Shifter Bushing Replacement

 

In Canada the "HELP!" part is a "Door Hinge Pin Kit" for "Chrysler Upper Lower" Part Number 238388 and Canadian Tire Part 24-5327-8. The application info on the back of the card says Chrysler cars, vans, trucks 84-91. Note in the USA the HELP! part is # 38377. Price is $7.50 in Canada and $3.20 in the USA.

It should be  obvious that the brass bushings are the needed parts... not the pin.

 

You can also purchase a 38374 Door Hinge Bushing Assortment. It contains the needed Chrysler Bushings and costs ~ $5.

The maker of HELP! parts is Motomite at www.rbinc.com

If you feel spanky and want to machine your own:


OD = 12.5mm (1/2inch)


ID = 8.8mm or 11/32"

Here is what fellows on zcar.com say about the upgrade:

Here is the Nissan part if you want stock::

 

OK now for what I did:


My car is without the center console so here is the starting point


Removal of knob and rubber clamping ring.


Getting closer! With the rubber boot removed, you can see the lower boot and front u-joint in drive shaft!


Second boot is removed and you can now see the pin, bushing and retaining clip. 


 Use a small flat screw driver to remove the clip but be careful not to lose it!. I pressed my other thumb against it just before it popped off.


Job done!

 

Wow, I was stunned, I had bought the bushings, got everything ready, pulled off the stick and it looked like this:

 


'82 Stick, pin, and plastic bits

No way was the  brass bushing going to fit unless I drilled a new hole! :(

Duh, now I remember that my '77 280Z has a 5speed tranny from a '82 ZX! 

The '82 stick sure had tons of "slop"... and now I could see why: the big plastic pieces and spring mechanism certainly contributed to it!

Oh well, I still had the original stick from the 77's 4 speed Tranny (The tranny was recently used to help a club member with his rebuild). So I dug the correct Z stick out of my heaps of parts in the basement and tried putting it in the tranny. To my surprise, it fit like a glove and felt better than the ZX and most importantly, IT SHIFTED BETTER THAN THE ZX! Whoo hoo I even took it for a quick spin without the clip installed just to make sure I was not dreaming. There was actually very little "slop" so the plastic '77 4speed bushings were not bad at all. Another thing I noted was that the distance from the hole to the bottom ball was actually longer on the Z stick than on the ZX. This would make it work a wee bit more like a short shifter. Regardless it still fit great!


'77 Stick and bits on left '82 stick and bits or right (note the hole to bottom distance is longer on the '77


Here you can see the differences between the brass and plastic bushings.

 

Pushing on (pun). I pressed the bushings into the Z stick. The trick is to do one side at a time:



One Side is in!


Pressing in the second bushing using a vice

It is difficult to see, but the inside of the shifter's pin hole is tapered toward the center from each side. This deforms the brass bushing and makes it too tight for the pin to slide in. Some filing is necessary or maybe using the vice to drive the pin in. I filed and it worked great.


Filing the bushing to allow the pin to fit.

A final flat filing of the brass flat side to allow it to fit between the tranny ears was all that was needed for a perfect fit!  Check the zcar.com tip above wrt freezing and heating to get an even better fit.

Be sure to wash off all the filings before installing!


'77 stick                                                                                                                                          '82 Stick

Here is a comparison of the '77 stick (left) with the '82 (right). Note that the angles are slightly different (ref door handle to floor) so the comparison is not exact.

I liked the '77 best because it pushed back further towards the driver (me). Since I like to push my seat so far back, I always had to reach for the stick. Now it comes to me!

For an experiment, I may try drilling a new hole in the '82 stick and putting bushings in it to make a short shifter and push it back at the same time.


'77 on left '82 on right

 

btw that bottom bushing is: Nissan No. 32861-H7301 (Thanks to Z Doc on Zcar.com!)

 

 

Hit Counter