DJHohum

Well i had the voodoo ti knob and i loved the fact that it shortened the shift distance, but what i did not like was the shape of the knob because i like to grip the knob from the side rather than the top. so my question is, is it possible to counter sink the stock knob? would it work if i just drilled the hole deeper or would the deeper hole have to be threaded as well? also what could i use to secure the knob while drilling w/out scratching it?
thanks
MIke

dhess

It might be easier to hacksaw off the top 10mm off the gear sticks shaft?

Not easily reversible though.

marcucci

The problem is that the stock knob can't go down much further from where it is due to the stock locknut arrangement. You can try hacking off the shifter or removing the nut and countersinking, but you will need to come up with a way to lock the threads (loctite?).

I've tried, and a new knob altogether is much easier.

kyleemn

Hey guys! I've finally done it. I hacked off about a half-inch from the shifter and made the first half-inch of my titanium shift knob a little bigger by using a drill. It worked! My shifter is about half and inch shorter. I love the shorter shift length and it definitely looks better. I spent less than ten bucks for the hack saw and the upgraded blades. Definitely a lot cheaper than buying a counter-sunk knob.

marcucci

So you hacked off the stock stick, and opened up the stock knob's hole? Is that all you needed to do, or did you have to drill more into the knob?

Did you use the stock locknut? It looks like you would only get about 1/4" before the locknut can't go down any further.

DJHohum

cool! how the hell did you keep the knob in place while drilling it? i tried keeping mine a workshop clamp thingy and the knob still spun with the drill! i also tried puting it in a vise and the same thing happened. can you give me more details such as how much deeper you drilled the hole and what size bit.
thanks

kyleemn

I used a drill bit that was the same sized as the original hole. As far as keeping the knob in place, I just held in in my left hand and the drill in my right. You just have to drill verry carefully and a little at a time. It did catch once in a while but I just reversed the drill direction to disengage the drill bit from the knob. After doing it for a while, you get the hang of it and make better progress. As far as the depth of the bigger hole, it was trial and error until I got the shifter to the length that I wanted it to be. I hope this helps.

marcucci

I thought I would bring this back up, since I re-analyzed everything last night (and shortened the shifter about an inch). I'll have to post back with the numbers (don't have them here at work).

If you're like me, you like the stock knob. If you're also like me, you think the shifter is unsightly in how tall it is, or maybe it doesn't fit your hand well (I have to cock my wrist to drive it, stock). If you're like this, read on.

There's not much room from where stock knob sits to move it down the shift lever before the locknut bottoms out on the threads. Having done this before (see http://www.ntpog.org/mods/fifth-knob/knob.shtml), I took a series of dies and ran threads down as far as I could, about 10mm or a half inch. This is as far as you can easily thread the stock shifter since at that point it flares out to about 1" in diameter!

With a half inch or so of additional thread, I was able to lower the stock knob about 1/4" or 5mm when it bottomed out on the shaft. I used a dremel to knock off a half inch of the shaft on the top, bringing it down to the locknut. Then I noticed that the stock locknut is quite large, about 10mm tall (almost 1/2") I think. I dug through my box of goodies and turned up a 10mm x 1.50 nut that was smaller. I then ground this down on my grinder until it was about 1/8" or 3mm thick which reduced the height of it and allowed me to bring the stock knob down about as far as is possible without cutting the knob down so it is physically shorter.

I'd estimate about an inch drop in the knob which is just perfect for me- it fits my hand/wrist/arm confortably now, and has shortened throws appreciably.

C's has a short shift kit for the car- anyone game?!

rlp

I drilled the knob as far as I dared, cut new (deeper) threads in the knob, threaded the shaft as far as posible (to the shoulder where it flares) and left out the locknut. The knob sits down almost to the flare on the shaft. There is some trial and error in getting the shift pattern to allign correctly, but the knob is about an inch lower. I also really like the way it shifts and falls to hand.

todaysivxx

i think the shifter is short enough as is...have you seen euro car stock shifters? so long! i just grip mine with my index and middle finger wrapped around where the leather and titanium meet.