As I dive into in Part I, after much deliberation, I went with a shift extender setup as opposed to a chassis mounted shifter setup.
Installation
The installation on its own was incredibly simple:
Remove shiftknob
Thread the shift extender on, as though it were a shiftknob
Install shiftknob onto the extender
Yet, it took me over a week to complete the installation. Why? I wanted the original shift boot to look clean with the new shiftknob. Since the extended setup sits much higher than before, I didn't want to have a loose shift boot floating around, scrunched up at the bottom of the shifter. I also didn't want the entire length of the 3.5" extender exposed, as I felt this would make the interior feel incomplete.
A Purposeful Design
The solution: A custom designed shift boot retainer and cover, made for the shift extender.
This product consists of two portions, the retainer portion hooks onto the shift boot to keep it from sliding down, while the cover portion simply covers up the top folds of the leather to make for a cleaner look. Lets break down the key design elements:
Sizing the retainer was tricky to make sure that it slipped into the existing opening in the boot easily enough without tearing it, while remaining snug enough that the boot wouldn't fall out of the retainer just in normal use.
Next up was the height of the retainer, which sets how high the shift boot is held. Too low and the shift boot will scrunch up along the base. Too high and the boot will snag while shifting especially on the gears which stretch the boot a bit more, like 2nd or 5th.
After that was the cover size and position. The cover is the part of the boot retainer that's easily visible. This sits just above the boot to hide the folds of the boot as the end of it hooks into the retainer. It should have a smooth and comfortable shape since this will also double as a sort of hand-support on lazy shifts
Finally, the boot retainer itself needed to be held into place somehow. This is done via a seat along the threaded extender rod. This makes installation slightly tricky as the shift boot retainer must slide onto the extender before slipping the boot onto it.
Photo 1: The starting point: (short-shifter rod) with shift knob removed
Photo 2: The first version of the extended shift retainer. A bit longer than needed and with a low shift boot position
Photo 3: The next version of the shift boot retainer. Shorter, raising the boot a bit higher. I think there's still a little room to raise the boot further without it snagging. From the perspective it looks like it's sitting lower, but photo 2 and photo 3 are both with the shift extender installed! Also, in photo 3, there's a different shift knob which sits a bit lower than the first.
A few minor tweaks remain and I've switched over to a black part instead. Let's talk about the driving feel!
Driving Impression
'Unbelievably different' is the simplest way to describe the driving feel of this upgrade. On a short drive around the block, immediately, it feels like an entirely different shifter setup. Like a short-shifter was no long installed in the car, and I don't mean just the height of the shifter. The increased mass and height of the shifter completely changes the mechanics and consequently, the feeling of the shift motion. What used to be a firm and forceful shift with the short shifter, now feels smooth and glides from one gear to the next. The throws are of course, a dash longer, but still not too long to feel awkward or bus-like. The gears engage smoothly from one to the next, maybe even more than before.
A note of caution:
On my first test drive with the setup, there was an instance where I almost missed the gate for 3rd while shifting up from second, and just slightly went towards 1st although not engaging it at all. That was a bit concerning. I might chalk it up to just getting my bearings straight with the new shift setup, but I'll need to be cautious about accidentally selecting 1st, especially in a performance driving situation where a 2nd -> 3rd shift would be common and the intensity of the scenario may offer less room for a carefully carved out gear path.
I definitely need to spend some more time driving with the new setup in different road & track scenarios before I can make a full conclusion on it. The increased shiftknob height will take some getting used to while putting around town and makes the armrest seem too low all of a sudden. At the same time, the distance to grab the shiftknob from the steering wheel is much shorter and feels very comfortable and natural when both hands are on the wheel and a shift is needed.
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