I got a MS short shifter as a gift at Christmas, and finally got to install it yesterday. The MS shifter kit includes new bushings. The new bushings are aluminum and steel and replace rubber bushings. the metal inserts in some of my old bushings were pretty mangled. The shifter does not come with instructions for placing the bushings. I ended up with the blue anodized aluminum bushings on the bottom and the steel black washers on the top.

The nice thing about the MS shifter is that it also comes with a little tool for removing the shifter (3 prong tool to keep the tabs depressed). I didn't realize what it was for until I had it all torn apart. I used the core from some 12 ga solid core wire to serve this purpose (worked great).

The difference between the current set up and the stock set up is night and day. THe MS shifter is actually angled toward the driver. Reverse and 5th are approximately where 3/4 used to be. The shift knob height is dropped about an inch. It is all very comfortable, and the shifts are now very smooth (2-3 used to be pretty notchy/loud).





I am getting a NRG weighted shift knob(it's been on order for a while now, but I took some time and painted my shift knob base and push button release for the e brake with plasti-dip. I ended up using bleach to remove all of the old siler material from te e brake button to get good adhesion. I plan on removing the plasti-dip from the shift knob when I get the new one in.

I guess you don't need help. Looks good. Did you figure out the rattling noise?

RX-7 Chris wrote:I guess you don't need help. Looks good. Did you figure out the rattling noise?

Apparently the purchase of my car included an 11/16" deep well socket. It was under the carpet by the ac vent under the passenger seat.

haha that's great.

I wonder what the difference is between this and the stock MS3 shifter....

I will have MS3 stock swaybars available soon (front and rear). Would you be interested?

I'm Batman:
Potentially. I was looking at the Jbarone rear sway, but perhaps mazdaspeed stuff would be better. Need to look into that.

Rich B.:
Is the stock MS3 shifter angled toward the driver at the top? You can see how much it is angled since you can see the silver top plate on the top of the shifter (the picture is in 1st). The shifter is actually vertical and then has a bend to the driver. Does the stock shifter have the blue block of aluminum, or is it just steel tabs. I don't have a picture of my stock shifter, but my guess is that the shifters in the MS and MZ3 are the same.

The stock MS3 shifter doesn't have the blue anodized metal but that doesn't mean anything. Mazda could have just spruced it up for the MZ3 application. I can't remember if the stock MS3 shifter is angled tho. I have it sitting in a box in my garage so I'll take a look if I remember......

RichB wrote:The stock MS3 shifter doesn't have the blue anodized metal but that doesn't mean anything. Mazda could have just spruced it up for the MZ3 application. I can't remember if the stock MS3 shifter is angled tho. I have it sitting in a box in my garage so I'll take a look if I remember......

The mounting point for the shift cable also changed from vertical and to the left of the shift lever, to horizontal and in front of the shift lever.

I tend to think that the aftermarket mazdaspeed shifter is different than what is put in the MS3. I think it was Colombia that recently changed out his bushings in his MS3 and they were the same as my stock bushings. Seems like if they were going to change the lever, they would change the bushings too. All pure speculation on my part though.

The bushing thing doesn't surprise me because Mazda was trying to isolate the shifter from drive-train vibrations.

I'm not sure about the cable locations either.....