I just installed my new Anvil 2 shift knob yesterday and while I love the look, feel and weight, the shift boot is interfering a little with my grip. I often use the 'beer can' grip where I have my thumb on top and the rest of my finger wrapped around the side of the shift knob. With the stock shifter, the shift lever was exposed below the knob and that's where my pinky went. Now with the countersunk knob, the top of the shift boot is there and feels kind of weird. My hands aren't huge or anything, just average.
I went to Lowe's and got a nut to use with the factory bottom jamb nut so I could raise the knob's lower stop up about 1/2". It's better but still a little weird. Maybe I just need to take the time to get used to it because I really, really like the feel and weight of the Anvil over the stock knob, plus the lower positon is nice for resting my arm on the console and shifting.
So for those of you with this or a similarly countersunk knob, do you run it all the way down or did you adjust the height up some? Did you just have to get used to it?

Thanks

Jon

 

I had the same annoyance, except in my case its grabbing the knob like a baseball, and fingers hit boot = annoyance.

I also don't like the look of boot touching bottom of knob. It just looks... Wrong. On many levels.

I did similar, mounted knob a little higher than intended. Then I push the boot down around the fatter part of shift level
It'll stay there for a while, slowly working its way back up. So have to push it back down every once in a while.

I am working on a permanent solution, which involves filling the recessed cavity in knob with steel rod, then drilling and tapping that. I'll use jb weld to glue rod in place. The idea is the knob will sit in normal position, not recessed position.

 

Thanks caranalogy, I'm glad I'm not the only one. The simple answer would be to go back to stock, but I really like the feel and look of the Anvil knob. I'll try raising it up a little more. What's the minimum thread insertion into the knob that would be safe? I'm thinking 1/2"?

 

Yeah, that sounds about right. You're not putting a lot of pressure on tue thing...

 

Hey Jon, I would strongly advise changing your hand position. Pistol gripping the shifter is just asking for a misshift and worse case, resulting in an overrev. Move the palm of your hand to the top of the shift knob for all your shifts, and for the 3-4 and 5-6 shifts, you might want to even try twisting your wrist away from your body. This is the safest approach to avoid an overrev misshift (backhanded shift position). If you're never taking it to redline though forget what I've said, and instead question why you own an s2000.

 

I agree with RedCelica -- I've found that if I'm not holding the shifter 100% properly, my chances of mis-shifting go up exponentially.

The BMW guys call this the "how to avoid the money shift technique" since their gearboxes seem especially prone to it (?) -- the photos are excellent:

http://www.shortshifter.com/techniques2.htm
http://www.turnfast.com/tech_driving/driving_shifting

 

I have heard the bare minimum is three threads of engagement to hold anything in place. Don't quote me tho. But at that point it shouldn't move once tighten it.

 

Thanks for the feedback. I've been tooling around town with it screwed all the way down and I'm getting used to it. I'll take a wrench with me on my next spirited drive in case I want to adjust up.

 

I would also echo the statements above about grip change. Makes a world of a difference when it comes to shift accuracy.. especially with the heavier knob. Love my anvil 2!