I have heard that a short shifter is not always good. I heard it causes more of a chance of grinding with the tranny because of compatibility problems. Is this true. Which shifters are you guys running, and how are they?

 

I'm running a B&M Edge short shifter. I got this one partly because it was much cheaper than the majority of the short shifters out there from other companies, and also because it was a steel shifter instead of aluminum like a lot of the others. I don't shift too hard normally, but I don't want to break the top off of it like I've heard others have done, so I got the steel one. So far it's great. I kinda wish I would have gotten a shifter with the bend in it like the stock one, cause I have short arms, but it's not that big of a deal for me. I ordered the shifter from the deal on groupbuycenter.com that included the Energy Suspension bushings too. The two items combined make a world of difference.

As far as your question goes, I would have to say I don't think it would cause problems for the reasons you stated... I mean, I don't have any problems grinding gears, except for when I'm a retard and I jump the gun letting the clutch out before the tranny is in the next gear. But, the frequency of an occurence like this hasn't increased from when I had my stock shifter, so I don't think it's that big of an issue.

On the other hand, I have heard from some people that short shifters could possibly cause excessive wear on the synchros, because the tranny just wasn't designed with such a short throw in mind. I'm not totally sold on this idea. I'm not sure why, maybe someone with a little more knowledge in the tranny area can prove or disprove this notion for us.

 

Now, I thought that a short shifter just changed the pivot point, so that the end of the shift linkage in the tranny is always moving the same amount, but that you are just moving your arm a shorter distance with the shifter...I just bought the energy bushings, but I'm thinking about getting a short-shifter (B&M as well) but, now I'm thinking I might hold off for two reasons.
one: it would be kind of pseudoscientific to see how the shifter feels with just the bushings, and then put in the shorter throw soon.
two: maybe I really don't need a short shifter...I think were talkin like hundredths of a second here, and my tranny is worth more than that, to me. and I think there are very few people on here(me being one that hasn't) that have tweaked their car to such an extent that it's really necessary to eek out that tiny "Edge™". Just my opinion...

 

I threw an OBX short shifer in my car. During regular driving it's fine, but when racing or shifting at high RPM's, it tends to grind a little going into second. Not all the time though. I'm happy w/ it. I've heard the Neuspeed s/s is pretty good, but I'll never know...I'm not a big fan of Neuspeed. I heard really good news about the DC Sports one. I plan on switching to it.

 

the reason that short shifters cause damage to the tranny is that you have less shift throw and hit the syncros easier, if you shift quick enough, you will hit the syncros anyway.

 

I used DC, OBX, neuspeed, B&M, and one other that I can't recall the brand on right now....I like the DC the best. Although every shifter I used was on basically a different car, so it may not be a safe comparison.