[DaveSpecB15]

Edit: if you own a 2004 PLEASE make sure you read post #14 of this thread to ensure you purchase the correct top cable bushing: End Edit

I will add a poll to this so people with bushings and/or STS already can agree or disagree with me in the poll.
AND so you can vote if you DO or Dont't like these parts. (Hint: I Love Them)

I love my shifter bushings. I suggest everyone go to www.2j-racing.com right now and buy some Turcite bushings. But.....you might want to decide if they are worth the money to you or not. Again I think they are.

Why do you want bushings???? It makes a difference.

A: if you want to remove any and all slop from your shifter, then this is what you want to buy it does the job. If that is your only concern with the shifter than you are good to go. I also recommend the short throw shifter....but we'll come back to that in a minute.

B: Do you want to get rid of the Notchiness of the shifter? You don't like how the shifter feels engaging gears. If so.....hard bushings aren't going to make that any better. Some may even say they make it worse. I happen to like the notchiness of the click in and out of gear. But if you hate it, maybe you want to save money by skipping bushings. BUT, you might really like a weighted shift knob. They make shifting feel easier. Still gonna feel notchy though. Just the nature of the transmission.


Short Throw Shifter (2j Style): I love it. Some people don't love it. There are a couple reasons why we disagree. I'll explain.

A: Reverse Issues. I think it makes reverse easier. I think it makes it Way easier to tell you are about to hit 6th and not R. I have heard some people describe this differently and I have heard people think its harder to get into reverse. I disagree, but hey we all have our opinions.

B: Cup Holders. All your gears are closer to the cupholders after you install a short throw. I don't mind this. Some people do. Makes a difference if you have a passenger side cupholder insert or not and if you have a different shift knob but....Anyway. I can still use my cupholders with a 20oz bottle AND with a large drink (32oz I think) from Five Guys. Some big cups cause more of a problem. Some are damn near impossible and require extra extra care. Many people will call BS and say this is impossible Always. But its not. Its just kinda a PITA. If you use the cupholders you constantly need to be mindful when you use them to avoid bashing your hand into what's in there. The large drink from Five Guys is millimeters away from my shift knob in 5th gear (big drink in passenger cupholder with insert removed). I can still shift fine I wouldn't race around like this. And i wont say its easy as pie (and its not even if stock). But I can drive normal just fine. All you gotta do is grip the shifter a little different for 5th. I do have skiny hands, but.....if you grip the shifter like the lever on a slot machine (or what works for you) and you're a bit careful, you can shift into 5th (or 1st) and just barely touch your drink. If you have Huge hands, its probly a big problem I must point out. SO....if you don't give a fu¢€, I don't, buy a short throw shifter from 2j. I LOVE IT!!!! Shifts are so much closer and shorter. However if it sounds like this will annoy the crap out of you, then save your money and skip it. If you don't use the cupholders or use the rear ones, then no problem at all. Order A Short Throw!!!! They're great. PS: You CAN use the STS with factory OEM bushings. If you want a shorter throw, but don't think you'll like the aftermarket bushings, then you're good to go with just a short throw

I hope this helps someone decide to buy or not. I DID BUY BOTH. 2j short throw and bushings. You can get a discount if you buy them together as a combo. I love them!!! They're great! Buy them!!! And no 2j does not pay me for reviews, I don't work for them, they don't give me discounts or anything else. As a matter of fact...I give them all MY money LoL

 

[allblackspecv]

As a matter of fact...I give them all MY money LoL

Lots of us do lol

Great write thanks!!! My bushing sets in the mail right now with my brand new plenum hehe Im really looking forward tho installing the STS and bushings.

I just put a heavily weighted shift knob on my spec and even just that makes a huge difference your right.

 

[06Speed]

I couldn't agree more with this review.

At least the bushing part, I don't do short throw shifters.

 

[DaveSpecB15]

LoL. The Poll works all funny. I didn't think about that it work out percentages that way. Nobody has disagreed, but it says 66% agree even though no one has voted they disagree.

IGNORE The Percentages!!! Look at NUMBER Of Votes.

PS: poll is multiple choice so select as much as you want. Or not. All good.

 

[CrickiKaze]

Bushing make a huge difference, used Travis's bushing but those where garbage as over time they wore down and gave me a sloppy feeling again(MSV days). I never drove with the 2J bushings bt initial feel was so much better than the previous bushings, couple that with the fact that I'm a 2 combo STS guy with a B&M knock off and TWM the difference is plain to see and I like my set up over all.

Couple of things that needs to be mentioned as it affects these added/improved components is your gear oil, proper selection of this will net a huge improvement to these items and one will find that previous issues that have been stated will be less of an issue. Another is going to be how you actually shift, third gear is a notorious issue and noticing how I was shifter seemed to help how I engaged 3rd gear, yes oil plays a part in this but the operators action is more profound. What I believe is the last issue is the mounts, if your shifter is solid and you engine/trans is floating around you will gain a net benefit but may still have complaints. These are just opinionated observation from my experience so take it for what its worth.

 

[DaveSpecB15]

Valid additions to the thread.
@v_2 said his shifts felt better after his 2j motor mount install. I haven't driven his car to see the difference in his car vs mine, but I'd like too. I can imagine how it might help. Shifting definitely feels different in my car sitting still vs actually driving. Not a ton, but definitely noticeable.

Also...lots of people say switching gear oil makes a difference. We won't argue/debate here about what to put in there, but I will say I put OEM Nissan gear oil in mine because I got the gear oil for free. Otherwise I very likely would have taken some fellow forum members advice on gear oil.

If you hate the notchiness. Maybe try swapping the gear oil to something else as your first step. If that works, then hey hey good to go on these parts. Again I don't mind the notchiness personally.

 

[CrickiKaze]

All my mount bushings are Prothane. I have done the tranny mount mod as well, when all is said and done I'm hoping that shifting will be smoother. Still missing the pass mount.

Gear oil is definitely a big one, I had a shop do my clutch and fly wheel as I didn't have the time and the gear oil the put in it was making shifting really hard to a point where I couldn't put the car in gear at higher rpms and later my shifter linkage snapped. They put Royal Purple in (not sure what weight), dumped that and threw in Redline. Either way it's all preference at that point to user.

At some point I am going to modify the spare B&M knock off I have which should push my shifter away from the cup holder. Wither bigger cups I just used my rear cup holders and IIRC I did this for everything thing as the dual STS I was using brought it really close.....worth it.

 

[DaveSpecB15]

Ok....we'll spend just a second on gear oil.

Sears changed my gear oil. BUT with OEM Nissan oil that I brought them. I Would NOT have any Sears, Firestone, Etc. change my gear oil with whatever they use. It is pretty much impossible to find OEM spec oil unless you buy it from Nissan or order off the internet. No Store sells OEM spec oil. If you go to a shop like I listed, who knows what the hell they'll put in it. Pretty positive Royal Purple is not the way to go. People love Redline, but anybody that reads this should go do some research and decide for yourself what you want to put in there. My OEM Nissan oil was FREE and although it doesn't make things better, it wasn't going to make things worse and definitely risk damaging anything. So use Nissan Oil, or do your go do some research and decide on a good alternative. Everybody seems to love Redline. But, do a little research and decode exactly what you want to out in there. Some people even make their own mixture.

PS: there was a style of short throw that snapped shifter cables. NOT The 2j Style. I don't remember for sure which one but I feel like it was TWM. So that's probly what broke your cable and not the gear oil. But the wrong kind of oil i guess could do it too. Youd know i guess. Your car and you were driving.
Anyway....I look forward to seeing how your combo system works out. It would be nice to move the gears back away from the cupholders and still have short throws.

Now I have to go look up this trans mount mod you reffered to and educate myself . Idk if I've stumbled upon much about trans mounts. Mostly just motor mounts.

 

[CrickiKaze]

Part number 14-502, if you do a search on here it will come up. ArmoredSpecV made spacers to help with install but isn't making any more.

B&M was the shifter that people was snapping their cables with, not sure why as I never had an issue until the clutch/fly wheel was replaced. I can see how it happened though and I put some of the issue on B&M as well as the operators.

 

[v_2]

Valid additions to the thread.
@v_2 said his shifts felt better after his 2j motor mount install. I haven't driven his car to see the difference in his car vs mine, but I'd like too. I can imagine how it might help. Shifting definitely feels different in my car sitting still vs actually driving. Not a ton, but definitely noticeable.

Also...lots of people say switching gear oil makes a difference. We won't argue/debate here about what to put in there, but I will say I put OEM Nissan gear oil in mine because I got the gear oil for free. Otherwise I very likely would have taken some fellow forum members advice on gear oil.

If you hate the notchiness. Maybe try swapping the gear oil to something else as your first step. If that works, then hey hey good to go on these parts. Again I don't mind the notchiness personally.

I put Redline mt-85 in when I did my engine rebuild and I don't notice any of said notchiness in my shifts. I don't have a 2j STS, though, it's an axxtion but the designs are almost identical if I recall correctly. Solid mounts definitely helped me find the next gear under hard acceleration or any other condition that would cause a normally mounted engine to move about. A weighted shift knob also helps for the overall feel of things.

 

[06Speed]

Yeah something has to be wrong with my transmission.

Turcite X bushings, Redline heavy shockproof gear oil, weighted shift knob, and my shifts feel like absolute shit....talk about notchiness...it's like there's rocks in my transmission. Seriously it's horrible.

 

[CrickiKaze]

Yeah something has to be wrong with my transmission.

Turcite X bushings, Redline heavy shockproof gear oil, weighted shift knob, and my shifts feel like absolute shit....talk about notchiness...it's like there's rocks in my transmission. Seriously it's horrible.

If all of your mods are listed in your sig area, read what I posted in post #5.

 

[06Speed]

Are you saying I need solid motor mounts?

Or that I need to engage gears differently? Not really sure how I could do it differently....

 

[CrickiKaze]

mounts

 

[DaveSpecB15]

Because of some recent troubles a customer had, I am posting a tip when ordering the bushings if you own a 2004 to avoid further confusion.

If you have a 2004 car they ask if your top cable ring is 1" or 1.25". All the need to know is if your top ring is larger than the lower ring. Inside and outside diameter of the top ring is not the measurement they reffer to. So just look at both or measure both the same way. Its the measurement of the center of the rings width to the center of the rings width (mean diameter). So........

If the top cable end ring is larger ask for 1.25". If they are the same size order 1".

I will edit the original post saying to look at this post if 2004.

 

[DaveSpecB15]

Just a little heads up for anyone with a 2j (or similar style) short throw shifter.

If you put one of those rubber bracelets around your shifter, like I had seen some people do and I recently did...

Every now and then you will miss 3rd gear. This can also cause grinding of gears. It should not be confused with a transmission problem.

There is very little room between the shifter and the surround. This is why you remove the little metal bracket. If you stick a bracelet around the shifter, sometimes it ends up bunched up in the shift boot between the shifter and the surround and lock you out of fully engaging 3rd.

I was wondering why I kept missing and grinding 3rd every now and then. Figured it out.

So Heads Up! Don't put stuff around your shifter! (probably seen like common sense :ugh

 

[Kasey Artmayer]

I have a really hard time engaging first sometimes after my 2J STS intall with bushings. Its like its hitting the console i need to pop it off one day and see if i need to trim it.

 

[v_2]

Also check to make sure the shifter isn't hitting your clutch line in the engine bay.

 

[DaveSpecB15]

I have a really hard time engaging first sometimes after my 2J STS intall with bushings. Its like its hitting the console i need to pop it off one day and see if i need to trim it.

Did you take out that metal bracket???? If not, do that. That definitely would getting your way sometimes