8:16 pm

and1 wrote:Hey guys managed to fix the issues. Stock bushing was still there hidden under all the crappy grease that was in there. So everythings back in and hoping I will be able to go for a drive later to test it out.

Cheers for the help although I wish I had been a little more thorough

Found the problem and a easy fix - win

bear2230 · Postby **bear2230** » Sun Oct 02, 2011 7:41 pm

I bought a Mazdaspeed shifter and I'm over the moon how good it is.
http://www.srmotorsports.com/srmiataSusp.html
Greg from srmotorsports was terrific to deal with and I would highly recommend them if anyone was looking at one of these. It did take a bit of negotiating on the shipping cost though. Ending up paying about $50.00 shipping which is probably 2 times what it costs to post but I wanted it pretty badly, so just paid it.
Dave at Mania has these in his cars and I know why now. They're just great. Reduces the throw by about half, sits in exactly the same position as the stock unit and shifts smooth as anything.
Many many thanks to Colster3 for the info on where to buy it. I looked for ages and couldn't find one anywhere.

Richard.