Got my TWM installed and what a difference! But the throw is very tight now. For everyone with a SS how long did it take yours to loose up?

 

You might try lubricating the bushing...also the clevis bolt that
holds the shift lever to the control rod should be torqued
to 12 to 16 foot pounds , according to Haynes..........Please
keep us posted, I was just about ready to order one myself....

 

I just got my B&M SS put in about a month ago now.. It only took a couple weeks for it to losen up.

 

Due to the construction/design and the use of a bolt that has a shoulder, your shifter should not be tight. Unless, the "tube" at bottom of the shifter that holds the bushings is slightly too long. Also, regreasing the ball and lower joint with a quality grease helps.

The Kartboy I just installed is a perfect fit with no tightness or being too loose.

I agree - short shifters are great!

 

What are some examples of good grease for this application? I just put a lot of white grease on the pivot ball and bolt at the bottom. I think I over-tighten that bolt as well (I'm cheap and don't have a torque wrench). Will try to loosen it up and see.

Have been driving around for two days and it free up a bit....but it's still hard to pull it out of second when I do a 2-3 shift.

 

I put in a Kartboy and bushing. I used Redline synthetic grease. On my '97 Maxima SE 5-speed, I finally got around to greasing the ball joint at 82k miles with Redline. Big difference, dang, should have done that long ago. I noticed the factory white grease in the Max had really caked up. The Redline will never dry out and cake.

The Kartboy smoothed out in a month or so considerably. Might have also been tranny break-in as well (I put Redline MT-90 in it at 500 miles). Love that SS and hard bushings.

 

I do already have Redline MT90 in the tranny. The car has 14000km now and I did the fluid change 4000km ago.

 

I just want to post this for people looking forward to buy a TWM (or any other) short shifter. I got a chance this weekend to loosen up the bolt a bit and that solved all the problem. It turns out I over-tighten the bolt and that caused all the stiffness I experienced.

The TWM works very well with the KB bushing. The throw is short and very precise. The shifter is designed so that the stock boot stays where it's suppose to be and the stock **** screws right on. Although I haven't try the B&M (but most member agreed it's the highest quality among all the SS) I'm sure the TWM is just as good and it's a bit cheaper than the B&M.

 

I got my TWM shifter just a few days ago, and go around to installing it yesterday. I had trouble with the size of the bolt that goes thru the bushings, regardless of what i did, it just did not want to fit. I ended up grinding it down, but I'm going to get a new bolt from Mazda and try it out again.

It is also pretty stiff right now as well. There was no mention of using a torque wrench in their install, but I figure I've tighted it too much, and will use a torque wrench on it.

Regardless, its a GREAT investment.