DIY: B&M 45163 short shift kit in 370Z

The HACK

We didn't take as many pictures as I thought we did, but I'll post the high-lights here. I've installed one of these in a 350Z before, while the steps are similar, there are a couple of tricky spots on the 370Z you need to address.

First, the knob is darn near impossible to remove without damaging it. There's ample amount of blue loc-tite on the threads and the factory isolator piece on the upper stick has enough give to make it very hard to break the loc-tite bond. We ended up removing the entire piece with the knob and boot still attached and worked on it in a vice on the work-bench with a long leverage to get the knob off. See assembly_knobremoval.jpg:



Here's a shot prior to our molestation of the car:



The console with the leather boot was simple enough to remove, apply some upward pressure from the rear end of the console and the clips will release. Most of the steps to remove the boot is very similar to the procedure on the 350Z:

Shift Boot Installation - Nissan 350Z & 370Z Wiki

Removing the OEM assembly is a little bit different on the 370Z. If you compare the 350Z console area and the 370Z console area, you'll see that once the console has been removed the 370Z only has a small opening compared tot he 350Z. There's a metal plate holding down a large rubber boot, and the plate is secured by 4 10mm screws. The two screws toward the front are easily removed, the two in the rear are covered by the back half of the center console. The arrow indicate front of car.



The center console needs to move back about 2 inches to gain access to the screws. Remove the two screws at the base of the console in front of the shifter, remove the two knee bolsters, remove the 2 screws at the back and base of the center console (you may need to move the seats up to gain access), the console should pull up and rear-ward to clear the two screws. You may not be able to completely remove the center console with the hand-brake assembly and boot in place. You just need to move it back far enough to remove the two screws. Once the aluminum plate is out of the way, you should be able to remove all the rubber boot off of the shifter assembly. There's 3 screws holding down a 5 sided plate with a square opening. Remove the screws, there's a spring underneath the assembly so watch out, the whole assembly will pop up once you remove the screws.



Now you've got to get underneath the car, find the bottom of the stick linkage and the selector linkage, and remove the bolt attaching the two linkages. Now you can remove the whole assembly away from the car.

You'll need to file away about a 1/4" wide and 1/8" deep slot in the pivot cup on the upper left side (front driver side) to allow the gear selector lever to go into reverse (since the B&M lower stick is a lot beefier than the OEM one). The cup is made of pretty light and soft aluminum, any metal file will do.

Assemble the B&M stick, insert the metal bearing into the bottom linkage, install the blue collar on top, place 5 sided plate on top and assemble onto stock pivot cup.



Do not tighten the three allen bolts completely. You'll need to get back down underneath the car and attach the selector linkage back onto the bottom of the stick linkage with the bolt you removed earlier. Now, with the assembly installed, you'll need to shift the stick into each gear and make sure it does not come in contact with the square opening on the 5 sided plate. It is vital to adjust the plate right, otherwise you'll have noises in gear as the stick bounce against the plate. Once the plate is properly adjusted, tighten all allen bolts.

Put all the rubber boots back on in order. There's a small, 5 sided boot that goes on first, then the big, flat and floppy boot, then the last boot. See attached image(s):





Getting the top aluminum plate on is a little tricky. You must get the two rubber boot to line up and the holes for the screw to line up to the holes on the transmission tunnel. Again, the two holes in the rear will require that the back half of the center console be moved back a couple of inches. Get the front of the boots and plates to line up, put the two screws in until the thread catches, then put the back ones in with the console pulled back.

Put everything back in order of removal and you're set. The throw is reduced to about 2 inches between 3rd and 4th:





OEM throw is about 3.5" long between these two gears. Top of the knob will sit slightly lower as well.

Instructions (in PDF) for a 350Z is on B&M website. Scroll to bottom of page.

Precision Sport Shifter

The B&M Precision Sport Shifter is sold through Stillen:

STILLEN : B&M Precision Short Throw Shifters

Enjoy.

Attached Images

	alum_plate.jpg (58.8 KB, 56 views)
	interior.jpg (83.9 KB, 60 views)
	assembly_knobremoval.jpg (77.2 KB, 50 views)
	oem_stick.jpg (71.6 KB, 44 views)
	installed.jpg (74.9 KB, 89 views)
	rubberboot_bottomplate.jpg (66.3 KB, 36 views)
	rubberboot_console.jpg (79.4 KB, 39 views)
	3rd.jpg (81.3 KB, 57 views)
	4th.jpg (85.0 KB, 73 views)

whoady4shoady

Awesome! How is it holding up? Does it feel smooth for daily driving?

Jeffblue

sorry to bring up a dead thread, but what did you guys do in order to get the stock knob to tighten down all the way but wind up facing forward. when i tighten mine down all the way it winds up sideways.