Phantom Menace

Bro, I started this tread as an attempt to put all of our experiences with this shifter togehter in order to find a possible solution to the whirling sound phenomena. I cannot speak for anyone, but in all honesty I believe that as long as your honest about your opinion, I don't think any egos will be bruised. RP is a very professional merchant/engineer. He STANDS by his products something fierce and, unlike a lot of merchants, he is very easy to deal with!

Read the thread, and you'll notice how decent this guy is. That said, I'd advise you to PM him if you are unhappy with your purchase. I appreciate you voicing your concern on this thread as that is its purpose. That way, those with similar problems do not feel in the dark or alone, so-to-speak.

Regarding the "notchy" feeling of the gearbox, I believe that that is the design of the shifter. Actually, the "notchy" or POSITIVE feeling, as described by RP's website, is why I bought the shifter. The OEM shifter was already pretty short, I bought it because I WANTED the stiffer and more positive feel. The OEM felt too spongy and "luxurious," for lack of a better word, for a sports car--in my opinion. A shorter throw with the OEM spongy feel may be more difficult to select gears as you may skip 3-4 and go straigth from 2-5. Or worse, in downshifting you may want to make the 6-5 shift and go 6-2?! Not good.

Again, this is all my own personal insights and feelings about this shifter. I love the feel, I just did not like the "whirling" sound. But, as I posted above, RP took care of me and replaced a part for me. Now, I do NOT notice any excess in ambient sound. Maybe the shifter needed to be "broken-in?" Maybe, it missed it's "Daddy" and after a visit with him, it decided to behave? Or maybe it was all in my head and I psychologically deleted the sound in my head after I "knew" it was fixed? I don't know what magic RP did--he put a new and thicker Kevlar cup on the lower ball joint for me. But according to him, and he explained this to me at length, a thinner cup would not have cause the "whirling" sound from the get-go as it never really touches the bottom of the gear box. If it did, I wouldn't have been able to push it down to go into reverse.

Now, I am completely happy with my shifter and have kept the green fuzzy and keep the **** screwed in all the way down.

Richard Paul

iTrader: (5)

Well yes, in a word. We all learned in high school about the "ramp" which lets us roll or push heavy things up places we couldn't lift them too. If we run tha ramp around an axis we get the "screw", putting the mechanical advantage in a compact space. Further we learned about the "lever" which we could put force on an object we normally could not. In order to do this since nothing is free we trade moving the easy end of the lever further but with less pressure. This has a mathmatical relationship, trading distance for pressure.

Therefore it should be obvious that if the shifter is going to be moved less then it will take more pressure. If you had no lever you could not shift it at all with just your hand. So when is it better to trade tit for tat? If you are building a Buick you don't want the driver to feel anything mechanical or have to do much work. If your building a race car you want to feel everything and work is an easy trade off for quick shifting. The driver needs to be connected with the whole car as much as possible.

Now you don't want a Buick or a race car but somewhere in between so The designers have to find a spot that fits most of their buyers. They will always go towards the soft side. This is where I come in, there is a small portion of buyers who prefer that the car was closer to the race side of things. He wants the feel of the gearbox so he knows what it is doing and he is willing to take the trade offs.
We know it's not everyone who wants to go there, that's why they make automatics.

Some people including me think the stiffer shifting has more quality feel to it. It stands to reason that without the rubber split shaft that you will feel the syncros more.

Thus your impressions are correct. What you need to decide is if you are a Buick type or teeter to the dark side. If you don't like it you just have to put in in the mail and get your money back. Not likeing the feel is a good enough reason to return it.

Try this, drive it around for two more weeks, then put the stock one back in for a few days and drive. If you like having the stock one back then call me and I'll tell you where to send the AFE unit for a refund. I think if you do this you'll be shocked when you reinstall the stocker.

Phantom Menace

LOL! This is EXACTLY what I did. And this is EXACTLY why I have the AFE shifter in my car now. When I put the OEM shifter back in, my car just didn't feel the "right." Felt like I was driving a pick up truck, with the long--ambiguous--throw...

Once you've tried an AFE shifter, driving never feels the same without...that is, unless you're a "buick" kinda guy...

extra Phil

ok, ok point taken.. This is after all my first sports car, not to mention my first manual one too. I think ill pass up that offer to sell it for the hundred... Thank you Phantom and Richard for your advice. I'll keep driving it for a while and then switch back to the old one to see the difference, and post the results here. The noise, by the way i dont mind so much. The 8 already has a great deal of ambient road noise and id much rather that the mechanical noises overpower the road ones.

Charles R. Hill

iTrader: (7)

I am wondering if that easily-shredded green material is simply for driver's comfort. Mine is almost wasted but I keep it in place just in case it actually does something. I may also add the RP shifter to my list of mods for next spring/summer but I will have a chance to install one for someone else soon. Right now I have the illuminated **** to keep those interested in looks placated.

Sarek

First I'd like to say that working with RP has given me more respect for the R&D manufacturers go thru. Even much more respect for Richard Paul for his personal responses to many if not all of our issues in this thread along with the s2ki.com Axial Flow SS thread.
I purchased my RP (Axial flow) SS 2 weeks ago for my Honda S2000. Before the installation of the SS, I felt that the S2k shifter was VERY VERY good as is, but was curious about the SS kit. The SS shifter kit is completely awsesome! Few of us s2k guys including myself, have similar noise issues.
I was contemplating returning/selling the SS. But did what RP said (above). I reinstalled the stock shifter. In comparison, it seemed like I was shifting a school bus lever in a S2000. The car with the gearbox/shifter some say that is one of the best ever built.
Now I'm just trying different ideas with insulating the engine/tranny sound because I'm keeping the short shifter. I don't think I'll ever go back to stock (again). Thank you Richard Paul and Axial Flow.
Try going back to the stock shifter, I'll guarantee that you won't return it.

oh and this is my first post
Paul

BoosTED

iTrader: (2)

We heard a bit about the S2000 hub bub that there was no possible way to improve the shifts. Till someone stepped up and turned many of you towards the light.

Glad to hear of another happy customer for Richard.

Phantom Menace

Seeing and feeling what RP can do with something, relatively, simple as a shifter I'm on pins and needles about the supercharger he's working on! That thing just looks cool. I can't wait to bolt one on!

BoosTED

iTrader: (2)

\=^ ^=/

Pins and needles...

Phantom Menace

What? A grown man can't say "pins and needles?" No...no, I guess he shouldn't. My bad.

olddragger

iTrader: (3)

just installed my shifter and I already had the voodoo ****. Like the feel --but I am getting a good bit of the "whirring" noise in 3/4 gears--some in 6th. I have a feeling that it will get better in time. During the install I did notice that the rubber boot did not fit as tightly as stock. Time to start tinkering with things in a week if it doesnt improve on it's on.
I think this may help in those unintentioned 3nd to 2nd instead of 4th track shifts!
olddragger

dgrx8

hey od,
i also have the voodoo **** & was wondering how much nicer it feels w/ the short shirfter... post your impressions please

olddragger

iTrader: (3)

ok --the shifter is settling in some. starting to feel good--I am sure some of it is my own learning curve. I have already found the cause of my increased trans noise. The voodoo is heavier than stock and it is metal to metal. WHile riding /cruising I simply loosen the **** slightly and the noise almost disappeared. Now realizing that i cant ride around with a loose ****(has to be a joke there somewhere) I went to Lowes and got a rubber grommet washer thingy. This allowed the **** to be tighten without it bottoming out. Noise gone!
Damn thing is amazing. Now to tell you the truth the voodoo **** shortens the oem throw to the point that when I installed the AFE I really didnt notice that the throw was THAT much shorter. Maybe a little. But what I have come to realize is how I can manage the 3-4-5-6 gears now. It's tight and precise. Much easier to go WITH CONFIDENCE from 5th to 3nd and 3nd to 4th. and 4th to 3nd and 4th to 5th--you get the picture. Course I track--and with the oem I have gone from 3nd to 2nd accidentally!!!
It takes more effort to change the gears and thats good. I recommend it.
olddragger

DarkBrew

I installed my AFE SS a while back and just installed the Voodoo **** on top of it.
The shifting is better with better feel. The 4-5 and 5-6 feel better than they did with the SS and the stock ****. The Voodoo feels better in my hand but is frickin cold in the winter! Driving gloves for sure! My only problem now is that the **** looks so good I have to replace the shift boot!
The only gears I hear any noise in are the odd gears and it's faint. I didn't notice any change in noise with the Voodoo.
I wouldn't trade this set-up for anything.

Phantom Menace

Brew,
You still using the AFE SS? Or did you go back to OEM? Don't they make the VooDoo in a Piano Black pastic? Would this not solve your "cold" issue?

BoosTED

iTrader: (2)

It just sounded old timey. I couldn't help but poke some fun.

Phantom Menace

"Old Timey?" LOL! That phrase reminds me George Clooney's "O Brother Where Art Thou?"

BoosTED

iTrader: (2)

Exactly what I was hoping for.

DarkBrew

Yes to the AFE SS. Best mod ever.
No plastic Voodoo that I know of. They're made of aluminum with powder coat I guess. I just wear gloves against the cold. I'm not sure how warm the **** will get in the summer but I'll find out soon. I guess I'll have an excuse to get some nice driving gloves

olddragger

iTrader: (3)

it will get HOT in the summer. get a **** sock.
olddragger

Phantom Menace

"**** sock?" Is this the same as a "happy sock?"

N10S

Thanks for the comments and insight. I just recently added a VooDoo **** and it really makes the shifting much nicer and the feel is better even without an SS. I have spent money on SS in the past, but the stock with the VooDoo is damn good on its own. I guess I need to decide if the added cost and noise is worth the payback for the tighter shifting precision in the 3-4, 5-6 shifts... .
Great feedback on this thread!

JR

olddragger

iTrader: (3)

enjoy.
od

mysql101

Remember it's not a SS. It's a STS. I had the same question as you - is it REALLY worth the cost? I was not able to find anyone who bought it and later regretted it.

So when I saw a used one for sale, I bought it for a decent discount. While there was no learning curve (I shifted fine with it right away), I wasn't really impressed the first month I had it. It wasn't till much later that I realized I was doing shifts I couldn't have done without it. The throws feel very natural, but are so close it is completely effortless and take place in half the time I'd do it with the stock shifter.

So with that said, if I didn't have one now, I would definitely pay full price for it. It really is worth it.

mysql101

I have the same setup, in neutral it makes no noise, but if I take the shifter and push it to the sides (while still not in gear) I can replicate the sound. It sounds like the metal in the shifter is resonating against the transmission. It does it sometimes in gear too. I hear it mostly in mid to low rpms.. maybe I can't hear it over the engine in the upper rpms

You sure it's heavier? I seem to recall stock **** being almost twice as heavy.