me and my friend just intalled skunk2 short shifter with energy suspension bushing..

first of all, shifter feels very heavy and stiff to engage the gears.. is this normal? are the bushings causing this stiffness?

second, during the process of installation, we tightened up the bearing and tested out how it feels to shift. it felt like the short shifter was stuck, and it won't move. so my friend loosened the bearing, and it felt pretty stiff, but still better. But now when i drive it, this rattle noise is coming from the short shifter. What could be the cause of this rattle noise, can it be the loosened bearing? short shifter itself does not rattle, and it doesn't seem to touch the exhaust piping either..

are they causing by poor installation? process was pretty straight forward, i don't know where to look for mistake. Please help with any opinion, i feel so dumb wasting $140 when i had a perfectly balanced stock shifter which feels so much more comfortable...

 

it should feel great,
but in ur case, sounds like u tightened the shifter too much (the part where u ahve an allen wrench and 13 mmbolt)...basically...have someone sit in the car and tighten it until u like it...dont leave it too loose (one time i left it too loose and the nut fell off ahah luckily we had the stock bolt to use for my friends car).

 

that's what we exactly did.. i was in the car, my friend tightened up the bearing.. he set it loose as it can get, but still the shifter feels sluggish and stiff... (it's not providing the quicker throw due to the amount of force i have to put in) also, that rattle noise.... anyone with same prob, and fixed it somehow? how do you guys feel with your skunk2 short shifter??? thanks for any input..

 

Did the shifter not come w/ any spacers or anything? My AutoZone shifter came w/ 2 spacers, which I placed on the bolt on each side of the shifter. This allows me to tighten the bolt as much as I want and the shifter still shifts the same. The spacers that came with mine weren't thick enough, however, so I had to add washers onto the bolt. It rattled pretty bad untill I got the right size washers.

nut{||||||spacer-shifter-spacer-lockwasher}bolt

That's pretty much how mine looks. The ||||| are the washers I used. The nut and bolt you see are outside the shift linkage rod. The { and } is the linkage itself. I used a lockwasher to help keep everything pressed together and prevent rattles. Hopefully this makes some sense.

 

the reason for the rattling is your shift linkage is hitting your exhaust pipe
i had a b&m hifter and it rattled like hell and i just put in a solo shifter yesterday
and its almost as bad it sucks
but i ould rather live ith the rattlin than get rid of my 40.oo apex n1 exhaut

 

check and see if it's hitting the exhaust. very good point vtecnologist1. It sounds like you have either tightened the bolts at the "hinge" too much or your spacers were not installed right. Regardless, this is an installation problem.... it has nothing to do with the shifter. Just FYI. Let us know what you try and how it goes. Might want to make sure you assembled everything in the right odrder as well... especially the little white zig-zag thing that goes near the ball. Good Luck
-Erik

 

Installed my Skunk2 SS about 2 weeks ago and I can answer all your questions. The stiffness is mostly likely caused by the "bearing" being too tight. Also make sure its properly lubricated - squirt some WD 40 in there.


And the rattle is probably caused by the ring on the shifter boot, which is now loose just like mine is. It slaps around the shift lever because its loose. Try moving the ring on top of the boot around to see if it makes a similar noise to what your describing. Mine clicks too when I shift fast. If you want the ring be tight your going to have to jerry ring something. Try a zip tie under the boot to hold it up.

Hope that helps


[Modified by Muckman, 11:16 AM 5/10/2002]

 

I have the B&M and it has always rattled since day one. In cool weather its not as noticable, but when hot n humid, annoying as hell. I've done everything I can think of, replacing the aluminum bushings with urethane, longer bolt through bottom of shifter, so no threads are actually in the bearing. I really like the adjustibility of the aluminum bushings, but the rattle sucks. I have the DC SS catback and its not hitting the exhaust. Don't know anyone with a B&M that doesn't have the rattle. I talked to the tech at B&M and they told me they've never had that problem, go figure.

 

i put in my $20 short shifter a few months back. It touches the exhaust rattles like crazy all the time. I HATE IT!! I can't figure out what I did wrong. I put everything on and the bottom part is too long and touches the exhaust and I have a stock ITR 2.25" exhaust! Is it the shifter?? I don't think I messed up the install.

 

my skunk2 doesnt touch the exhaust or anything, it could also be the shifter bushings since they are shifter u will get vibrations at a certain frequency, and with hte plastic insert of a razo **** it can vibrate.

 

I just installed my skunk2 short shifter & energy suspension bushings and mine feels great, but when I let off the accelerator the shifter has a slight hum to it its not loud but I can hear it ..... I can already tell its gonna **** me off....but I am gonna give it a couple of days Im thinking it might just be the new bushings are tight....

 

thanks for all your input guys..

i had it fixed now. the bearing was too tight, and when we loosened it, rings were making that rattle noise. it wasn't touching the exhaust pipe though..

however, we couldn't help with the stiffness after we tightened it. so we changed it smoother bolt, secure the nuts not too tight, then used the glue specially made for metals to block the nuts from falling off...

even though, it feels little heavy, it feels pretty short and crisp.. great feeling when i'm gunning my car.. overall, pretty good quality from what i can expect from that price..