Making a short shifter for the B11, yes it can be done!!!!

SuperHatch · Dec 4th, 2002, 03:15 PM

Ok, who wants to hear about my lists of mods to my 85 Sentra? For all you B11 lovers out there you are going to love this short shifter mod that I invented!! Ok first of all, get yourself a short shifter for an 87 sentra (Pacesetter makes 'em) anyways, you also want to get yourself the shift lever (yes the lever) from a junkyard, off of an 87 sentra... here's what you do next, remove your old shift lever and the rubber mounts that hold it from underneith the car... and where the shift lever pivots (on the top) there is a piece of wire that you have to remove with a pair of needlenose pliers and unbolt the lever from the bottom of that really long shiftarm (it's got a cotter pin and a crown nut (or castle nut) on the end of the bolt)... Now going over to the shifter from the 87 sentra.. let's look at the OEM lever, it's got a white ball that it uses to pivot, and we need that!!! so using a cutting wheel chop off the lever to where you can pull the ball off.... (you might want to use a pair of channel locks to pull it off) also heating it up helps (like an oven at 350 degrees)... Now that you got that ball thing, you need to make the inner diameter slightly larger so that it will thread onto the new short shifter, I don't know what diameter drill bit I used but if I were you I would buy 3-4 bits and keep increasing the size ever so slightly till you can slide it down the handle and thread it onto the threads of pacesetters adjustable shifter... assuming all has gone well, we will now install the shifter (there was a spring that was used with the first shifter that we will not use) install the shifter from the top (I think that's the only way you can do it) and install the wire that held the first shifters ball in there... Now that that's all done reinstall everything in the reverse that you took it all out.. It shouldn't be that difficult... test the height of the shifter that best suits you, mine bumps into my exhaust so it's short, but not all the way... ALSO You won't be able to reuse the original bolt that held the original shifter on, so you'll have to get a longer one that will fit... But tighten it down good, I got mine on there really good and I've never had a problem...If you want to, you can drill a small hole out and loosen the nut so that the shifter won't be too hard to shift.... Man lemme tell ya as soon as I got that thing in there, it was beast it was heavy at first and it takes some time to get used to....but the best is the 2nd to 3rd.. it's so short and oh so nice... if you have any questions you can email me or IM me....