I just confirmed it........the MNAO numbers are the same.

 

Be careful when you drill them out...use as small a hole as your smallest eze-out. The bolts should come out easy as there is no torque holding them in. The alum tranny housing is really soft...so go slow good luck!

 

There are three different part numbers for the housing, depending on whether it has an "a", "b" or nothing stamped on the leading flange.

PM me if you stuff up with the drill.......

 

One thing you could try also is to use a small chisel and try to turn the bolt from the edge...this will only work if it's flush or slightly proud of the housing...or you can slot the top and try a screwdriver...

just make a nice center punch to start the drill...and hold your breath

If your doing it in the morning...soak them with penetrating oil tonight...It'll help...

 

The bolts are 6m-1.5x10 Could be 1.25 but I doubt it.
If you want hard bolts just get allen head as they are automaticlly grade 8.

Now as to removing them. It would be nice if you had a left fluted drill but I can't see that happening, so you have to use a std drill.
Unless the bolts are bottomed out they will come out ez. Just center punch them and use an 1/8 or max of 5/32. Then ez out them.

I've also used the sloting the screw method. If you have tiny abrasive wheels for a Dremel tool you can do it.

You can remove the tower from the car by taking out the 4 12mm bolts.
Then it will be easier to work on. Also if nessasary in the event they are bottomed you can drill from below. This can only be done on a mill as there is nothing to line up on.

I only use 1/4 drive tools when doing these swaps. I do realize they are shitty bolts though.

The good news is that everything may line up again for you. Start with it in stock position it should work. There are only about 2 out of 100 that don't line up right.


You shouldn't feel bad, Hymee cracked his retainer also. And he's the damn distributor for my shifters.

 

Remove the tower by taking out the four bolts. Take it to a machine shop and put on a Bridgport, they will have the broken bolts out in a few min. Meanwhile go get some bolts like I spec'ed out.

If no machine shops are open just use a drill press. It is easy to take the tower out and a pain to try and drill out the bolts with a hand drill in place.
Reuse the retainer for now being carefull to line up the pins before tightening the bolts. I think you will be OK for now but you might want to get a new plate from a dealer. The new plate will come with a new gasket glued to it.

Stop taking pictures and turn some wrenches.

 

I'm missing the wite ring, someone else is, and that last picture of the cracked plate is also missing the white ring. Did a batch get out without these?

FYI, the tranny fluid is really loud without that ring and without the upper console cover on! But the shifter is awesome.

 

Looks like this last batch was made out of thicker stock and no white ring was required.

 

I think two sliped out without the white sleeve. I know who you are and will send them. It only helps the rubber boot to seal better on the shaft it has no other function.
Sealing on the white ring does help noise. Closing the consol also helps. Did you remove the green fuzzy cone from under the shiftboot?

I don't think you need a new housing unless you destroyed the threads. If so you can HeliCoil them. They are not head bolts or anything, they have no structural attitude. They just hold the plate down.

 

I know that it will sound fine once I can get it all closed up. I just don't want to close it up until I have the ring because taking the console off always runs the risk of breaking / scratching something.

Anyway, all I was sayin' was that I am suprised at how much you can hear the fluid in the tranny when you don't have the boot sealed up. Not a complaint about the shifter or anything. The shifter is really nice.

 

One of the bolts also broke on mine a while ago during installation...So I just left it with the 2 bolts on the top. I couldnt figure out how to get the broken bolt out so I decided to just leave it there. Haven't removed it yet...

But I've had no problems at all with the shifter. I love it, it makes shifting MUCH more fun and enjoyable.

 

I bought the shifter because I always had problems with the stock shifter. I hoped that RP's shifter would solve my problems. I am happy to say that it did. I always had problem putting the car into 1st and 2nd gear when it was freezing outside and the car was still cold. The shifting action was not bad but not great either.

Installing the Axial Flow shifter was a piece of cake, even for someone -like me- with not too much experience with tools. I would not say that the shifting got smoother. I would rather say the opposite. However, to describe the shifting action I'd use words like accurate, crisp and precise. The shifting is shorter, but I do not think that's very significant. The side-to-side movement of the shifter is very noticable, though. All in all, I am very happy with the product. Thank you Richard.

I noticed that people complain about the shifter that it is noisier than the stock. I managed to completely silence the shifter with my sponge modification. I wrote a short DIY about it here.

Csaba

 

Faffy, that's a very interesting mod for noise suppression. I'm sending you today the standard white sleeve. I'd like to see if there is a difference between your foam and the polipropolyne we use.
I'm always ready to change over to something better.
I have made a note of your thread on the Australian forum to our noise specialist down under, Little John.
He being the one who thought to remove the infamous Green Fuzzy Thing.

 

Okay, so I really want this SS. I would like to know what the odds of it bolting right on and functioning 100% though =/

I've got an '05 if that matters ...

 

It's a straight bolt-on mod. Just take out the old shifter and drop in the new one. If you know how a socket wrench and a screwdriver works, you'll be able to install this.

 

I wanted to know the odds. As in, what is the chance I will have to have it machined as many others have ? Whether or not I will have the same issues w/ 4th into 5th & 6th ....

 

Dro, I do not think that many needed to have the shifter machined. Do not forget that the ones who complain are the loudest. Most of the satisfied customers do not write.
I was sceptical about the shifter, because I thought that the stock shifter was good enough. I am not en easy person to please, either, but I can say honestly that this product was worth getting.
Csaba

 

Good point. Thanks my friend. I may send up the $$$ soon ... gotta check the funds !

 

DRO, if you go back through all the threads on this shifter you will find maybe 5 or 6 that needed custom fitting. Most were at the begining when we were still finding out where the factory tolorences where.
We have built about 350 of these so you can do the odds.

Real funny thing is that just in the last few posts have I gotten a hint as to the factory tolorences. They make three different housings, each marked for a certain match up. They must have number on the shifters or the plates to note which go with what.

I've done a better job then they have. Our product spans thier entire production minus only a very few. If I had known this from the begining we could have asked people to check for the lettering.

It's a fine time to tell me Gomez. You're not getting a check this month, maybe not next month either.

 

Huskr8, Your white ring is already in the mail yesterday.
As far as housings go I don't know where to look for the stamped letter. Someone said front flange. My guess is that most have no letter and if that's the case it explains why fitting problems are rare for my shifter. The lettered ones are just so they don't reject parts as much.

I'd leave it alone, I see no problems for you with what you have.

 

Richard:

Are these still available at the reduced price? I came to this thread a bit late, so missed the original offer...

 

^ same here

='(

 

YEAH !! I ordered it, even though it was full price I couldnt resist. All the great things I heard about this piece pretty much sealed the deal. Any idea when it will be shipped Richard ?

 

If I knew your name I could tell you.

 

You comedian....