I have pics showing the stock shifter the B&M shifter and the FOCUS CENTRAL shifter. You can clearly see the difference in all three.

[ 01-29-2002: Message edited by: CTZX3 ]</p>

 

Cool! Thanks for posting that Chris. If I ever break my B&M, then I know which shifter to go with. I doubt it'd feel any different(actually, I could use even a quicker shift) but let us know if it does.
Jelo

 

So how much is the Focus Central one?

V

 

Thank you for posting the pics!

 

Cool pics. Time to get my FC shifter.

 

I called they said the price was $149 same as the B&M. Just hope the quality is better.

 

Aww I thought it was supposed to be cheaper.

Ohh well

 

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by ami2fst4u:
I called they said the price was $149 same as the B&M. Just hope the quality is better.

<hr></blockquote>


Well props to FC.
Look at it, it definitely is beefier than the B&M. The diameter is larger and the linkage pivot pin/mount is much bigger as well. Im not aware of any of the B&Ms breaking, but it would really suck if it did, so I think they added meat in good spots, so it will never happen, even under heavy abuse.

 

It does look beefer below the ball but I think I will stick with my stock cut down shifter cost$0.00 and it done right but hey if you guys want to send your money thats your biz.

 

you guys its BETTER, damn, get over it

I just came back from focuscentral, and they are pretty freaking dope there. They got tons of stizzuf there. Their stuff is top notch, and those new hoods with the scoops look so good in person. We got naders car back, but i will let him explain how much he likes it. Still, i held my own

It was damn fun, we dynoed it too, he should post the dynos soon. Dennis is an awesome guy people, he knows his stuff and is super cool.

 

I brought this back up TTT so you guys can look at the difference of the shifters, since a few peoples have had the B&M break.

 

Pickies no workie!

 

Pictures are working for me. Chris, check your private messages.

 

Now they're working.

Why wouldn't you just take the stock one to a machine shop and have them cut off 2", and put on a new thread?

Hell, I bought a 100 piece die and tap set for 1/3rd the cost of one of those shifters. I could do it for free.

Is there something I'm missing? Is there anything else about these things that is better than the stock one other than being shorter?

 

Well, the aftermarket ones supposedly break better than a cut stock-one would.

Is there any easy way to create a shorter throw w/o chopping the length of the shifter? I really don't want to have to reach even lower for it. I know you could change the length below the pivot point, but I don't think thats feasible... is there anything else (never taken one apart)?

 

hey chris next time i come homw we will have to take a pic of my cut stock one to show how short it is

 

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by P-51:
Why wouldn't you just take the stock one to a machine shop and have them cut off 2", and put on a new thread?<hr></blockquote>

You can. We did this at my place a couple weekends ago, and rethreaded the shifter. We took 3 inches off Seawolf's shifter, and it worked great, courtesy of Carizme's rethreading tool doohickey (which is still at my place with your seat, Carlos).

The travel is about the same as my B&M now, though I still like the feel of mine better. Could just be I'm used to that, though. Were it my money, I'd cut the stock down and pocket the $140 or so.

 

Not a whole lot. I got one expecting a bit more, but I'm not dissatisfied with it. It definitely feels more "solid." Firmer. I'm not sure if that's because of the heavier material or just because it's shortened, though.

 

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Ducman69:
Is there any easy way to create a shorter throw w/o chopping the length of the shifter? I really don't want to have to reach even lower for it.<hr></blockquote>

I was thinking about this earlier, and I can't remember how the shifter mounting bracket is connected, but if it's just bolted in (does anyone remember how the stock setup looks? It's snowing outside and I don't feel like pulling it apart), it might be possible to create some spacers that raise the entire assembly up, giving room for a custom-made shifter with a longer linkage mount part.

I'd probably seriously look into do this if I could find somebody that could machine a shifter for me. I have a friend with a 50% short shift kit on his Golf, and I'm jealous

.

 

See I didn't have to pay for the shifter or my exhaust. That is what my bf is for. He bought it for me. So it cost me $0 also....hehe.....

Cheryl

 

Raising the pivot point is a good idea if it works.

That way you get reduced travel but the same grip height. I assume you'd raise the pivot, cut the top, cut the bottom and use the material from the top to extend the bottom and have that duck-taped... I mean welded into place?

It'd be really neat to CNC a custom H-gate too instead of that ugly boot!

 

Well, I had my stock shhfter cut for abgut 9 months.

H got a food price on a B&M so I bought pt, when I took the stocb shifter out, I!noticed the the PLASTIC ball part of the shifter has a bunch of spider cracks on it. I vill try and post pictures.

The Focus Central one seems to be ` lot beefier at the bottom then the B&M so that is good(!

 

<blnckquote6<font saze="1" face="Vebdana, Arial">quwte:</fo~t><hr>Osiginallq posted by Ducman69:
[QB]

How wotld that work? I don't think it can. I'll stake P-51s reputation that the only reason its a shorter throw is because its cut down. Nothing else<hr></blockquote>

Tha't why I said earlier
"But like I said to those who just want to cut the top of their shifters, it can shorten the throws, but you can only shorten your throw by about 2~5% which is almost negligible.

Please read my posts.

 

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by wmudavey:
Deer skin??? won't that kinda clash? hmm......I hope you get pics. you should get some '**** skin headrests too!

<hr></blockquote>

Well, my brother thinks I'm nuts for the idea, but it actually doesn't seem like it'll clash much. The one I got was dyed a really dark brown, and happens to match perfectly with the fake wood trim (2000 ZTS). If it doesn't look good once it's installed (underneath my MOMO Race Air Leather knob, which has black pitted leather), I'll just take it off and dye it black, which'll just cost about $4.

 

I'm READING your posts quite well. You are providing some sort of 'evidence' from an undisclosed source with no reasoning behind it, that I am suppose to read like the bible w/o question.

I say it will make a much larger change (30%-40%). Chocolate raises your blood pressure by 2.75%. Yes, I just made those up.

What I'm asking is how will angling the bottom linkage connector alter the throw for both 1-3-5 AND 2-4-R? The amount of movement relative to the top movement has remained unchanged, regardless of changes on a horizontal plane at that level. The only change I see is that the neutral position will be achieved at an angle of the stick. This is good because the stock shifter HAS an angle on the bar itself. If you would like me to throw percentages at you, I can go ahead and measure the travel from 1-2 and then make a measurement 2.2" down and give you the perecentage difference. At least you will know where these percentages are coming from.

If you look at these short shifter kits for other cars, they are straight at the bottom and just cut the top of the linkage. Reason is that the stock unit doesn't have a bend in the bar like ours. Advantage is that these are cheap to replace and manufacture. They all advertise huge changes in throw reduction. But the REAL short shifter kits that maintain the stock height require the whole assembly to be replaced. This is a LOT more expensive and is why you just see people using essentially 'chopped' units that mimic stock but undo all the engineering that went into the proper ergonomic position of the stock unit. http://www.acc-unlimited.com/product/detail/ssk.html There are many more examples I can find, including the height ONLY adjustable BMW short shifter kits where you simply alter the length of the upper bar with an advertised 20% difference with just a few threads (30%-50% depending on height).

Remember, Ducman is confused and skeptical 87.4% of the time when random data isn't backed up with a source or reasoning.

I'll look up more webpages online to make sure I'm not on a wild goose chase. But so far all the ones that claim to be REAL short shifters have to reengineer the whole assembly including the pivot point, and the rest are essentially identical to these 'chop the top' short shifters. I see absolutely no way in how this differs from cutting of the stock unit. The ONLY difference I could really tell would be that if you cut the stock unit, the shifter won't be quite as far towards the back of the car as it would otherwise (think thats obvious but minimal change).

[ 01-31-2002: Message edited by: Ducman69 ]</p>