Have a TIG welder? Make your own short throw shifter

[compression]

New to this forum but no new to cars or Subarus.

My car is a 2005 Legacy sedan 2.5i.

After shopping around for a short throw shifter, I just could not bring myself to pay $100+ for an aftermarket shifter (cheap bastard).

So I took out the stock shifter stick and modified it:

 

STEP 1: remove your stock shifter from the car.

http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/6023/img1505jw.jpg

 

STEP 2: disassemble the stock shifter stick.

http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/111/img1500h.jpg

 

3: cut the lower leg of the shifter, do not throw out the cut-off piece.

http://img826.imageshack.us/img826/909/img1501a.jpg

 

Step 4: Cut a 13mm long small spacer from 1/2" diameter solid round steel rod. Chamfer all ends in preparation for welding. Weld the assembly together. (no picture of welded assembly) TIG welding is preferrred for the nice tidy bead and you have much more control over the weld. Luckily I have been TIG welding for a long while and it was pretty easy to do.

http://img802.imageshack.us/img802/7776/img1504k.jpg

 

Step 5: Now you have decreased the throw of your shifter, but now it will sit in the car and the knob will be 13mm higher.

To get he knob back down to stock height. remove 13mm from the upper section.

http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/8771/img1506yf.jpg

 

Step 6: Weld the upper section back together. Careful how you ground this one for the welder (rubber insultation inside of shifter body).

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/1636/img1507oj.jpg

http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/9791/img1508m.jpg

 

Step 7: Reassemble and put back into vehicle.

http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/5472/img1509tj.jpg

 

Impressions:

stock appearance, does not look modified at all.

Throw is shorter but not too short. Shifter rod does not rub on anything. Perfect for the way I drive.

No added NVH.

$100 in my pocket to put toward some tires.

 

Hope you find this useful.

[98Wagon]

Great write-up man! I was thinking of doing this, but the visual is great!

 

Thanks for posting it up!

[vagabond]

A bit misleading title. Thought you were using aluminum.

 

Cool project.