hello

I'm currently looking into getting a short shifter extension and wanted to know if anyone knows if there are differences in quality between the following 3:

Helis SSK (cheapest but have to remove dust cover)
Ultrik Short Shifter from Minimania (includes replacement dust cover)
Rogue Engineering Short Shifter (looks similar to Ultrik and has its own replacement dust cover)

I leaning more towards the ones that include a dust cover because I don't want to sacrifice the dust cover in the MINI and have heat emitting up from the shift boot as a result. I guess my concern is the actual craftsmanship of the part between the 3 manufacturers. If anyone can chime in, I would really appreciate your thoughts.

thanks

 

i have the helix - no problems what-so-ever.

removed the dust cover, put it in a box. When you see how much heat shielding that you have to take off to get to the shifter box, I doubt you will worry about the dust shield. From what I understand, the newer BMW's don't even come with them.

Only thing that I did a little different from the instructions was I put a piece of 3/4" heater hose over the set screw so there would be NO chance of it backing out. I saw that some other companies recommended using a piece of heat shrink tubing. I think the heater hose gets the job done!

Oh, and BTW, i love the shifter. Much shorter shifts, good feel, etc.

 

fishbulb

thanks for the feedback. I agree, the short shifter makes a huge difference. I installed something similar to my TL and the shifting has improved so much. Also, does the helix SSK come with any loc-tite?

 

Just wondering, have you looked at all of the companies? I know ALTA and WMS also make them.

-Cody

 

yes, i have looked at other brands as well. I didn't want to replace the whole assembly because I like to keep the stock height of the shift arm. I mainly want it for the shorter throw only.

 

I was thinking about that the other day....does anyone have a problem shifting with a short shifter? Like, does the back of your arm hit the seat?

-Cody

 

To give you an idea about the dust cover. We have installed these on cars with 70K and there is virtually no dust under the aluminum exhaust cover. So there is really no issues with removing it. We have been selling our complete shifters for 5 years now and not a single person has had issues with cables wearing out, or ***** wearing out.

With that said the install time on the SS rod extensions is very quick. But to add the 1/2 hour of time to remove/install the complete short shifter might be something to think about. Then you have the adjustability of throw and **** placement with a simple Allen Key.

Just a thought.

 

great. thank you.

 

IIRC, the helix did not come with loctite. had some blue in the garage, part of the reason i added the piece of hose. Didn't feel like running out for red, hose was hanging in the garage....

I also did not want to change the height/position in the interior. Plus, the price difference was a factor for me.

 

The height and price are a very good difference. But the height is something lots of people ask us about also. In fact our SS in the middle position is the same as stock, and is lower for the 50% shorter throw. The stock throw is taller by a small amount. Just to give you a few more details.