Renegade Motorsports Short Throw Shifter Review/Thoughts
02-09-2017, 10:56 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Renegade Motorsports Short Throw Shifter Review/Thoughts
Disclaimer: I am a paying customer only and am no way affiliated with Renegade Motorsports outside of this. Review was written of my own free will and these words reflect my thoughts only. Enjoy.
Months ago, an S2000 enthusiast company called Renegade Motorsports, revealed plans via their Instagram page to manufacture a new short throw shifter for our beloved vehicle. This shifter was supposed to improve on the already excellent feel of the stock shifter without any of the drawbacks of previous vendors' designs. It also looked like a finely machined piece of engineering heaven sent straight from the car gods, if you care about aesthetics. I wanted to show some real world pictures and give my thoughts on it's application in real world driving vs the stock setup.
Regarding the installation, I won't spend too much time on it. It is quite easy. It took me a little over 1 hour, but I took my time and had a snack in between because I got hungry. For someone mechanically inclined it should take no more than 45 minutes IMHO. Renegade Motorsports sends you absolutely everything you need for the install, including a little pouch of Urea grease which was very nice of them. They also put up an install guide on their website which I used in combination with these S2000 shifter regrease YouTube videos. Links to each can be found here:
https://renegademotorsports.com/blog...-install-guide
Now, onto some pictures. Here is absolutely everything the shifter came with. It was very well packaged and everything was separated into its own plastic container. The urea grease I obviously left in the plastic. The stickers were a great bonus.
Here's a shot of the old shifter assembly, once removed from the car. Didn't look too bad, for being a 2002.
Side by side comparison of old vs new.
Here is the rubber shift boot and plastic ring removed. As you can see, I cleaned both thoroughly with a little dish soap and elbow grease. I then applied 303 UV Protectant over its entirety. This is the final result.
Here is the new shifter with its new hardware installed. You can see some of the green grease on the surface.
Rubber shift boot and plastic trim ring reinstalled.
Final shot of everything buttoned up.
New vs old shifter feel: Let me tell you first, I never had any problems with the original shifter. If I had to name 1 gripe, it would be that the 1st to 2nd gear shift was a little longer than what I liked, and I had planned to get a shifter extension or a taller knob to help give a little more leverage to alleviate this. Again, this is very, very minor and subjective. I was mainly curious if something that was so good stock, could be significantly improved. It says short throw, so is it actually shorter? Absolutely, YES. When the shifter is in neutral, the amount of side to side play is significantly reduced. That is the first thing you will notice. I would estimate it is cut in half, if not a little more. Shifting into 1st gear was again, shorter, but also it felt more "mechanical" as well. Shifting into 2nd gear is now perfect, for me. It is definitely shorter. 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and finally reverse were all easy to find, with no fear of mis-shifting. There's no other fancy words I can use. It's just shorter. You need much less forearm strength/movement with this new shifter, you can practically rest your hand one way and just row through the gears like that. I used to switch grips from the 1st to 2nd shift and also from the 5th to 6th shifts. Not anymore, because now it is wasted movement. MOST IMPORTANTLY, there are no extra vibrations or noises added. Just a shorter throw and more shifter "feel" if that makes sense. Again, let me reiterate. This is definitely not a necessary upgrade. I am sure most of you are satisfied with the stock shifter, BUT now that it is installed, I would never want to go back to stock or live without it. I absolutely love the new feel and throw. I'll give you an analogy. I am a Registered Nurse by trade. Percocet seems to work fine with people in minor pain, but once they get a shot of that IV Morphine, it's all they ask for.
I want to thank Renegade Motorsports for being an amazing vendor throughout this whole business process. They kept me filled in with my order every step of the way and they continue to innovate and manufacture new products for our cars, right here in the good ol' USA. Follow them on Instagram for the latest updates on products and cool stuff. Due to the success of the first run of these shifters, they are doing another run, so if you're interested now's the time to jump on it. I hope this helps anyone who is on the fence about getting one. Cheers!
*********8/23/17: I just wanted to follow up with an addendum concerning the brass shift collar added onto Version 2 of this shifter. I purchased version one of this shifter with the original plastic shift collar and have been using it for approximately 7 months, but when Renegade Motorsports released the new collar as a separate upgrade, I jumped on it since it's such an easy install anyway. Installation was easy, the brass collar is simply press fit on. The only difficulty I had was getting the shifter set right. With the new brass collar the tolerances were really precise so I had to use a little more "finesse" to get the shifter sitting in its crevice properly. An extra 5 minute affair. I also bought a whole container of Honda's urea grease and re-greased the shifter, again, liberally. The amount of lube included with the shifter is enough, though.
As far as I can tell, there is a difference in feel, but it's extremely subtle & slight. If you had an oem shifter with a worn out collar and replaced it with the brass one, I would estimate the difference in feel would be more substantial. I can feel a tiny bit more tactility transmitted through the the shifter, but again it's subtle and some people might not notice.
Do I still love my short throw shifter? Absolutely. It is my favorite mod I have done to my car, thus far. I use it every day and it brings a smile to my face I can't wipe off. It's aesthetically pleasing and functions as intended. That's a win in my book. My sentiments in my original view stand. This is not a necessary upgrade, but FOR ME, I cannot see myself living without it now that I have it.
Now, the collar: would I still purchase this and install it based off of what I have experienced post install? Yes, but not because of the increased "feel". I would install it based off of the collar now being brass vs plastic, for longevity purposes. I do not ever plan on selling my car and to reiterate what I said above, this was an easy upgrade.
-nicostatus
Months ago, an S2000 enthusiast company called Renegade Motorsports, revealed plans via their Instagram page to manufacture a new short throw shifter for our beloved vehicle. This shifter was supposed to improve on the already excellent feel of the stock shifter without any of the drawbacks of previous vendors' designs. It also looked like a finely machined piece of engineering heaven sent straight from the car gods, if you care about aesthetics. I wanted to show some real world pictures and give my thoughts on it's application in real world driving vs the stock setup.
Regarding the installation, I won't spend too much time on it. It is quite easy. It took me a little over 1 hour, but I took my time and had a snack in between because I got hungry. For someone mechanically inclined it should take no more than 45 minutes IMHO. Renegade Motorsports sends you absolutely everything you need for the install, including a little pouch of Urea grease which was very nice of them. They also put up an install guide on their website which I used in combination with these S2000 shifter regrease YouTube videos. Links to each can be found here:
https://renegademotorsports.com/blog...-install-guide
Now, onto some pictures. Here is absolutely everything the shifter came with. It was very well packaged and everything was separated into its own plastic container. The urea grease I obviously left in the plastic. The stickers were a great bonus.
Here's a shot of the old shifter assembly, once removed from the car. Didn't look too bad, for being a 2002.
Side by side comparison of old vs new.
Here is the rubber shift boot and plastic ring removed. As you can see, I cleaned both thoroughly with a little dish soap and elbow grease. I then applied 303 UV Protectant over its entirety. This is the final result.
Here is the new shifter with its new hardware installed. You can see some of the green grease on the surface.
Rubber shift boot and plastic trim ring reinstalled.
Final shot of everything buttoned up.
New vs old shifter feel: Let me tell you first, I never had any problems with the original shifter. If I had to name 1 gripe, it would be that the 1st to 2nd gear shift was a little longer than what I liked, and I had planned to get a shifter extension or a taller knob to help give a little more leverage to alleviate this. Again, this is very, very minor and subjective. I was mainly curious if something that was so good stock, could be significantly improved. It says short throw, so is it actually shorter? Absolutely, YES. When the shifter is in neutral, the amount of side to side play is significantly reduced. That is the first thing you will notice. I would estimate it is cut in half, if not a little more. Shifting into 1st gear was again, shorter, but also it felt more "mechanical" as well. Shifting into 2nd gear is now perfect, for me. It is definitely shorter. 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and finally reverse were all easy to find, with no fear of mis-shifting. There's no other fancy words I can use. It's just shorter. You need much less forearm strength/movement with this new shifter, you can practically rest your hand one way and just row through the gears like that. I used to switch grips from the 1st to 2nd shift and also from the 5th to 6th shifts. Not anymore, because now it is wasted movement. MOST IMPORTANTLY, there are no extra vibrations or noises added. Just a shorter throw and more shifter "feel" if that makes sense. Again, let me reiterate. This is definitely not a necessary upgrade. I am sure most of you are satisfied with the stock shifter, BUT now that it is installed, I would never want to go back to stock or live without it. I absolutely love the new feel and throw. I'll give you an analogy. I am a Registered Nurse by trade. Percocet seems to work fine with people in minor pain, but once they get a shot of that IV Morphine, it's all they ask for.
I want to thank Renegade Motorsports for being an amazing vendor throughout this whole business process. They kept me filled in with my order every step of the way and they continue to innovate and manufacture new products for our cars, right here in the good ol' USA. Follow them on Instagram for the latest updates on products and cool stuff. Due to the success of the first run of these shifters, they are doing another run, so if you're interested now's the time to jump on it. I hope this helps anyone who is on the fence about getting one. Cheers!
*********8/23/17: I just wanted to follow up with an addendum concerning the brass shift collar added onto Version 2 of this shifter. I purchased version one of this shifter with the original plastic shift collar and have been using it for approximately 7 months, but when Renegade Motorsports released the new collar as a separate upgrade, I jumped on it since it's such an easy install anyway. Installation was easy, the brass collar is simply press fit on. The only difficulty I had was getting the shifter set right. With the new brass collar the tolerances were really precise so I had to use a little more "finesse" to get the shifter sitting in its crevice properly. An extra 5 minute affair. I also bought a whole container of Honda's urea grease and re-greased the shifter, again, liberally. The amount of lube included with the shifter is enough, though.
As far as I can tell, there is a difference in feel, but it's extremely subtle & slight. If you had an oem shifter with a worn out collar and replaced it with the brass one, I would estimate the difference in feel would be more substantial. I can feel a tiny bit more tactility transmitted through the the shifter, but again it's subtle and some people might not notice.
Do I still love my short throw shifter? Absolutely. It is my favorite mod I have done to my car, thus far. I use it every day and it brings a smile to my face I can't wipe off. It's aesthetically pleasing and functions as intended. That's a win in my book. My sentiments in my original view stand. This is not a necessary upgrade, but FOR ME, I cannot see myself living without it now that I have it.
Now, the collar: would I still purchase this and install it based off of what I have experienced post install? Yes, but not because of the increased "feel". I would install it based off of the collar now being brass vs plastic, for longevity purposes. I do not ever plan on selling my car and to reiterate what I said above, this was an easy upgrade.
-nicostatus
Last edited by nicostatus; 08-22-2017 at 09:00 PM. Reason: New part added.
The following 5 users liked this post by nicostatus:
Eddie J (05-23-2020),
International Grind (04-10-2018),
jimboslice (03-03-2017),
NICODON (02-24-2021),
The Prophet. (02-16-2017)
02-10-2017, 11:30 AM
#2
I love my RM shifter, great review.
To me, this thing feels like it could withstand a 10 ton nuke when compared to the stock shifter. It also helped reduce the notchy feeling when shifting, especially when the trans fluid is cold in the mornings.
To me, this thing feels like it could withstand a 10 ton nuke when compared to the stock shifter. It also helped reduce the notchy feeling when shifting, especially when the trans fluid is cold in the mornings.
The following users liked this post:
nicostatus (02-10-2017)
02-10-2017, 12:12 PM
#3
Thread Starter
Thanks for taking the time to read it. I like that shorthand moniker. RM Shifter shall it be known, henceforth! I agree, it definitely feels more robust.
02-11-2017, 12:20 PM
#4
Love my STS from Renegade also, but im gonna purchase more grease and see if I can get rid of some of the notchiness. Definitely a good buy and it looks like theres going to be more produced in the future.
The following 2 users liked this post by licelsior:
Edgar Cervantes (02-11-2020),
nicostatus (02-11-2017)
02-12-2017, 02:57 PM
#5
My guess is this shifter is similar to the Moddiction/International Grinding S2000 short shifter? If so, then that's great. I have one along with a Car Garage amis Metal Shift Collar. I would recommend a heavy(275 Grams or more) shift knob with this shifter though.
02-13-2017, 07:20 PM
#7
I don't fully mean to sound rude or condensing when I say this but, to fix a non broken part for three hundred and sixty five dollars they better not only package it nice, but it better work good and I hope there was at least a gram of pot and a beer in the box too.... lol. I am.... jelous that you have it... though. 
The following users liked this post:
nicostatus (02-13-2017)
Trending Topics
02-13-2017, 07:51 PM
#8
Thread Starter
I don't fully mean to sound rude or condensing when I say this but, to fix a non broken part for three hundred and sixty five dollars they better not only package it nice, but it better work good and I hope there was at least a gram of pot and a beer in the box too.... lol. I am.... jelous that you have it... though.
02-14-2017, 05:45 AM
#9
VS
Slapping on mods on a car and tracking it without experiencing it's raw form first
But my opinion - I mean heck, I modded my car too lol.
02-15-2017, 05:38 PM
#10
im doing a moderate/hopefully reliable build with my s2000. turbo, hoping for 450 ish..... but first, im doing "modifications" like radiator (done), oil cooler, TCT, ap2 retainers, etc. to make sure its ready for a little boost. lol. i have yet to track my car, but thats mainly cause im too afraid to wreck it lol.
it blows my mind when i see videos of people getting loose out on the street, let alone the track.. these cars handle like rubber bands, once they get out they snap back so fast. i think ill start with a big open parking lot and some mini orange cones (autocross, of course, lol)
Lastly, is anyone able to link me or explain the physics behind the short throw? HOW is the throw actually shorter??? im just not seeing how its possible.
-Matt
it blows my mind when i see videos of people getting loose out on the street, let alone the track.. these cars handle like rubber bands, once they get out they snap back so fast. i think ill start with a big open parking lot and some mini orange cones (autocross, of course, lol)
Lastly, is anyone able to link me or explain the physics behind the short throw? HOW is the throw actually shorter??? im just not seeing how its possible.
-Matt