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OBX Shifter Install
3/27/05 —
The throw of the stock shifter is quite far. I measured it at 15 cm, from 1-2. I wanted to bring that down a bit, and get a more sporty feel. After looking around and not finding much in the way of shifters that specifically mentioned the Z, I looked into shifters for the FS5W71C in its more popular application, the 240SX. The version in the s13 is just about identical to the one in the NA z31. That being said, I found an OBX Short Shift kit on eBay.
The kit replaces the shift lever, the bushing above the lever, adds a spacer underneath, and bolts it all together with a new top plate.
The installation is cake. First, remove the old shifter:
- Unscrew the shift knob
- Pop the trim piece off of the console and remove the shift boot
- Remove the 4 screws holding down the metal plate and remove it
- Remove the sealing boots
- Remove the ring holding the shifter in place with a pair of snap ring pliers. Or fool around with it for an hour trying to get it out, try to file down a pair of needlenose pliers to do it, fail, and then go buy snap ring pliers
- Remove the rest of the stuff in the shifter hole in the trans
Next, put the shift socket on the new rod from the bottom side and slide the new bushing in from above. Put a new bottom pivot bushing on the end of the rod. Grease these bushings before you put them on. I used high temp axle grease, becaue that's what I had lying around. Any good sticky petrol based grease will work just fine.
Then drop the parts into the transmission in this order:
 All parts removed |
 Spacer |
 Wave washer (spring) |  Shift rod with socket and bushing attached |
 New top plate bolted down |
 Upper part of the rod attached |
To keep the two parts of the shift lever from unscrewing during heavy shifting, put some threadlocker on the threads between the two parts, and cinch the top down with a monkey-wrench.
Put the boot back on and snap in the trim ring, screw on the shift knob and you're done. I measured the throw of the replacement shifter at about 7.5 cm, which is a 50% reduction in throw. And it feels like a million bucks... very highly recommended.
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