Celica Forums General Discussion Exterior Short Shift ?

I wonder what short shift for? Is it make you shift easier? Would it looks after install it? Because it's going to be short.

It makes the shifts shorter, meaning faster. It also makes the height shorter, and depending on which brand you go with, a lot shorter.

But keep in mind that the shorter the throw, the harder it will be to shift into the correct gear, so if you aren't already a pro at shifting, then go with a SS kit that doesn't have too short of a throw.

I went with TRD.

slidr, what about just changing out the housing bushings and the cable bushings on stock? How will that fair against a SS, pro's and con's if any?

It may make your shifts more firm, because the stock bushings are kinda spongy. As for making the throws shorter, it won't. Even sawing down the shifter won't make the throws shorter.

The beauty of a short shifter is that it changes the position of the fulcrum, or fixed pivot point. When the fulcrum is moved closer to the resistance (the shift cables), and further away from the effort (your hand, or the shifter), it will make your throws shorter. When the Fulcrum is closer to the Effort than to the Resistance, there is a Loss in Force but a Gain in Speed and Distance.

So unless you change the fulcrum point, you aren't changing the effort or the distance of the throw.

See how the TRD shifter on the left moves the fulcrum down away from the effort, and closer to the resistance? It also makes the shifter itself shorter.


I assume that I also made a few mistakes in explaining the principles above, since it was all off the top of my head, and the last science class I took explaining this was like 5 years ago, so correct me if I'm wrong.

^^ that was a very good explanation slidr

Thanks.

I was waiting for someone to correct me on my physics.



Still waiting...

You're pretty much right on, but is the SS worth those short throws? Would a shorter throw actually decrease shifting time? Would it be harmfull to the tranny in any way? I believe there has to be a draw back to the SS otherwise Toyota would've included it on the Celica and other cars. Figure it...Replace a longer lever w/a shorter one, money in the pocket for Toyota on costs alone. Replace rubber with polyurethane, money in Toyota's pocket (I don't need to get into that). Quicker selection of gears, money in the pocket of Toyota for marketing. I could slam may stock shifter and work the clutch to land in lift ever gear and spin the tires up till 3rd. I'm also asking would a stock shifter and bushings be more precise and more effortless than a SS? You helped a lot already. More on your part or any one else would be great.

Actually, the stock shifter in the Celica has a "shorter" throw compared to most other manual cars.

And there are a few drawbacks that come with having a SS.

One is, shifting becomes more crisp, and more vibration can be felt in the shifter. This is a drawback for some people, but I could care less.

Also, since the throws are shorter and quicker, there is a greater chance that you could select the wrong gear. This might be the reason that most car companies don't install them stock, because people may blame a blown engine on a SS that they may not have wanted in the first place. That's just a theory though.

Also, I remember reading that assloads of people with 2000 Celicas and other years with the close shift gates started blowing their engines and messing up their trannys due to the fact that they were mis-shifting from 5th to 2nd. And it just wasn't a few people. Hundreds and hundreds. You pretty much have to be retarded to try and go from 5th to 4th, and hit 2nd by mistake. I mean, 4th is straight down, and 2nd is over and down. I don't see how people could do this, but who knows. That's one of the reasons they revamped the shift gates. Adding a short shifter to the equation would just increase the number of mis-shifts.

I have a 2000 with close gates and a short shifter, and have never mis-shifted like that before. I have on occasion accidentally gone from neutral to 3rd while trying to hit 1st, but that was only because I learned to drive a stick on the Celica. Now, the shift gates seem wider than ever.

Oh, and another thing I noticed when I installed my TRD SS that I wasn't expecting to was that it angled the shifts closer to me, the driver. Kinda slanted the gates making it easier.

It's really easy for someone with a short shifter to go from 5th to second and skip 4th. GTS's are six speeds. From fifth fourth is over and down, and second is further over and down. Fourth isn't just down. people have been pushing too far left with the SS.

Generally when people downshift, they pass through neutral, thereby making it straight down.