G'day,

A few weeks ago my brother and I were replacing the thrust bearing on my '82, and to make removing/installing the gearbox easier I had taken out the shifter so we wouldn't have to lower the gearbox so much. That turned out to be a big mistake, because once we got the gearbox back in we spent just as long as that took as we did trying to get the shifter installed.

I've attached a picture from the parts catalogue so I can refer to the parts by number.

To uninstall the shifter, I unscrewed the ****, took off the shifter cover and undid the three bolts that hold down the metal dust boot/cover (17475). The large inner boot that is bolted to the body was already ripped (by an impatient mechanic I guess), and that allowed me to take out the metal dust boot (17475) with the shifter without much difficulty.

Between the shifter ball and the metal boot were the bushing/shims. I had one white plastic bushing with a notch that lines up with the notch in the shifter ball, plus *two* wave washer shims (17482) above that white plastic bushing. Unlike the replacement parts that I saw on Mazdatrix, the white plastic bushing did not have the three small notches that their wave washers line up on.



When I tried to reinstall all this, I peeled back the torn boot and carefully tried to keep the two wave washers lined up with the white plastic bushing, and the notch in the white plastic bushing lined up with the notch in the shifter ball, while slipping the ball past the return spring and lining up the three holes of the metal boot. It went down OK, but the wave washers tended to move and interfere with the the bolt holes of the metal dust boot.

Finally after it was lined up as best as I could get it, I did up the three bolts and when tightening them it made the shifter almost impossible to move. Even at finger tightness it stops the shifter from moving freely. We tried to put some washers in between the boot and the casing but this didn't make a difference.

It seems the boot is pushing the shifter ball against the white plastic bushing making it hard to move. But the thing is, I put it back the way it was before - previously the bolts were tight and there wasn't a problem, now after reinstalling it something is different.

It surprises me after looking at the parts catalogue that there were two wave washers on my shifter, whereas the catalogue shows one. Could this be the problem? And if it was, why was it not a problem before taking it out?

FBsliderseven had a similar problem in this thread, but that was with a short shifter installation. Mines all stock!

Appreciate any help.


Cheers

 

Hey mate,
Same deal on my car, stock S1 Shifter and when I fitted a new bush with the 2 wave washers it became too tight. Some guys fit a second washer to tighten up old worn bushes, but they should only have one when the bush is replaced.

If it's an S1 79-80 replacing the bush won't make much of a difference to gear shift slop. What I found made a noticable difference was fitting a little furniture foot cup into the socket where the bottom smaller shifter ball sits.

Most of the other slop/wear (if it's an S1) is on the key/key way slot on the larger shift ball.

To align the wave washer/s gradually tighten down the 3 bolts and as it firms up, just use a small blade screw driver to re align the washer if required... Works a treat. Did you get the slotted bush locally here in Sydney?

Great description of the problem btw

Roland

 

Thanks for replying. Its a 1982 (Series 2). I don't really want to stick bits of furniture in my gearbox Thanks for the suggestion.

I've ordered the slotted white plastic bushing + wave washer set pictured in my post from Mazdatrix, dunno when I'll get it. What's strange about that is that they list the white bushing as being for 1984-1995 (series 3 right though to 3rd gens!). The black bushing is listed as being for 79-95. Very strange, considering the overlap and that mine was a white one anyway. Plus, they look identical.

My thread has already been hijacked!

 

So, any advice for how to get the shifter installed properly? Anyone else encountered this?

 

OK, we fixed it. If we hadn't had to change the thrust bearing none of this would have happened, but I'm glad it did...


So I bought these parts from mazdatrix:
- what I call the "bushing set"

- what I call the "dust cover"

I found that the dust cover from Mazdatrix was totally different to the one I had in my car, which was bigger. The bigger size made it impossible to fit in the hole of the large rubber boot that bolts to the body, which explains why it was ripped. So I bought one of those, too:
- I call this the "lower boot".

So with the smaller size "dust cover", there was no need to install the shifter before the "lower boot", but this was not clear to me until I had removed the entire centre console and middle part of the dash. That was NOT fun. It did make putting the shifter assembly back together much easier though.

So after installing the "lower boot" first, we tore off the old broken rubber from the "dust cover" that was in my car, and slid the dust cover up the shifter, followed by the two wave washers and the white plastic bushing.

I still don't know which parts of mine were stock, because first there were two wave washers, and neither of them had the little clips that attach to the white plastic bushing, pictured above in the "bushing set". That made installing the gear shifter a dream - the wave washer stayed in its place nicely.

So I slid down the white plastic bushing with attached wave washer, then submerged the "dust cover" rubber in hot water to soften it, and slid it down the gear shifter. I was afraid to tear it but it went down with some extra force.

Then I greased up the shifter ball and installed it, lining everything up with the little pin and spring in the gearbox, while holding back the rubber lower boot. Then bolted that in. This next part was missing altogether from my gear shifter assembly:

- which I call the upper boot.

So I bought that boot from Mazdatrix too. Submerged it in hot water to slide it over the installed gear shifter, and that covers the lower boot and dust cover.

Finally, of course, I put the gear shifter cover back on.

It was a great triumph, because it just wouldn't go together with the existing parts I had in the car. I think the big difference in solving the stiff shifting was that there is only one wave washer in there now, not two. The OEM parts made installation alot easier too.

A huge bonus though was just how sound-proofing that stock arrangement of boots turned out to be! My RX-7 sounds like a brand new car inside, its great! I highly recommend replacing these boots, because it sounds like many people have torn ones, and it makes such a difference. Then theres the added benefit of keeping the transmission dust free, and the exhaust and other smells outside the car.

I hope this info helps someone.

Cheers