Thanks, I will look into it some more. only way to know if the shifter works ulimately is when I get a chance to get it in the car. that wont be for quite a while, so I will post up some pictures of the linkage for those who also want to work on it. If I have to get a custom flywheel then so be it, but maybe there is some way to do it. I have alot of time since I have a fully working factory w58, so I want to get as much worked out as possible before I yank that one out.

 

here is the temporary linkage I came up with figured I would post it so others can also improve on it.
I want to actually weld a proper base on the bottom for the bushing to sit into vs just the thin piece thats on there now. I will probably find the right diameter bushing and have that welded on at the right height., but figured I would post this stage cause this actually seems to work somehow.

I basically took the stock linkage and cut the top arm off the ujoint, popped the ujoint out, and then opened up the hole on the bottom with a step drill bit to match the shifter bushing.
In this picture I haven't drilled it out yet, I have only cut off the top portion.


I drilled a new hole in the part above and shortened it a bit, and this is what it looks like on the trans.
ignore the allen key its just taking place of the roll pin temporarily.

 

Brilliant! So reverse you just kind of fish for a little bit until you find it? I know in my 02 Maxima it was very obvious where reverse was even if I hadn't had the lockout.

This is great stuff man!

..I like the hex key..it is a nice touch, lol.

 

reverse is all the way to the right and down, and I mean all the way to the right.
It would be better if the shifter went further down and the lever did too, so the distance side to side would be longer. right now its like up is 3rd, down is 4th, 1st and 2nd are like a click or a few cm to the left, 5th and 6th are like a click or a few cm to the right, and reverse is pretty much lean on it all the way to the right and pop it down.

probably a way to make a lockout later but if the shifter was less close it wouldn't be that easy to hit it, right now it would take a little getting used to, will try and improve/lower the contact point a little bit that way you have to move the shifter a little more to get the same movement. If you like short shifts though then this setup is for you lol!

I need to figure out the right size for a base for that bushing, will probably take the shifter to ace hardward and see what fits around it tight and have that welded on the bottom. will keep you guys posted but if you come up with something better let us know.

 

Good deal. This looks like a really simple and compact way to do this. I went and looked at those shifters and was really curious to see what you came up with the attach it at the bottom. This looks really promising! Now I just need to figure out how to fit this monster into the poor little BMW tunnel, lol.

 

yeah my main goal was to keep it as simple as possible. the way the shift rod works, you have to mount the arm under the shift rod, otherwise the rod turns the wrong way when you turn the shifter, so pretty limited there.
as I was saying earlier one could get another 3/4" or so by drilling a new hole on that shift rod sticking out of the trans which moves it up some, but I read you need a carbide drill bit and still its difficult to drill straight on that so for 3/4" I think I will pass on drilling the shift rod.

bmw tunnel might be difficult but those are designed to fit the getrag which is pretty big also.
I know the IS guys can't even fit it in there due to bellhousing, they should probably do whats in that mk3 thread and cut and weld a toyota bellhousing on so it will fit in the tunnel but not sure how well that will work. good luck keep us posted on what you figure out.

also I wedged a large washer on top of the round part where the shifter rod comes out of, you can kind of see it in the pics above. I found when putting that washer there and tightening down the bracket in the front it gave the rear part alot more support. not bad for a 30 cent washer.

 

Will do.

The getrag unit is pretty large, but still much smaller than the CD00x. I know where a couple of the clearance issues will be from others that have tried it, but I am not on a timeline to get this done. My only sticking point is that I will not build a custom tunnel.

 

are you using the collins kit? it looks like a thicker flywheel that can use 350z clutch setups might be the easiest way to go. I bet if one could order a thicker w58 flywheel though there would be a way to make it work. the r154 flywheel is a little thicker than the w58 one, but then the PP patern on that flywheel is usually for a pull setup and not push like the w58 pattern, still not sure if even that one would be thick enough.

check out the shifter on the frontier. now that is a swan neck if I have ever seen one.

looks like all the 4 cylinder nissan 5 spd transmissions use the same base plate as the 240sx (the stock one not the short shift plate).
so any of these shifters should fit, but might have a different length on the bottom where it fits onto the shifter bushing on the rod.

like a stock 240sx bottom part of the shifter is very short, I think I would have trouble making that work.
the short shifter version is actually longer on the bottom cause they redesigned the base.
the frontier one above looks to be the right length on the bottom, longer than the 240 one.
might have to see if I can get a cheap frontier or pathfinder 4cyl shifter and hack it up, as its still way too tall.

 

lol I figured it out what that mk3 thread was going to use as a shifter!!! saw it on pics on a rx8 website.
he was using an rx8 6 speed shifter housing and shifter. and it has the ball type shifter at the bottom.
so that means one could do the same thing I did with the rx8 shifter and have a reverse lockout, but you would need to make a custom bend in that shifter.
well at least I think it might be possible not sure what part of the shifter moves for the reverse lockout thing but pretty sure its above the part that can't move.

sorry but it was bothering me not knowing what kind of shift lever housing what was in that picture.
will have to look into it if its a better shifter it wouldn't be that hard to use that one instead.
not sure at this point though only seems to be a reverse lockout thing.

 

I can try to find out how the Rx8 one works. I have a buddy that is a master tech over there. Ill try to get a hold of him tonight and report back.

 

..and no, I was going to use a Maverick kit because I want to get the transmission as close to the engine as possible to minimize the massaging needed on the tunnel.

 

awesome, that would be helpfull. looks like you cant get that part seperate, but the used transmissions are pretty cheap. not cheap enough to buy it just for the shifter though. thats right it looks like maverick kit requires milling, might look into that then as I do plan to mill it for shifter reasons, we have different reasons but seems like we are doing the same thing.

 

The shifter thing is the same problem for me. My tunnel is too small and the shifter location is almost identical to a SC. So..your solution will likely work well for my application as well.

The RX-8 shifter you have to push down to access reverse. The is a little tab that sticks out from the side of the shifter and slides under the upper plate to allow the shift into reverse. The whole thing slides down it looks like. Maybe there is a spring in the shifter ball cup, but look at the cup in pictures, it has a vertical slot that a little tab on the ball slides up and down in..possibly..

I will still call him tonight...but I have learned that the Series 1 and Series 2 RX-8 are different. One is back for reverse, two is forward for reverse. Both require pushing down first, but the movement of the shifter is different allegedly.

 

Ok...here are my findings.

The shifter does not have a spring on it, or under the ball like a Nissan transmission. The mechanism that keeps the shifter up, then selects reverse is not external to the transmission.(he was not 100% on this part). So, we would have to do something to keep the shifter up potentially...in order to have a lockout. The 06+ trans is different than the 04-06. Reverse in the early one is by 6th, the later one is by first (I stand corrected). The shifters were the same or very similar, it was a difference in the transmission itself.

This is what I know right now. I will continue my search for a rx8 transmission exploded view.

 

sounds good, yeah I don't think it will be much of a better avenue than the 240 shifter now unless all that stuff was built into the shifter base assembly that can be swapped over.
I was thining about just having a pin on the right side above the shifter where it would lock out 6th, and then making a sleeve over the shifter like the v160 has, where you lift up the sleeve, and then it would allow the shifter to move more to the right. only thing is that middle part of the shifter has to be straight so if I want to do that then no swan neck at the top.