(numbers count down)
(gear shifts loudly)
(whistle blows)
- What's my time?
- [Eddie] 2.41 one second.
- Oh, that's way too slow.
It should be way faster. That's why I have this.
(blade shines)
It's called a short throw shifter and we're gonna install it
in the Miata today and see if it can actually
make me any faster.
I'm Zach and this is Money Pit.
Let's get short and throwed.
Let's start shifting.
Let's shift into gear. I don't know, man.
Let's get shiftin'.
- [Eddie] That's the worst one yet.
- Yeah it is, use it.
(lightening strikes)
(screaming)
(thunder rumbles)
Thanks to Blinkist for sponsoring today's episode
of Money Pit.
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- [Eddie] That sounded just like you.
- Dude, I finally got my real voice out. (laughs)
Now while I'm working on the Miata,
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Now let's get back to the show.
You know, a lot of people think that,
in order to go faster in your car,
you have to make your car faster.
But what if I told you you can actually make your car
go faster by making yourself faster?
Well, one of the places that we can make ourselves
a lot faster is in our gear changes.
(engine revs)
(fart toots)
Whoa, forever!
So there's obviously some time to be saved right there.
(tape measure snaps)
All right, so we've got the old tape measure out
and we're gonna roughly measure what the length
of the throw from first to second gear
on our current stock shifter is.
So I've just got the tape measure
held up to the front of the shift knob here.
First gear, at rest.
Second gear, at rest, three inches.
So we got a three inch throw on the front
of the shift knob.
So that's where a short throw shifter's
gonna come into play.
Should shorten up our shifts as well
as making them a little bit more precise,
which will be sweet.
But if you just want a shorter shifter,
then why not just saw the top of your shifter off
and make it shorter?
Well, that's not really actually
how short throw shifters work.
Let me show ya.
So here we've got our short throw shifter
from Miata Roadster and I just want to take a quick look
at what a shifter is.
So we've got the upper portion of the shifter,
we've got the lower portion of the shifter,
and then right here, this ball, this is the fulcrum.
So a short throw shifter really
is about lengthening the bottom part of the shifter
by moving this fulcrum up so that the amount of travel you
have to move to affect a shift
at the top where the shift knob is, is shorter.
Let me show you a really simple demonstration
of the difference between a stock shifter
and a short throw shifter
with an antenna and an antenna ball.
Imagine for a minute that this is a shifter.
Imagine this is a stock shifter.
So we've got our fulcrum point down here,
pretty close to the bottom.
It's really low, which gives you a lot of leverage,
a lot of advantage over this shift, so that your shifts
are really effortless and really easy
and it doesn't take any effort.
But all that mechanical advantage means
that your shifts are gonna be pretty long.
It takes a long travel up here to get a pretty short travel
on the bottom of the shifter.
So a short throw shifter actually just lengthens
the bottom portion of the shifter by moving that fulcrum up.
So we move that fulcrum up and you can see
that it takes a lot less shifting distance
to affect the same travel
at the bottom of the shifter.
So basically it boils down to this.
(imitate engine)
Versus....
(imitates faster engine)
You can tell which one's better.
(upbeat music)
Okay, so, for shortening the shifts in the Money Pit Miata,
here's what we got.
I got Miata Roadster short throw shifter kit,
and it's awesome.
It's exactly what a kit should be.
It comes with everything.
They've thought of it all, from start to finish.
All the heat shielding, new washers, new hardware,
obviously the shifter itself,
all the way down to the instructions.
It comes with everything.
So this should be a really breezy install.
But the first part of the install
is always getting that stock stuff out, so let's go do that.
(cup holder clatters)
Okay, so the first thing we need to do
to install a short throw shifter
is remove the stock long throw shifter.
So the first thing I'm gonna do is pop off the shift knob,
it just unscrews.
And we'll get this center console out of here
and then we'll keep moving.
So in the Miata, we've done the steering wheel so far.
So the thing that I touch probably the most
is in great shape, it works for me.
I love it.
So now it's time to focus on the shifter and make it great.
Because, you know, when you're driving a car,
you shift a lot and it would be sweet
if those shifts were sublime, you know what I mean?
So that's what we're after here,
making the things that we interact with on the car awesome.
Okay, so now that we're down to the shifter,
we're gonna take off this shift boot,
which is actually pretty new, we replaced it recently,
but now we got another new one, holy crap.
(grunts) Not too bad.
Okay, Eddie, your new boot.
- [Eddie] Thanks bro.
- (laughs)
Aw, nice look at this old nasty heat insulation, look at-
- [Eddie] I'll take that, too.
- You want it?
Okay, all right, all right.
I love it.
(screwdriver cranks)
Try to keep, aw, goddammit. (Eddie laughs)
Literally, as I'm saying I'm gonna try to keep all these
on the top side of the car.
Well, you know what?
We might as well drop all three then, you know?
Okay, so now we're down to our shifter set up here
and we just pick it straight up out.
It comes out nice and easy and our turret still has oil
in it because I think we filled it up not too long ago.
You can see our lower shift cup is on there,
we'll be replacing that as well.
So time to get this out the car.
(shifter clatters)
Oops.
So here we can clearly see the change in fulcrum position
in the stock shifter versus the short throw shifter.
You can see that fulcrum ball is almost all the way
at the bottom here on this stock shifter.
And then on the aftermarket one,
it's moved considerably upwards
to make those shifts shorter.
So it's really easy to see when you look at it like that.
And now we gotta just gotta go put it in the car.
- [Eddie] What was that?
- What?
So in the NA Miata, there's what's called a turret
right here that the shifter sits in
and it's actually fluid filled.
You just use whatever transmission fluid that you use
in your transmission and put it here.
They are separate, so it doesn't quite matter
too much what fluids you use in here.
Now I filled this backup recently,
I think, when we did the clutch job,
so it's fine in there, I'm sure.
But the kit even comes with a turkey baster
with a little length of hose to suck out the turret fluid
so you can replace it.
That is thinkin' ahead.
So I figured, while we're in here,
I might as well replace the turret fluid,
even though it's not really gonna get me anything.
Okay, that should be enough.
So we're gonna drop in our new tip bushing
that goes onto the bottom of the shifter,
which actually is what drives the gears back and forth.
And this is our stock one.
Not only do these wear out in this inner diameter here,
but mine's also broken.
So that does not help with the way shifts feel.
So this will be a nice addition.
Okay, so now that's down in there like so
and now all we need to do is fill it up
with a little bit of trans fluid, cover that thing up.
So we've got a new unbroken OEM wave spring
included in the kit.
This just drops down into the turret
and sits on that lower bore.
Now we gotta go back to the bench
and lube up our new bushing,
put that thing in and, hell, we're halfway home.
I'm just playin', dog. (laughs)
Just like so, you see it's just covering up
that lower bushing.
Perfect.
Okay, so these slots match up with,
you'll have one or two pins in the Miata,
depending on what generation you have.
So this slot is gonna line up with that pin, just like so.
Now we're on top of that wave spring.
Now our fulcrum point is ready to meet up
with our new shifter.
So these pins will meet up with the indents
in this bushing down here like so.
And then these holes line up perfectly.
We're ready to drop the new short throw shifter in.
Before we did that, I lined up this plastic ring here.
These indents line up with the slots,
which line up with these pins.
So it shouldn't, should be ready to drop in.
Let's see what happens.
That looks nice.
It's just nice to replace all these gaskets
and the heat insulation.
So much heat comes through the shifter area as it was.
This is a great day.
All right.
See if she shifts.
(laughs) Oh my God.
It's amazing.
Oh, all right, let's keep goin'.
I gotta get a knob on there, we gotta drive this.
(laid-back music)
Okay, so now the boot's in place,
now we can use this reusable zip tie that it comes with.
And that is some serious heat insulation.
Now, I know it maybe looks a little overkill,
but this thing lets a lot of heat through the shifter area
and I'm really excited for it to not be so hot right here.
So that's it.
Now I gotta put my center console back on,
drop it on top, and then all this will be hidden anyway.
So, you'll never even know.
Let's do it.
Ah!
Okay, she's in.
Last thing we gotta do is put the knob back on
and we're just gonna put the stock one back on for now
so we can measure the difference in the overall shift throw
because we're measuring from the shift knobs.
When we changed the shift knob, we change the measurement.
Okay, so we're in first, shift back to second.
We were at three inches, now we're just under two.
So we've reduced our shift length,
we've reduced the throw of our shifter by,
what, 33-ish percent?
A third?
That's pretty dang good.
- [Eddie] All right.
Now it's time for the moment of truth, man.
- Aw man, I've been training for this.
I don't know if you notice,
but I went inside for like an hour earlier
and I was just doing that.
- [Eddie] Is that what you're doin' on the Sim?
- Yeah, oh, on the Sim?
- [Eddie] Is that what you call it?
Are you ready?
- (sighs) Yeah, dude, I'm ready.
(epic music)
- [Eddie] In three,
two,
one, go.
(whip snaps)
- What's my time?
- [Eddie] Your time is 177.
- Yeah, baby!
I told you we'd get under two seconds.
Well, the proof's in the pudding.
I can shift first, second, third, fourth,
all the way into fifth at a standstill
and under two seconds.
So it must be better.
Now, obviously that's a bit of a joke.
Let's go drive it and see how this thing does.
(engine revs)
(laughs)
Let's see how quick we can shift.
That's nice.
So in my opinion, the biggest benefit
of a short throw shifter isn't really how quickly
you can get from gear to gear
because that's not really
how we shift cars most of the time.
The biggest benefit is just how every gear change feels now.
It feels so much more crisp, so much more positive.
It's got this mechanical click
that feels the exact way you want a shifter to feel.
And the fact is that when I drive this car,
I'm constantly shifting it.
So why wouldn't I make that shift feel as good as possible
so that every time I do it,
I get a little smile on my face?
And that, to me, is why a short shifter is worth it.
It makes every shift better,
not just the ones you're bangin' into gear.
Let me know what you guys think about that
in the comments below.
Thank you so much (bell dings)
for watching.
You can follow me on Instagram @zachjobe,
follow Donut @donutmedia across all social platforms.
And I'll see you guys next week.
Wa-bam, baby!
(peaceful music)