Hey guys, I'm new to the forum. I just got a 97 2.2L 4 door the other day. I like some things about the car, but some things I'm REALLY not feeling. In comparison to my Probe GT, which is by no means a serious sports car, it's really slow, and feels like a tiny truck. the shifting is super mushy and the shifter itself is taller than some trucks I've been in. I decided that even though the suspension is very very bad, my first priority will be to replace the shifter. since I only paid 1800 for the car, I'm not spending big bucks on any of the upgrades. Thus, I bought an ebay short shifter for 50 and now I'm thinking I got myself into some bad sh*%. Apparently I have to grind off like 1/4 of steel at some point? I don't even have a grinder... but we'll get to that problem when the time comes.
Right now I'm just stuck get the old shifter out. I took out the center console (after breaking a ratchet) and I need to detatch one of the lines leading in. The other one wasn't attached with anything and I I'm not sure if thats how its supposed to be. Anyway, how do I pop off the other cable? I tried prying the plastic (cover?) piece off but it wont budge. I dont want to break anything. I'm including a picture.
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PS- i'm sure there will be many followups on this debacle to come.
Just stick a long screw driver down behind and pop them off. Its a ball and cup joint thing. Make no wonder your shifting feels really sloppy, the shifter cable on the bottom left of the pictures is broken! Thats the one that goes from side to side, and it looks like its just laying over the little arm thing. While the shifting is sloppy, that woould make it 1000000 times worse.You can see how is has rubbed.
^^ x2. they're both supposed to have the same end on them. screwdriver works fine for removal. on a side note, looks like you have a raspberry coloured car?
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Rich Grayo Jr. wrote:^^ x2. they're both supposed to have the same end on them. screwdriver works fine for removal. on a side note, looks like you have a raspberry coloured car?
yeah... I figured as much. that explains some things. anyone know where I could find a replacement piece? I'm going to take it out later tonight and let you know where I get stuck (and I'm sure I will) as it occurs. Thanks
i beileve it only comes as a whole cable, and the cables come in sets. new sets are generally only available at the dealer, whereas you might be able to get a used set at the wrecker.
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And just to let you know about the grinding thing, you have to do that even with the more expensive B&M shifter on 95-99's...
It's to allow enough room for the shifter to move in the bracket that it all attaches to...
yea they both pop out. mine was hard when i did my b&m shifter but they both pop off. also yes you must grind away around the cut out for the shifter. get a dremel and some metal cutting disc and just start grinding. took me only about 5 mins
StrippedCav98 (Now Quotable) wrote:yea they both pop out. mine was hard when i did my b&m shifter but they both pop off. also yes you must grind away around the cut out for the shifter. get a dremel and some metal cutting disc and just start grinding. took me only about 5 mins
My batteries literally died 4 times in the process. I got the shifter in and just used a combination of a plastic guitar strap lock I had lying around and one of the lock nuts from the set (that I didn't end up using because I ground off the portion of the shoulder pin that I was supposed to put it on... oh well) to secure the other shift cable on.
Now I only have one real concern. People were saying that its hard to get into certain gears because they didn't grind away enough of the plate. I made sure to grind away over 1/3 inch of mine minimum on each side, and more in some places I'd say. At any rate, I drove it today for a little bit and it's stiffer, shorter, and less throw, all of which I like. Only thing is it can be hard to get it into some gears, especially first, I have to really jam it hard to get into gear, then its alot more difficult to get out of it too. Should I take it out and grind some more? Is this the problem? I have a pic to show you about how much clearance is there.
The best thing to do now is just move the shifter around while it's out of the car and see if it has enough clearance. If it hits the metal on the bracket when you move it all around, then you need to take more metal off. If it doesn't then you're good to go...
well I moved it around before installing it and it didnt seem to be hitting against the edge of the plate, but I don't know what else could be causing this, I'm going to take it out and just make sure. 1st gear is really a bitch right now, and 2nd isnt much better.
Rich Grayo Jr. wrote:when i put mine in i didnt use that blue billet spacer... and i didnt have to cut the opening either...
well if you do that, you change the shift distance intended and I just wanted to do everything as close to the directions as I could so as to not F anything up too bad. unfortunately, I ended up accidentally ripping off a piece of the shoulder pin necessary for attaching the lock nut that would keep the side plate in place.... so today while driving, it suddenly dawned upon me that I couldn't move the shift cables side to side, and thus lost access to all but 3rd and 4th gears. Let me tell you, driving home in stop and go traffic has never been worse. I fixed when i got home with sparsely applied glue. I'm going to fabricate a little latch that will keep the plate from moving off again when I have time but for right now it'll work.
as far as the shifter itself goes, I'm actually pretty happy with it. it did everything I wanted it to, and now that I got a shift knob on there, its actually not too hard getting into first or second anymore. overall, I'm definitely I didnt pay double or more for a brand name, as I doubt I'd be much more satisfied. and this way I pocketed the extra money and had some for this stylish knob. matches the interior very well.
oh and I almost forgot, my car is most definitely not raspberry. Its "cayenne red" according to Chevy, and Its manly as hell! hahaha no seriously, on the exterior it doesn't look anything like that pinkish color.
ps- thanks for all the help everyone! this site is pretty legit.
