Removing the B&M short shifter?

[knubile]

Hey all,

I have a B&M short shifter in my pro5 now. I just bought a TWM one.
Came to put it in and for the life of me can't remove the B&M one.
Clip removed, unbolted from underneath, I just can't pull it out. That big blue aluminum piece won't come out.

Has anybody pulled out this shifter before?

P.S. B&M's setup for customer service is brutal. No email, no 1-800 number. Call long distance and sit on hold for 20 minutes, then give up. Terrible.

 

[JCell]

put a LOT of muscle into it, and lots of grease too.... having a buddy help by holding the plate down would help too


good luck

 

[TheMAN]

stick a screw driver in the hole under the car... place the screw driver tip between that rectangle block that's at the end of the shifter assembly... pry upwards

I don't know why you got the TWM... other than it looking "better", you'll hate how it works

 

[LostSoulx316]

what shifter is better the B&M or the TWM

 

[BlueWolfCry]

B&M wins

 

[pilot511]

anything better or just stick with B&M? I know you can find them for cheap

 

[knubile]

I don't know why you got the TWM... other than it looking "better", you'll hate how it works

Even swapping it isn't written in stone. Can you try to explain what you mean? I know its tough to explain feel, but please do. I'm a bright guy.

 

[JCell]

i love my B&M, it sits high but it's perfect for daily and aggresive driving

 

[TheMAN]

Even swapping it isn't written in stone. Can you try to explain what you mean? I know its tough to explain feel, but please do. I'm a bright guy.

1) its too short for *real* driving... the lag time between your hand moving away from the steering wheel to the shifter is increased
2) its too short for any shift leverage... more shifting effort is required
3) the shift feel sucks due to the *very* reduced leverage... you practically have to force it in gear and a lot of times, you don't know whether you smoothly forced it in or you actually jammed it in... the latter which is BAD for the transmission.... you'd definately hate the 1st to 2nd gear shift! and NO amount of bushings, fluids, grease, whatever will fix this problem on the TWM
4) it's so short that for many people, it's out of reach and you have to lean over to grab the shift knob... the B&M, kartboy, pacesetter, and C's are at heights still easily reachable by many people

now, if you drive like a ricer (seat leaned back behind the B pillar, with one hand on the very top of the steering wheel even when "racing"), have long arms, don't care about driving *good* fast, don't care about breaking your transmission, and want to have the mad tyte style points for the car shows, then the TWM shifter is for you!

 

[knubile]

now, if you drive like a ricer (seat leaned back behind the B pillar, with one hand on the very top of the steering wheel even when "racing"), have long arms, don't care about driving *good* fast, don't care about breaking your transmission, and want to have the mad tyte style points for the car shows, then the TWM shifter is for you!

So its confirmed. TWM it is!
hehe. Just kidding. The last thing I want is to make the shifts too stiff.
Anybody else want to second TheMAN's thoughts?

 

[JCell]

i have driven 2 protege's with the twm

it's nice, looks bad ass too, sittin so low, but i prefer my B&M

 

[Sir Nuke]

I like the B&M my self, I wouldn't have anything else.

 

[knubile]

Thanks for all the info. Wish I would have heard all this before I bought the TWM.

So TWM for looks. B&M and if you put function over form.

 

[JCell]

basically, although the kartboy sits even lower, it's just too low

 

[Darkjocker]

i have driven 2 protege's with the twm

it's nice, looks bad ass too, sittin so low, but i prefer my B&M

X 2

 

[ZoomFive]

So its confirmed. TWM it is!
hehe. Just kidding. The last thing I want is to make the shifts too stiff.
Anybody else want to second TheMAN's thoughts?

I have the TWM and the shifts are short and stiff. Better than stock and works well for me. Don't expect a two finger shift. 3 minimum, but feels good.

- ZoomFive

 

[Jeph]

I drove a protege with a twm and i hated it, it was notchy and hard to get into first and second. The kartboy isn't shorter i don't think because i have it on my car and it shifts a lot easier, and it feels a little taller. It could just be the shift knob i have on it though

 

[Moonman8]

2) its too short for any shift leverage... more shifting effort is required
3) the shift feel sucks due to the *very* reduced leverage... you practically have to force it in gear and a lot of times, you don't know whether you smoothly forced it in or you actually jammed it in... the latter which is BAD for the transmission.... you'd definately hate the 1st to 2nd gear shift! and NO amount of bushings, fluids, grease, whatever will fix this problem on the TWM

I agree with TheMAN on the above points. The TWM was one of the first things I did to my car when I bought it. I gave it what seemed like plenty of break-in time and it never got better. You almost have to throw all your weight at it to get a decent quick shift. I found that it actually increased the time it took to change gears which defeats the purpose of a short-throw in the first place. I greased the hell out of the pivot ball, the lever bushings and my Kartboy bushings but nothing made it better.

I've never had a B&M so I can't say how it compares. I personally opted to put the shorter shift lever from the MSP into my P5 and I've loved it ever since. Shorter lever than the P5, decent length throws, and very smooth gear transitions. Some say that stock (MSP or P5) is too sloppy but I made sure that the torque on all the bolts were toward the upper end of the recommended ranges and I get no sloppiness whatsoever (I absolutely hate it when the shifter moves around so much while in gear that it feels like it's in neutral, lol). Very tight feeling but not notchy.

 

[TheMAN]

yeah, the stock MSP shifter is not bad... when I drove it, the throw was only slightly longer than my B&M and of course the feel wasn't as direct... the B&M uses a solid bushing for the fulcrum ball that *has* to get broken in... and because it's a solid bushing, it's suceptable to the exhaust heat causing it to expand and making the shifter tight... the only way to fix it is a custom heat shield under the shifter

the B&M does sit higher than the stock MSP and MP3 shifters (it's the tallest short shifter you can get), and it's functionally much better for driving because the hand positions are more natural ergonomically and also as I said earlier, the taller shifter reduces arm/hand movement time between the steering wheel and shifter

the B&M works best with a heavy shift knob to counter balance it (I'm pretty sure that the B&M is the heavest out of all the short shifters)... once you do that, it won't feel as harsh shifting and the throws will be smooth and dampened... I'm still using ALL the stock bushings and it's great! I've used the JDM mazdaspeed leather shift knob with my B&M and it works perfectly... all that needs to be done is to remove the clip at the top of the shifter that keeps the boot up, then push the boot down as low as it would go and the shift knob would go on and it would sit PERFECTLY between the boot and the knob! there's only a small gap like stock! the knob doesn't push down on the boot so there's still free movement... it makes me think if B&M actually designed the shifter to work with this shift knob

 

[JCell]

again, totally agree


i'm currently runnin the B&M with teh kartboy brushings, Corksports bronze brushings, Greddy counterweight knob and Mt-90 in the tranny

it shifts so smoooooooth, there is rare mis shifts and i can basicallypush it and it shifts itself

the only downside is that during summer, or anything above 90 degrees outside temp, the ball pivot tends to heat and and expands making shifting very difficult. i heat wrapped my midpipe and it helped, but during summer there is no escaping it