5 Speed Throw Short Shifter Quick Gear Kit 5 Speed Compatible for 96-06 Subaru Impreza WRX STI

Excellent. Faster, tighter, and more direct shifts.

I got this about 2 months ago now and I bought it because I lost my Perrin short shift adapter that goes on the OEM shifter and can slide up and down changing the length of each gear change nearly four full inches if you wanted but sadly they don't make them anymore and they were ridiculously expensive on eBay so I found this. It was extremely easy to install, I feel like I should state that I am an auto mechanic so what's easy for me may not be for you but I still think for the everyday Joe, this is an easy job if you follow a YouTube tutorial or something similar. The biggest issue I found with this was that both of the brass inserts that go through the shift linkage hole in this and also come with this product ironically are both too big to fit inside of the product it comes with neither brass adapter fits inside of the hole in this short shifter but thankfully my cars shift linkage bolt was the perfect diameter and fit absolutely perfectly in the very nice roller pin bearings inside of this shifter. Both shims this comes with had to be used on my car otherwise the side to side slop was out of control but non-existent issue with the shims. I do wish there was a bit more adjustment to go shorter with the throw, I know my Perrin made shifting significantly shorter than this did at its lowest and shortest but this has its perks as well. For instance those roller bearings I spoke of, they actually can be felt in each gear change and they are quite nice compared to a polyurethane bushing that is on every stock Subaru shifter. The gear changes themselves feel infinitely better than OEM it just doesn't feel like it shortened my shifts all that much but since it s cheap and it significantly improved the gear change feeling as well as perfectly butted My shifter boot to the shift knob I have, I kept it and I'm glad I did. I can confirm that the bearings have zero slop still at least 60 days later and everything feels just as tight as it did on day one. For reference this was installed on my O2 Subaru WRX sedan or bug eye. You do absolutely have to cut the metal bracket that holds the rubber seal that separates the cab from the outside underneath the car otherwise you cannot shorten the shift at all as it will contact the metal plate. I used my Dremel with a metal cutting wheel and it took all of one minute to nicely cut and deburr the bracket allowing me to max out the adjustment on this shifter. I definitely recommend to those who want more feeling in their otherwise rubbery feeling no feedback OEM shifter in their Subaru. Almost forgot, it can take some abuse too. My car is a fully built hybrid with a 2.5 ej257 bottom end, an FP red turbo, 1200cc injectors on ethanol fully tuned and making 425 to the wheels on my low boost tune and almost 510 on 25 psi. And yes I'm just waiting for this transmission to explode before I put in my STI 6-speed that I already have but for some reason this transmission that usually is made out of glass doesn't want to let go, it's taking launches (on wet pavement, I'm not trying to snap any axles) and everything and has about 100,000 mi on the transmission hah go figure

It was about the same price to get new bushings. So I went with this shifter also no rubber to wear out. Was a bit snug to get into place, but works just like I prefer.

I am really disappointed because I had no reason to suspect from the build quality that the bushings would be the wrong size to fit the need bearings in the aluminum housing. I found out only after installing the shaft in the car and needed to slide the aluminum shifter interface off of the main shaft. I figured that chamfering the leading edge of the bushing would solve the problem, and I lubricated the needles with lithium grease. Then I just could not get them to go. Took it to the shop press and forced them in, just for a goof. Made a deep impression. Too bad the factory missed that before boxing them up and shipping them out.

Don’t know what I expected cheap,easily broke but easy to install atleast

Overall, great product. Modifying the pieces in the product itself took longer than installation. The supplied bushing would not fit into the bearings of the short throw shifter so I had to grind/ sand down the bushing to fit. Also had to drill out the spacers to fit over the bushing. After having the kit installed for about a week, my shifter started to spin and feel loose. Popped the cover back off and found both set screws had completely backed out. Put on some loctite and reinstalled them and haven't had any problems since. All in all, not a bad product for the money. Shift throw was significantly improved along with shifter slop after installing the kit.

Had to do some stuff to make it fit on my 02 wrx

Pretty straight forward with the installation pictures provided on amazon. Cut the corner out of the metal gasket holder for my 2004 Subaru wrx and had no issues with fitment. The plastic spacers did need to be drilled out a bit to fit the metal but didn’t take me more than 2 minutes. Overall 0.5inch shorter per gear. worth the money in my opinion and if I had another Subaru wrx I’d be buying this again.

No instructions so watch some YouTube, makes the shifting feel notchy and the shifter throw is reduced significantly, definitely worth the price compared to kartboy shifters. Pair this with a new shifter knuckle, bushings and your car will feel brand new. I’ve had it on for a year and has been working well