SERSpecV

Ok so today I put a new short shifter in my car... cuz my other one broke and couldnt be re threaded and after putting it in... it was HARD as hell to put it into gear... any ideas? I have a 4 door 1990 civic with a B16

disisaghettosn

you tightened the bolt that holds the shifter to the shift linkage too tight

Fabrik8

You broke a short shifter? Must have been a high quality part.

SPAWN

depending on what brand the shifter is, a lot of the crap out there is designed poorly or often tried to duplicate the bigger brands...but they fail and you could be hitting something below , like i had one that came with my car and i thought it was a B&M , when installed, it kept hitting the plating underneath, so i trashed it and bought a real B&M ....

Lestar

Yeah, from ebay.

Fabrik8

Nothing like an aluminum shifter to cause problems. Making a shoulder and going to a small diameter, which is then threaded (for the shift knob), makes a really weak spot. Aluminum is notch sensitive, which means it likes to break at a stress concentration (like a crack, notch, rib, etc.) so cutting a big shoulder in it makes a great failure point. Depends on the aluminum alloy, and the post-treatment, but anything like that is still a bad idea. Magnesium is even more notch sensitive.

Go with a steel shifter, you won't have the same problem.

Lestar

Mine's made out of carbon steel. I couldn't break it if I tried.

Fabrik8

I'm surprised they don't make the shifters smaller diameter than the threaded part, so the threads are the largest diameter (and with no shoulder at the change in diameter). I guess you'd have to have a larger inside diameter shift knob though, to make the shifter large enough to not break. You wouldn't want a pencil sized shifter just to be smaller than the root thread diameter.
This is the strongest way to do it though, like good aftermarket engine studs/bolts, or just make the shifter and knob from one (expensive) piece of billet. Fuck, my brain won't shut off today.

B20DATEG

GET A SKUNK 2 SHIFTER...KINDA COSTLY BUT WOULDNT BREAK IF I TRIED. YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR

Fabrik8

Well, if a B&M is stainless steel, and works great, and a Skunk2 is pretty much the same thing and costs almost 2.5 times more, then I don't agree.

BUT ITS MORE ANNOYING TYPED LIKE THIS SKUNK2 RULZ