I love my momo alum. ****, but it needs to be 1.5 to 2 inches shorter. I could modify the shifter by cutting and narrowing the shaft size but I was wondering if anyone has tried it. I have heared they make short shift kits but I haven't seen any details. Cutting and modifying seems poosible without pulling everything apart...

 

Yep, I've done it & it has worked great (MCS). I wanted to keep the stock ****, so I removed about 2 inches from the middle of the shaft and joined them together with a collar and pins. Great improvement in feel and makes the linkage feel tighter. Only drawback I can see is that is takes a little more effort getting it into reverse as you don't have as much leverage.

 

Yes, I cut about .75" down when I installed my UUC stainless ****. Position is great for me. Kind of messy affair, but I am pleased with the result. As far as shifting, the added weight of a UUC or Whalen **** will feel great and smooth. I posted pictures awhile back, but I can't tell you how to find them in the members MINIs section.

Try this link to the topic
UUC **** Adjusted________________

 

i cut 2.25 inches off my mcs and it works great:


http://www.mini2.com/forum/showthrea...=short+shifter

 

flyboy's mod looks pretty good. Just got to decide how low to go and to get the **** to fit tightly.
One concern is still having enough leverage to shift to reverse. Some women tell me that in the MCS
it isn't easy to get into reverse- has to do with leverage and strength at that angle. With a short shifter it
might be hard to get it and require two hands. Not that big a deal but something to consider.

The aftermarket short shifters run $160 to about $200. Usually you have to drop the exhaust to install the shifter
some like the Alta shifter is adjustable so that is nice.

 

after a couple of thousand miles, my mcs shifted into reverse much, much easier than when new. i could have taken a little more off the shaft and still not had too much force for shifting.

just try it by holding the shaft about where you want the **** to be to get a feel for the throw and the forces. before i cut down my shaft, i drove around for over a week holding the shaft completely below the stock ****.

 

Has anyone used a Whalen Shift Machine after chopping their shifter? Seem like it might be a task to do.

 

I wanted to to get a custom Whalen **** made but backed away cause it raised the hight of the shifter. Looks like this will solve that problem, just the info I have been looking for, thanks flyboy!

 

I just wanted to say thanks you guys for sharing! Finding out others were successful, I went ahead and hacked the shifter myself. I cut off 2". It really is messy and important to cover up the interior as much as possible (flying molten plastic and metal shaving everywhere). If using a dremel beware that when cutting through the plastic cap on the rod, the plastic melts and gets thrown all over. I went through 5 dremel cutter discs by the time it was all done.

Figuring out how far you want to cut it down is also important and driving around holding the shifter down low (**** removed) really helps judge what is most comfortable for you. It's better to not cut enough and trim it down further later on. I removed the entire plastic casing at the top of the rod and used the flexible tubing method to secure the stock **** temporarily until my Momo arrives this week. I etched out the notch the stock **** needs as well and it's perfect- doesn't turn, but the rod thickness and tubing isn't very reliable so the **** can be removed too easily using a fair amount of upward force. It does take a tiny bit more effort to engage the shifter (mostly for reverse, but that's a design flaw on the Cooper) but it's no big deal and anyone can get used to it. I love having the shifter shortened to where it should be. Thanks again for the info!

 

>>The aftermarket short shifters run $160 to about $200.

ProMini sells the B&M Short Shift Kit and it is currently on sale for $124.95

 

Wow- from the pictures it looks like 2" is the most one would want to cut off. Messy. 5 dremel cutting bits!
Good thing you were not stealing this MINI. You could stop for lunch and a snack.

How does it feel in terms of reverse, shifting ease vs needing to apply more pressure to shift? It won't really be any smoother since it is just a shorter lever- as opposed to getting new bushings and a stiffer shift rod.

 

Another question...

If you look at the stock lever, you can see that it comes down (about 2&quot and then there is another piece of plastic that comes over it. If you are looking at the stock lever, this is where the shift **** is resting.
The extra piece of plastic in question somes down about 4-5".

How did you get around that? Does it come off? Do you drill it as well as try to fit the **** over it?

I bought a Momo F17 ****, and installed it, and automotically felt like Snoop Dogg (ie like I was walking with a pimp stick.
I immediately took it off and was looking for a way to shorten it.

Since then, I've purchased a shortdhift (alta adjustable) and held out on doing anything to the stock one in hopes that I can fit the **** on the shortshift...but I'm guessing I'll probably have to cut that one too, huh?

Louay

 

My Momo arrived Friday and it's just like butta! Mmmm baby! Wow! What a difference a **** makes. Although putting the Momo on the 2" shortened rod does make it taller than the MINI ball was on the shortened rod, it's still lower than the stock **** height before I "reshaped" anything. I am still deciding whether or not to grind down another 1/2" since the Momo sits higher/is taller. I'll give it a few days and see/feel.

To answer other questions...
The **** alone made the most difference in ease of shifting although I do not think the smoothness between shifts was affected much if any. That would take replacing the whole shifter and getting a weighted **** like the Whalen. It is much easier to shift than than stock **** was though, very noticably easier!

I cut off 2" then used the metal dremel attachment to grind off a slit down the plastic casing piece you speak of, then popped the whole thing off. It's just a plastic coating on the rod. Once you cut the rod it's not needed since you'll have to figure another way to fit the stock **** if that's what you're going with anyway. If going with an aftermarket **** (other than the Whalen since that's the same fit as the stock), they usually have 3 screw sets to tighten it to the rod.