Modified TRD shifter

I should've taking pics. of the whole process, but when i started it i figured most likely i'll fuck it up so what's the use...well it came out close to perfect and i got no pics. on it, but the info might help some people who are looking into doing the shifter mod and want the best of both worlds, so here we go.

1. OEM shifter - long throw, soft and wobbly, weird position in the 2nd, 4th and 6th

2. TRD shifter - short throw, shorter than stock body, quiet but somewhat loose and soft feel due to stock like shifter body that has rubber layer between the inner and outer parts of the shifter body for sound deadening.

3. B&M shifter - probably the most performace oriented with a short throw and solid body but loud and rattley especialy at higher rpm due to the solid body and no sound deadening material.

So i bought the TRD shifter and TRD knob (the grey ball). I took my oem shifter out, took apart the housing in the gearbox and started over:

-installed the TRD spacer and shifter housing onto the gearbox using the gasket sealent and all just like the book says. Then i bought 2 sheets of Dynamat soud deadening material from a local Best Buy (car speaker aisle). I cut a hole in the middle of each sheet, big enough to clear the top of the housing where the shifter is supposed to go into and stuck them on and around the housing - thats where a lot of the noise from shifting the gears takes place. I used two sheets instead of one because....why not. So i'm done with that.

-i took the TRD shifter and looked at it. It is made of two parts - the inner shifter body and the outer shifter body - the one that looks like a cone going down over the inner body. In between these two there is the sound deadening material - a rubber like material roughly 3/16'' thick. That's what helps with the noise when the shifter rattles as your rpms go higher. At the same time that's also what makes the shifter feel a little loose and soft instead of as crisp and precise as the B&M.

-i filled up a bucket with water and grabed my plumbing torch. I took a wet rag and wrapped it around the rubber boot and spring housing at the bottom of the shifter. I started heating up along the outer shifter body using my blowtorch, burning the rubber material in between the inner and outer shifter body. I would dip the shifter in the water bucket to cool it of periodically and made sure the rag around the rubber bood stays wet - don't wanna burn that boot. Eventualy the whole deadening material was burned off and the shifter came apart, now i have the inner and outer part separate from one another.

-i took the inner part of the shifter, cleaned it up good and wrapped it in two layers of vinyl electrician's tape from the top all the way down to the rubber boot and spring hosing. I'm done with that for now, put it aside.

-i took the outer part of the shifter wich is now basicly a metal tube shaped like a cone with the thread at the top where the knob threads onto it. I looked at my TRD shifter knob and realized it's a little big for my taste to begin with, about 2'' in diameter. Furthermore i realized that the threaded part that screws onto the shifter is only about 5/8'' deep wich means the rest of the shifter knob's size would add an extra 1 1/4'' or so to my overall shifter height, when i'm all said and done. So i scrapped the TRD shifter knob, went and bought a Dojo Sanshi knob at the local Pep Boys. It's a smaller ball and it just slides over the top of the shifter being held in place at the bottom by three little allen screws. It only adds about 3/16'' height to the overall shifter height when i'm all said and done.

-since the threaded part on top of the outer shifter is now no use to me no more, i decided to cut it of so that my shifter knob slides down even lower therefore giving me an even lower overall height when i'm all said and done.

-i have now some steel epoxy standing buy, bought at the local AutoZone and i'm ready to put this thing back togheter. Let me recap what i have now:
1 - the inner part of the shifter has been wrapped in two layers of electrical vinyl tape.
2 - the outer part of the shifter has been shortened by roughly an inch, cutting the top threaded part and then some.
3 - the epoxy material (as opposed to welding for example) is very sticky therefore excelent for putting 1 and 2 togheter, yet when it hardens in between the inner and outer part of the shifter it's like realy hard plastic (think of it like a polyurethane bushing). So its strong and stiff like steel but later when the rpm goes higher and the shifter vibrates more and more, it will act like a sound deadening material between the inner and outer parts of the shifter (not to forget the extra vinyl tape in between them) basicly dieing off any rattle sounds of metal to metal.

-I mix my epoxy (it's like a two in one part silly putty), brake off a piece of it and stick it in the outer part of the shifter, then take the inner part and stick it in the outer part pushing the epoxy all the way to the top, stick pore epoxy now at the bottom of the shifter assembly between the inner and outer parts, all the way around. Set it down, let it dry.

-take some spray paint and paint the shifter body (it's been blowtorched earlier so it looks like shit). Let it dry, looked at it and figured it looks like any other shifter. So i bought a tennis raquet wrapper thingy from a local Sports Chalet and wrapped it around the shifter (i was planning to pull the shifter leather boot down toards the botom therefore exposing more of the shifter. The boot being black leather and the wrapper thing being black leather, i thought it looks preety good.

-i go to the truck, install the shifter in, put on the rubber boot that now goes over my Dynamat sheets, put on the leather boot, the shift knob and i'm done.

I now have what i belive to be the shortest shifter yet, it is very stiff and crisp in it's throws just like a B&M, yet i can honesly say it is quieter than stock. The actual shifting "click clack" noise has been died down enormusly due to the Dynamat sheeting (i can hear it with the windows down, but if i put them up it's almost non existent) and the vibration noise of the shifter is non existent until some 3300 rpm or so, at wich point you start hearing somewhat of a hissing noise rather than the zinging metal on metal rattle.

I'm happy with it, if this helped you i'm glad, if it bored you i'm sorry.

 

Finished product pics.

 

That is tits!!!

 

nice man!

 

Back before i got the TRD, i was going to get the URD wich i knew it ment keeping my oem shifter. So i chopped it, bent it and rivet it back togheter. I never really completed it (i was gonna smooth out the rivets, bondo it smooth and repaint it). I ended up with this

 

When i was shifting in forth and sixth with the long oem shifter, i was puling it backwards into my cup holder....but since i bent the upper part of the shifter upright and shortened the body of it by some 2 inches or so, wichever gear i was going into, my hand on the shifter was like this

 

This is a pict of a modified TRD shifter I have been making.



I have also done this with a stock shifter. I do a similar process, but use a urethane epoxy to bond the parts together. This epoxy has the consistency of a polyurthane bushing when dry.

This modification works well with a URD or NST short shifter. I am working on a very detailed write up.

 

Sharp, clean and short. Just the way i like it. I can't wait to find me a boot that i like...Nice interior bro.

 

Hey Coupe where can I get a steering wheel cover like that?

 

It is made by Wheelskins. I asked for red stitching to match my seats.

 

Looks nice.

 

Thank you. It looks sweet and comfy. Do you know if they have the skin in blue or blue stiching.

Edit; I just checked out the website.