Overall, a very frustrating experience.

I have much room for improvement. I haven't really adjusted the leather in the boot the way I want yet, since I just finished the install. It was exceptionally frustrating because the Momo boot came with an elastic band around the bottom, which continued to get in the way over and over again. I had to cut this elastic thing off to make this project somewhat feasible. The aluminum ring that holds the boot to a hidden plastic ring uses these weird clips. I had to poke holes in the shift boot to get it to fit. The bad news is that the clips are pretty tightly stuck now, and it will be difficult to get the boot out if I want to. A small amount of leather is still bunched up between the aluminum ring and the console... which makes the console not totally flush. Well, at least I'm done, for now. I plan to do a little bit better of a job soon, to get things to fit and work out better.

I would rate my install 6/10... I could do it so much better next time.

At least the stock **** wasn't very hard to get off...with the right tools.


In the farther away picture, you can see how the console is not totally flush. I will fix that tomorrow if I can...

 

Looks nice!

Now, please share what special tools you used to remove the old ****. I spent 2 hours yesterday trying to get mine off, even had the whole shifter in a vice! All I succeded in doing was unscrewing the 2 halves of the shift lever!

 

holy short shifter!

sean

 

Thats nice mike, GJ on the switch.

 

I have the same ****, the Momo sphere. It is the best mod I have on my car, I'm not kidding. I hated the stock ****, this makes the throw feel shorter and easier, not to mention I feel like I'm in better control of the actual shift. Plus it looks awesome. HIGHLY recommended.

 

+1

I have the same **** as well & love the feel over the OEM.

 

Some tools...

To remove the ****, I used the auto-locking wrench to hold the shaft (did not use any protection, just grabbed it through the rubber boot underneath everything).

I used the 15" monkey wrench to hold the shift **** and some regular cheesecloth to protect it. As you can see, it was not damaged.

The 15" wrench gave me tons of torque to get the **** off. It could be done with a shorter wrench, but it was super easy with one this big.

 

So I finally took it for a test drive. I agree, it does shift better, and smoother than the stock shifter. I'm pretty sure my throw is a bit shorter too.

Then, what do I hear,

"bzzzzzzz bzzzzzzzz" "rattlezzzzzzzzzz"

it sounds like 2 pennies are stuck in the shifter. Whenever it moves, it rattles...

I know what the problem is, I used the stock spacer when I installed the momo ****.

The spacer is a little metal ring that slides around the shaft (get your minds out of the gutter) and bumps the shifter up about 3/8" ....

With the stock shifter, it was held in place by friction. Now, it's somewhat loose and it rattles.

I have to go get prepared for my cruise on Sunday, so I don't have time to deal with this crap!!

For the record, I did not ACCIDENTALLY install the stock spacer with the aftermarket ****. I intentionally wanted to use the spacer because it made the install a lot easier for one (in regards to screwing the shift boot onto the ****) and it also makes it a little more comfortable to shift. Without the spacer, your hand is in constant contact with the shift boot it seems. With the spacer, the **** sticks up a little bit more

I'm going to probably use a little piece of rubber or tygon tubing to keep the spacer from rattling... should be easy.

 

It looks good, I had a full MOMO interior in my 95 VR4, but it must be hot where you are, that boot looks loose and saggy....Peace!

 

LOL ... I assume you're just breaking my *****...

I already cut off about 1 + 1/4" of leather from the boot. It's not really saggy, it's just that there are a lot of curves and folds; there's more leather there than there needs to be. I might cut off another 1/2 - 3/4" of leather to make it look a little cleaner. For now, it doesn't impact performance whatsoever, so I'm cool with it.

I did this install from like 11:30pm - 1:30am, and I was too tired to make it perfect how I wanted. You can always trim off more from the bottom, but you can't put it back so you have to do it little by little.

Plus, leaving the boot a little baggy is ok. Look at this guy's install...
https://my350z.com/forum/2003-2009-nissan-350z/133163-had-some-free-time-and-jet-lag.html

It looks like he did not trim off as much leather as I did from the boot.

 

VERY IMPORTANT!!!
with earlier models, you have to stabilize the shifter while turning the ****, or you could damage your tranny.
use strap wrench for the **** and radiator pipe rubber protection on shifter.

 

looks like a parachute (the blue one).

 

nice

 

where can you get this shift **** from? i cannot find a place for the life of me.

 

cardomain

 

Is this the exact shift *** that was used?

http://www.cardomain.com/item/MOMSPHBLK

This one seems to have some silver under the ***, but the one in the pictures does not. That silver part makes the *** seem taller, and I am going for shorter than stock. If the one linked is not the same one in the picture where can I find that exact one?

Also why did you replace the boot? Doesnt it look basicly the same as stock, with the exception of the momo logo?

 

Update:

I took this **** off because of MANY problems.

1. It wouldn't clamp down very tight. Why? Because at the point where you screw the **** to the shaft, there is a 45-degree angle part of the shaft. The screws from the shift **** were clearly meant to screw into a 90-degree vertical surface.

2. Due to #1, it kept coming loose. I had to constantly take everything apart to screw it in tighter, and tighter, and tighter all the time.

3. Due to #2, I "ran out" of thread on the screws. Meaning: the screws are short, and I screwed them all the way THROUGH their screw-holes on the ****. The result of this was screws that got JAMMED in-between the **** and the shaft in a REALLY, REALLY bad way such that I had to use brute force to get the **** off ultimately.

Needless to say, I put the stock **** back on, and let me tell you, it feels much nicer after shifting with a loose **** for a few weeks. LOL

4. They're not the best design overall. For example, the screws are steel and the **** is aluminum. Aluminum is softer than steel. Result: threads of aluminum are stripped easily.