i did about 1-1/2" drop on my auto shifter and it is ALOT more comfy now !
my hand feels much more at home resting on it a bit lower than stock,
it was a great free mod, i thought i'd share with Ya'll
i did this mod last summer, and i dont remember the exact amount that was removed
but i was bored so i thought i'd do a little write-up on it for everyone
i just got out the saws-all and chopped off the metal, and snipped a few beeds off the bottom of the plastic shifter insert, (same amount off the bottom of the plastic that i removed from the metal ass.)
then when i cut the 2 slots down on the ahifter ass, i did them at about a 1 O'clock angle VS 12 O' clock that the stock is, so now the shift knob is more Ergonomically (sp?) correct, it seems to fit the angle of the wrist better,
real easy to do, i have NOT yet, made 2 notches in the side for the shift knob clip so the knob just sits on there, but it is tight
this is real easy to do and only took about 15 min start to finish!!
here are some lousy pics

pic taken in Neutral





the tape measure was placed right on the sift plate bezel right next to the shift boot, the measurement is kind of hard to reed because of the bad camera angle but the top of the metal shift ass. is right at 3-3/4"
and with the shift knob installed .. the highest point on the shift knob is 5" in neutral, which is a HUGE improvment over stock

the differance is night and day, i totally love it, its one of my favorite FREE MODS and it looks ALOT better than stock,
and the angle of the knob really feels ALOT better aswell

i just thought i'd share

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Rich AIM: ONE FAST 2M8:
86se V6
Gold 86se 355 SBC,
92 BMW 325i

[This message has been edited by $Rich$ (edited 02-13-2005).]

Awesome! I went to the junk yard Sat. to replace a broken windshield washer spritzer thingy that the previous owner had tried to repair with super glue and came across a Grand Am snake head shifter. I wanted to do something different with my shifer, and since I had never seen a posting about shortening the auto shifter, I figured I'd try the snake head. Me no likey. Too tall, and I have to reach forward to shift out/in park. I had been thinking about wanting to do what you did for a while. After reading your post, I want to start on doing this myself but it's 4:44 am and my wife and daughter like to sleep in late! Thanks for posting the photos. I hate to have to read through a bunch of directions, let me look a photo and I'm off to get the job done. I think the only thing more I would so is get my wife to... wait, I will take the boot and use the sewing machine to shorten it to match the newly adjusted shifter. (oops, almost left out the "f")

i wouldnt even boter with shortening the boot its not really noticable in person

cool i was gonna do that to my firebird shifter to give it that jet fighter throttle feel but got rid of the bird when i got my fiero
edit to add: Were did you get that radio block off plate with the fiero logo on it ? I like !

[This message has been edited by FIEROPHREK (edited 02-13-2005).]

The radio plate thread is here: https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum1/HTML/047942.html I think it looks great too! I also did the short shifter thing yesterday, but butchered the thing because I only had a wood 4x4, my foot, and a reciprocating saw to cut it. I didn't get the slots perfect, so I can't get the shift knob all the way down to the clip grooves that I cut. But the thing ends up wedged on nice and tight, so it's all good. Definitely a much better feel! Now I have to redesign the thing anyway, so I can get "Park" from the bottom to the top of the shifter range.... Dang 3800 swap.

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Bob Williams
Multi-colored '86 Mutt, a work in progress! (3800SC is installed and I was driving it... The Blizzard of '05 decided to drop 4,000 lbs of snow and steel on the roof, and bent it!!! Now it's parked... )

Quick question for you. Does the shortened shifter interfere with pulling the shifter all the way back into 1st gear? Seems like it might not allow enough movement of the shifter without interference. Let me know , because I've been wanting to do this to mine. Thanks.

mine goes into 1st just fine

Thanks Rich. What I wanted to know.

l did this on my car (the standard question is "Is this so you can shift from Park to Reverse faster?") mostly because I detested the T handle and the height of the assembly. And I couldn't put CDs in the Pioneer head unit with it in Park. I cut mine just over an inch and got a Buick leather automatic round knob to make it all smaller. I used a hacksaw on the shaft after shortening the plastic insert and measuring the difference in length (I cut and glued the white plastic part) so I wouldn't have to do a lot of tweaking after the fact. I did mine on a spare shifter out of the car. Cut the vertical notches with the hacksaw, broke off the parts to leave the grooves and filed it to make it smooth. Then I hacksawed the grooves on the side for the retaining clip. The stock knob is not straight, it's at a slight angle towards the driver. I straightened mine since I was going to the round knob and not putting the T back on. Painted it with Rustoleum, unfolded the auto boot and cut off an inch then folded it back. It doesn't affect the alignment of the indicator at all. If I had PIP I'd post a pic.

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John DuRette
***Custom 85 under construction, 87 Coupe in the driveway. The fun never ends!***

[This message has been edited by USFiero (edited 02-13-2005).]

How long does it take to do. I would like to do this to my car also.

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This is a quick and easy mod,,, a morning's project if you're organized.

Hey i just did this today to my shifter i think it was about a good 2 + inches i took off well anyways i put my shifter back on and it felt like it wasnt shifting right. So i cut the beaded plastic down a little more and it it worked only at times. It seems that it kept slipping off of the base at the bottom of the hole you stick it down. And now i cant shift. Well i can but i gotta stick my hand down in and under and pull the lever manually. Anyone else have problems with this? It looks like im gonna hafta go to the junk yard and get another one. And guess how much i cut off. Oh and i was wondering in park how high does the beaded plastic stick out. I just cant seem to figure out what i did wrong.

I did mine this morning and had the same problem.
I took about 2" off mine as well.
My problem was solved by replacing the plastic piece with an steel rod.
I found an old piece of a rifle cleaning kit and trimmed it slowly to the right length and got it working perfectly now.
It looks flat out awesome with the short shifter, now all I need is to lower the car and chop it to match.

i dont have ANY problems with mine and its been a good 8 months now, i just cut off the same off the plastic as i cut off the shaft, and mine works great

looks like a good mod rich... im a fan of the stock look though. and i really really don't like bunched up leather boots... espeically when people tuck them under the shift nob... but to each there own... mine is rolled over the shifter knob so you get a nice clean look. but otherwise looks like it might be a useful little mod.

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I had the same problem with mine. I havent fixed it yet. Well i tried .. i used a pushrod (i think) from a 350 ford . I ended up cutting it to short. I use my shifter with out a handle for now and push down on the pushrod. What you can do for temporary is use a screwdriver instead of digging down into the shifter assembely.

Here is mine looking like it works... lol I dont really care that i dont have the knob on now as you can see i still have other things to fix also lol. zipties are my best friend...

OH! and btw Saber49 you can tuck the boot down instead of going up and it doesnt look bunched up. As you can see in mine . It can look better that was just a last second put together

oh and btw i only had a sawzall and dremel to use lol!..

[This message has been edited by Fiero2m41 (edited 06-10-2005).]

Good thread, I did the same thing last year too. I put a manual knob on my auto though... I didn't even have a dremel to use. I only had one of those copper pipe cutters, what a pain in the ass. You can find my write up here, on my interior page:

www.cardomain.com/id/doublec4

I cut it a bit short and the boot bunches up but I'll fix that eventually.

Yea thats a good idea too... but what i mean by tucked over the shift knob is like this...

So basically now it creates a nice little sleeve over the knob and looks cleaner and less scrunched and it prevents crease lines over time.

IMO tucked over the knob makes it look stock again.

Tuck it in like i did. looks 200 percent better . (push the bubble of the boot down instead of up)