MAX-5 Short Shifter

From Performance Buyer's Club

Reviewed by: Aleks Tan - atan@2xtreme.net

Shifter assembly designed for reduced shift throw and enhanced appearance.

First of all I was surprised when I received the shifter in a little "baggie". It did not look at all like what I had seen in the advertisement. At first I thought, "$149.95 for this little stick, plate, and bolts????" Anyway, it decided to install it regardless because of my nature. It was very dark in our garage, but luckily I had a buddy of mine there to hold the flashlight. Removal of the old shift linkage was simple. Including removing the center console....7 minutes tops. The old shifter lifted right out with no hassle or fuss. The hardest part of the whole job was removing the cup from the original shifter. This took me about 5 minutes since I had no workbench. I was able to finally get it off with no damage done to the cup. Then I popped the cup on the end of the new shifter and dropped the MAX5 into the tranny. At first it didn't seem like it seated correctly, so I removed it and then tried it again. Hmmm.... Tapped the top of the sifter with a hammer and everything seemed perfect. The install went just as easily in the end. Buttoned up the rest, topped off the shifter with a Razo shift knob (I wanted the Voodoo, but I already got the Razo as an impulse buy).

At first I didn't think that the shifter made a big difference in throw. But granted I was still sitting in the garage going nowhere. After spending quite a few miles with the shifter I am quite pleased with the result. The shift throw ends up to travel approximately (rough measure) 4 to 4.5 inches. I can easily shift from 1-2 or 3-4 with just my finger tips so I don't see much added shift effort. Also I have no problem at all shifting into first gear nor reverse. Overall a very good product that seems to work great. I love shifting even more now than before. I just keep wondering why the product looked very little like the once I saw in the add at PBC. Oh well, it works great.


Back to Product Reviews 15 December, 2001