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Short Shifter Installation Walk-through

Model Years: 1990-2002 Estimated Time: 01:30

This article walks you through removing your OEM shifter and re-installing it with a aftermarket short shifter.

NOTE: The pictures below illustrate me replacing the SUPER long throw stock 1st gen (2nd gen is the same as well) shifter with a 3rd generation lever which shortens the throw by about 1-2" and shrinks the total side-to-side area.

All Mazda Protege aftermarket shifter levers will fit any generation. There are currently two (2) models available for the Protege: Pacesetter adjustable ($80), and B&M non-adjustable ($140). The Pacesetter uses a plastic ball that screws onto the lower portion of the lever, which makes its legnth adjustable. It comes with a pair of plastic bushings, the chrome lever, silicone grease, new rubber boot, and a hex screw to tighten down the plastic pivot-ball. The B&M comes with a lever with a built in assembly. It replaces your OEM o-rings with a bronzeoil pivot-ball inside of an aluminum housing. It has two rubber o-rings that you squeeze into your shifter housing. The aftermarket Bronezoil Bushings DO NOT fit the Pacesetter, so DO NOT use them (i found this out the hard way). Only use the plastic bushings for the pacesetter unit. The Bronzeoil shifter bushings WILL WORK for the OEM Shifter lever and the B&M lever. I took some pictures of the difference in 90-98 shift levers (one on right) to the 99-02 lever (middle) with a picture of the pacesetter lever (shift knob not included). I also took a picture of the different bushings (pacesetter on far left, bronzeoil in middle, oem on right). You can see why using oem or bronzeoils on the pacesetter could be problematic, since they are different sizes.

Click a picture below to see it in full:

Tools you will need:

  • (2) 12mm wrenches
  • Philips Head Screwdriver
  • Flat Head Screwdriver
  • Retaining-Clip Tooll (2nd/3rd gen only)
  • Silicone Grease
  • Paper Towels
  • Floor-Jack & Stands or Ramps


Steps of installation:
  1: Jack vehicle up and securely lower onto jackstands
2: Unscrew two screws near back of center armrest (Pictures are from 1st generation, 2nd and 3rd gen's have different locations)
3: Unscrew two middle screws of center armrest (Pictures are from 1st generation, 2nd and 3rd gen's have different locations)
4: Unscrew two screws on side of center console peice (Pictures are from 1st generation, 2nd and 3rd gen's have different locations)
5: Unscrew shiftknob and remove it from lever. Remove console (Note: in this picture I removed the fabric padding that covers the screws to the shifter assembly. This is un-necessary as I found and doens't affect anything with installing the shifter)

6:

1st gen: Use the flat-head screwdriver to pry out the spring that holds the shifter pivot ball in place

2nd/3rd gen: Use the retaining-clip tool to squeeze the retaning-clip, with your other hand, use the flathead to pry out the retaining-clip.
7: Wipe off spring/retaining-clip with paper towel (it should be greasy) and place in a safe place. If you lose it, it will be a pain to drive without and its not a easy thing to replace.
8: Slide under the car, and locate the shifter lever's bottom
9: Using the two 12mm wrenches, firmly loosen the bolt and nut that is threaded through the bottom of the lever.
10: Slide the bolt through the shifter and bushings and remove it from the linkage arm and place both the nut and bolt in a safe place! (your car will be undriveable without them!)
11: Get back inside your car and carefully pull out the lever assembly.
12: Woo Hoo! Lever removed! eww.....nasty yellow grease!!
13: take the top white O-ring off the lever, and CAREFULLY push the bottom white O-ring off as illustrated. I broke mine when removing my lever on my white car which doesn't affect much, but it isn't a good thing ;).
14: If you have the B&M, BE CAREFUL with taht boot, since they don't supply you with another one (Pacesetter does, at least for my kit they did). There are two different lengths on the bottom linkage hole (that the bushings go into). After removing the bushings, push the boot inside out and then stretch the bottom part over the shorter length linkage hole (as illustrated). You might have to stretch the boot back and forth to increase its elasticity.

15: After removing the boot, take that lever and chuck it in the trash!! (well thats your choice). After cleaning off the white O-rings, spring, bushings, and boot (you don't have to, but why reuse that nasty grease if you have new stuff?). Re-install them onto the new lever. If your installing the Pacesetter, its a LOT easier if you just put the bottom O-ring and rubber boot in place, then screw the plastic pivot-ball in, then place the top O-ring on top of that. B&M shifter users: skip this step since your housing is built into the lever
16: Push the old boot (or new) onto the new lever. If you have the B&M shifter, you might want to grease the boot and bottom of the lever so it slides on without teaing. Pacesetter shifter's don't even need this step, if you just remove the pivot ball and install the boot first, then the O-ring, then re-install the pivot ball. After the boot is on, put the bushings back in.
17: Grease the new lever's pivot-ball up really good! B&M users DO NOT grease the inside of the aluminum housing since the bronzeoil pivot-ball self-lubricates itself. DO use the grease to grese the hell out of the rubber O-rings on the outside of the aluminum housing as it IS A VERY TIGHT FIT to get that thing back in there.

18: Take the lever back into your car and shove it into the shifter-lever housing. B&M users, you will need to put all your weight into pushing the aluminum housing in there. It is a super tight fit.

After pushing the lever in place, make sure it is angled the right way so you don't install it backwards on the next step

19:

First gen: Snap the Spring back into place (its pretty easy)

2nd/3rd gen. Place the retaining-clip ring into the retaining-clip tool and sqeeze it back into place. You might need to use both hands to snap it into place (it takes longer than the spring but isn't too bad).
20: Get back underneath the car. Shove the bolt through the linkage-arm and lever-arm and tighten the nut. Don't overtighten because you could make the shifter feel super stiff if you do. but don't go too lax either, then there will be too much play and it will feel very sloppy.
  21: Get back inside car, and re-install the center console. Screw them into place, screw teh shift knob back on, and lower the car.......
  22: Drive around for awhile! You'll be amazed at the difference in feel and throw!!!!

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