shifter bushing "cup"...
 

Ok, so this is my dillema.. that little plastic cup in the bottom is completely gone, and I was looking at getting another one...

so I looked on mazdatrix... and they only offer the WHOLE bottom metal thing for like $40... which would require pulling the transmission out again, and blah blah blah...

now, why cant I just get the lower cup thing by itself? A lot of the cheap $20 short shifters come with that lower cup...

Is my only option to get an ebay SS and only use the cup from it?

My shit is totally gone btw, when I had the transmission out, I took of the little side plate, and cleaned out all the bushing fragments out of there.

http://www.mazdatrix.com/g4.htm

Are you talking about the lower shifter bushing? If so... they sell it.

I think he's talking about the bushing for the small "ball" of the shifter. Last time I messed with my shifter I don't recall seeing or noticing a bushing. Maybe mine was already gone I dunno. Alot of times you have to shave down that bushing on ebay shifters because they fit miatas and such. someone will chime in on if thats accurate or not.

well, I just ordered a $5 nylon one for an FD, we'll see if i can make it work.

I dunno if that $40 is just for the bushing, or for the whole metal block +bushing...

would this be a part that might reduce the rattle?

yeah... does your shifter move in a circle? mine does, but I have the "normal" bushings"...

mine is tight but rattles like crazy

It was never officially offered on the FC.


-Ted

So what do people do to fix this? Buy the whole metal block thing? That's pricy...

Do what I did (I've been saying that alot lately).

Buy a Miata short throw shifter. I have one and it fit perfect and has the bushing on it.

Well, I would do that, but after talking with Justin Pawlak (Pro drifter who drives an FC3S) a short throw shifter seems to put more wear on the transmission, and seeing that I have 140K on mine, I dont want to risk it.

Also, just as a follow up on this, I found the bushing, a company called MMR makes it:

http://mmr-direct.com/catalog1/RX7FC/index.htm

EDIT: Just to clear something up, Justin, to me, is considered a "Pro" because he actually competes, has sponsors, and is way more involved in drifting than just your average joe, even through he was in the "Amature class" in Formula D or whatever.

It puts more Wear on the Transmission?..how?.it's a STICK!..only thing I can think of,is that you are gonna be "mad tyte shiftin YO!',as you have a New Better shifter,and like to be able to get to gears Fast!..also wearing out the shifter Bushings Faster...another thing,maybe he is Thinking that since the "throw is shorter" that People will tend to place more "emphasis" on putting the car into gear and exert more pressure that is actually needed to get the car into gear,as the throw is shorter.

I am not sure, he said that he went through like 4 turbo transissions with it, and then took it out, and his current trans lasted longer than any of them. who knows, maybe it really was the shifter, maybe he learned to drive better, w/e)

...what's interesting is that one of my friends who tracks his 240sx said the same thing, that somehow because the shifting action is faster, it puts more wear on the synchros and gears.

Disclaimer: Now, the info is not confirmed, so please dont come in here telling me that everything is bullshit, or impossible, I'm just relaying what I heard from other people.

I have to agree that it is a 'driver error' sort of thing.

I have NEVER had a transmission issue related to a short throw shifter. Much less a bushing.

Now, if it was just a short shifter (ie- cut down), I can see how more force would be needed since leverage is reduced. Think about it...

Short shifter causing premature transmission failure?
I'm not surprised...
This is why I don't like to run them on my car.

This is what happens...
If you're the type that kinda to bang shifts...
The short shifter forces the transmission to shift gears faster.
Shifting gears faster means your synchros have to work faster.
It is possible to shift the gears so fast that you kill the synchros.

This is also the reason why that infamous Ikeya Formula sequential shifter system breaks transmissions - that shifter shifts the transmission too fast.


-Ted