Wow...that is weird. Instead of going the SS route you might want to call a bone yard and see if they have any RX8s. A shifter can't go for that much.

 

Whoops lol already pulled the trigger. And I doubt my local junk yard'd have any 8s nways... Last time i went there, there arn't even any Mazdas around.

THANKS GUYS FOR ALL YOUR INPUT! Case closed lol

 

Just reread this...uhhhhhn...can you explain this one a little more? There is no plastic to be pulled out of any head. Once you removed the 4 nuts you needed to removed the rubber cover from the shifter so you can see under it. Then you need to remove the 3 bolts holding down the restartining plate so you can lift the shifter out.

 

well if you look at picture 2 and 3, you'll see the "head" of the shifter's still stuck in the boot. The "head" and the shifter got separated, that explains why I could pull the shifter up all the damn time lol

 

I hope you didnt hammer it with the lower section installed.

 

the white plastic ring that's on the rubber boot should lift up and over the black part of the shifter. On a normal one that rubber boot is a lone piece, the shifter should slide through that.

 

Dude, I have like two stock shifters just sitting around if you want one for like 10 bucks plus shipping or something. Even if you do order an AFE SS, those things have a sweet used market value and you'd want one (or two) of mine as a back-up

 

Damnit Steve! Shoot me a list of the parts you still have laying around.

 

nope mine didn't do that at all lol it was stuck till i separated them

 

Woo Hoo!! Called it!!
That must have been a nightmare to shift!

 

ta-da does this still look long to you?

 

Yup...still too tall

 

hmmmm i don't know wtf it is then lol...

 

This just happened to me... The cause... I was trying to tap a few more threads down and the twisting force popped it apart... The good... I have threads all the way down now, the more good, I can re-angle the shifter for my advantage of being tall, the bad.... how the heck to keep it in? I'm thinking JBweld... any quick ideas?