Is Cutting Your Shifter a Good Idea? #blogpost

Sometimes, engineering brilliance is as simple as a bit of ghetto DIY.

In 1991, Joe Snodgrass, a U.S. Air Force sergeant stationed in the Philippines, was being questioned about the murder of his wife, Julie. While being interviewed by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Snodgrass grabbed a pair of scissors and cut up 2 floppy disks that were seized from his computer, theoretically destroying them. Because the disks were thought to contain incriminating evidence, they were sent to the Air Force’s computer forensics experts, who returned with bad news: nobody had ever before tried to salvage information from a disc that had been sabotaged that badly. As a result, it was estimated that it one method of trying to obtain information from the disc could cost millions of dollars, with no guarantee that it would work. But they decided to try a second method of retrieving the information.

It worked. The forensics experts were able to recover information from the shredded disk. Among other information, the experts discovered that Sgt. Snodgrass had planned to hire some relatives of his housekeeper to kill his wife, collect on her life insurance policy, and move back to the United States to start a new life with his children and the housekeeper as his new wife. Having failed to destroy the smoking gun in the case, Sgt. Snodgrass was found guilty of his wife’s murder and was sentenced to life in prison.

So what did some of the U.S. Military’s smartest computer scientists do to retrieve the information from the disk? They Scotch-taped the disk back together. Seriously. And it only cost them $131, which included the cost of a disk drive destroyed in the process.

So, yes, it’s no secret that I like ghetto mods. My left rear taillight is made pretty much out of Tuck Tape, and my exhaust consists mainly of cheap stainless steel pipe. But there is one ghetto mod that I am a bit hesitant to do with my truck.

And that would be cutting my shifter.

This is a popular (some would even call rice) modification for people who don’t want to spend the $100 or so to get a proper short shifter for their car. In my case, a short shifter doesn’t really exist for a Datsun 720, so cutting the shifter would seem to be the easiest way to reduce the throw of the shifter.

Here’s some basic mechanics: since the shifter is basically a lever, the throw of the shifter is a function of the length of the shifter and the pivot point (fulcrum) of the lever. Below is a diagram (potato quality, I take full responsibility) of the different modifications to the shifter: either sawing off the handle, or raising the pivot point (which is essentially what a short shifter does). Keep in mind that the travel of the gear lever in between gears must stay the same, so these are the only two ways of reducing the throw. Sawing off the shifter handle reduces the distance that your hand travels when you shift gears, say from 1st to 2nd, but it doesn’t change the angle between the pivot point and the two gears (e.g. if you cut the handle, an imaginary 15 degree angle, let’s say, would be formed between the position of the lever in 1st and its position in 2nd). Raising the pivot point (or lengthening the bottom of the shifter) narrows this angle, which, in turn, shortens the throw.

Most short shifters use a combination of altering the pivot point and shortening the lever length. Cutting the stock lever may reduce the “throw” somewhat, but there are a number of problems with relying on this method. First, it will make it somewhat harder to shift because you’re decreasing the mechanical advantage of the lever. If you’re going for faster shift times, this could work against you. Secondly, cutting the shifter will usually result in notchier shifts, which could also handicap your shifting ability. Thirdly, in the case of my truck, the long shift lever is there for a reason: cutting it would mean I would almost have to stretch my arm out of its socket to get into 3rd and 5th. Lastly, depending on what your shift pattern is and how your shifter works, cutting the lever too far could eliminate your ability to select reverse. Which would make your car about as useless as Donald Trump’s PR manager.

I like cheap back-yard solutions, but cutting the shifter is one of those mods that I would say “no, thanks” to. However, some people out there love their sawed-off shifters, and say that their shifts are quicker and much more positive. However, sawing off your shifter handle won’t give you the same results as a proper short shifter. I suppose that if you really wanted to back-yard your way to a “short shifter”, you could break out the angle grinder and the welder to try and change the pivot point of the stock shifter. That requires much more fabricating skill than what I possess, and the time and effort it takes would negate any sort of cost-saving benefit in my opinion. Plus, if you screw up, you’ll have to get a new shifter anyway.

So, take my advice if you will, but you’re much better off spending a little money and doing things the right way on this one. You’ll be much happier in the long run, and you’ll have the stock shifter as an option in case you need to sell your car. And you will have reverse, too.