I got the megan short shifter and searched all over the internet for instructions to make my life easy, all was good so i began, disassembled my shifter, started assembling the megan and i hit a snag…
I cannot get the stupid white bushing onto the shifter, it won;t go passed the ball joint ERRRRRR!!!
Here are some pics to help me explain (pics found on the net)
SS parts, the bushing inside the red circle needs to go onto the shifter
Needs to go from pic above to this pic below
How do i get it over the ball joint??
I have tried heating it, i have tried heating it and placing the shifter in the freezer, i tried hammering it in, i tried everything i could think of without breaking it… what do i do?
cut that thing and slide it on the megan one, buy the oem spignot bushing from nissan for the end becasue the megan one is too small, and the screws that keep the blue plate down are too long so they hit the tranny housing and push up the plate which will give you like 5mm of up and down play, cut them down then theres no more play…but check first it could have just been my screws.
First:
Screws were too long, but to fix the 5mm of up and down play, megan supplied a 5mm white “spacer” bushing, making sure the screws hold on tight. Issue with the spacer is it raises the blue bracket thing 5mm higher and then it doesn’t seal against the tranny properly. My best solution was throwing out the spacer, cutting the screws to an appropriate size and to make sure i had a proper seal (since i was not provided with a gasket like other SS kits have) i put some white teflon sealing tape inbetween the tranny and blue bracket (quick fix as i was in a hurry, had to go out).
Second:
The Dust Boot (rubber boot that is zip tied to the shifter and tranny) was a bitch to get off the stock shifter and I accidently ripped it abit on top. Fixed that buy putting it on the Megan shifter and wrapping that shit in teflon sealing tape, then zip tied it. Then the bottom of the dust boot will not stay on the blue bracket, tried to zip tie it but it came loose, bracket is not high enough for it to grip on. I haven’t fixed it yet but i will be glueing it with windshield adhiesive to the blue bracket then using windshield sealant to make sure it won’t leak. Please let me know if you have a better solution.
Third and last major issue is:
I am not using the stock shift knob, i am using the stainless steel/chrome shift knob that came with the shifter (for now), and that mother fucker gets super hot when your car is in the sun for a while, had to shift with one finger tip untill it cooled down
Over all i like the feel of it but i am no expert. It is firm and shorter then stock (the shifts, not the shifter itself).
The flash that DRE made is great but i would suggest that if you do not know what you are doing (like me), you should find some good write ups as the flash does not go into high detail of course. Combine a write up with the flash and you have perfect instructions.
OK my novel is done now
By the way, I love that white teflon tape stuff, used it for the fist time on my air hose fitting and i’ve loved it ever since.
I just installed my megan ss the other day, it shifts nice and i overcame all of these problems…
however, second gear freakin’ grinds big time unless I put pull it in really hard. Anyone have any idea what might cause this? If I drive around and just put a bit of extra pressure than normal when I put it in to second it works fine.
PS - cutting those bolts is retarded. I felt like I was trying to rig a shifter from a different car in to my own car… how can they sell a product like that? not a big deal it only took 2 minutes to cut em but still
have you replaced the very bottom bushing (looks like a tiny cup, goes on the very bottom of shifter) with a nissan bushing??
If not then look at the bushing Megan came with, then look at the same exact bushing that is at the bottom of your stock shifter and you will see how the megan bushing is tiny compared to stock.
Also if you have not replaced that bushing then pull the bushing from the stock shifter and put it on the megan (it will be hard as fuck to take out and put in, I busted mine trying to put it in). If you break it then grab the pieces and go to nissan, show them the pieces as they might not know what your talking about when you ask fo the bushing and buy another. It will cost something like $3.50. I just got 2 from nissan (a spare just in case) and i installed on without breaking it , now the megan was worth every penny, no more loose play, no more rattling above 3500 RPM.
Everyone recommended the bushing and now so do I!!
Hey I actually did that. I was going to ask about the whole bushing thing because I expected to go to nissan to buy one but I tried the one off of the old shifter jusr for shits and giggles and sure enough it came off really easily and went on really easily. It fits perfect so I can’t imagine that this is the issue.
I’m glad you said normally they are hard to get off because I was pretty dissipointed in SON people thinking I was the only one who thought to use the old one.
Anyway, I messed with the tightness of the bolts… Loosened them up a bit… Now its a lot better but still have to be really careful with second. Sometimes it will pop out when I start to engage the cluth sometimes it grinds like a mofo. I’m really dissipointed in this shifter but for $75 I can’t complain too much.
Oh… I took the red lettering off of mine by the way and it looks a lot better. Funnily enough it comes off in seconds with simplegreen and a damp course cloth.
… Which reminds me… When I tighten my shift knob the lettering is upside down! Am I missing something?? If I loosen it to the point where its right side up its so loose juse driving around normally causes it to turn on its own.
strange how your’s has issues with second gear… mine hasn’t had that problem, or any problem other then rattling with the megan shifter…
My red lettering is coming out on it’s own just from 2 weeks of wear. Mine is upside down aswell. Doesn’t bother me too much as it is only a temporary knob.
Hmm if you need help i can take a look at your shifter. But yeah, you need the OEM nissan shifter bushing, it really makes a whole lot of difference in how short the shifter is. I think I need a new one thouhg, my old one is prolly worn out now. it rattles at like 5000rpm but didnt rattle at all when i first put it in. Overall the shifter is great if you put it in correctly.
im gonna play with it a bit more as soon as i get some time (maybe tonight!) but I might take you up on the offer, maybe im a chooch and put something in wrong
k i spent some time on that piece of junk just now. I rigged it to work nicely with some lock washers Not sure what the hell the deal was, maybe manufacturing defect. It was putting too much pressure in the bottom left (second gear) when I tightened it enough to not buzz when I drive, so I just put some padding in there ;]
