Ben-B

And finally the last bit of progress brings us up to date.

Today my Tarmac Eater short shifter arrived.

I have long been on the lookout for the B&M short shifter, but have never managed to find one for sale.

Tarmac Eater Motorsport on eBay sell them, £40 a pop, £50 with a gear knob, so I decided to get one.


It arrived today and so I went about fitting it. Looked at everything in detail, they looked virtually identical in terms of lower-half dimensions, except for the fact that one of the knuckles for the forward/back linkage is about an inch further forward of the stick.

I removed the original and greased up the short shifter, screwed everything back together and connected it. And it felt badly wrong.
It wouldn't return to a central position at all. I disassembled and reassembled everything 3 or 4 times, made sure it was all fitted correctly, that the spring was in the correct place, made sure there was lots of grease in the mechanism, and still it wasn't returning.

Not entirely sure why, I took a chance and swapped over the plastic seat that the bottom of the linkage sits in, and used the original instead of the one that came with the short shifter. This did the trick, when I reassembled it the stick would now spring back to the central position. But no celebrations yet, as it wouldn't go into 2nd, 4th or Reverse.

Due to the fact that the knuckle stuck out much further, it meant the stick needed to be pulled much further back to engage 2/4/R. Only it couldn't because it was fouling on part of the linkage housing. So I disassembled it again and filed down the housing by about 5mm, and then refitted it.

Finally it worked. The new knob that came with it has a bit of a nicer feel and throw, its very slightly heavier, but the difference it made is noticeable. So noticable infact that I quickly borrowed a friends driftworks weighted gear knob and the feel that his offered was amazing, such positive and smooth gear changes, so I have now bought (and waiting for delivery of) a heavy-weighted gear knob, 475g instead of the 165g currently.
Don't worry though, I've not gone for a drifters gear shifter, it looks pretty identical to the new flat-top one I fitted today.



New shiny and anodised short shifter


Old Puma gear knob... 150g


New flat-top gear knob... only 15g heavier but the feel is much better


Old v New gear knobs


Old v New gear knobs... height from bottom of thread to top of knob is slightly less on the new one, so will sit slightly lower on the threads


Old linkage and gear knob


New v Old linkage, quite a big height difference, 3 inches almost


New v Old linkage, quite a big height difference, 3 inches almost


New short shifter height


Old standard shifter height... big difference


As you can see, the knuckle on the short shifter is much longer than on the original, hence the need to file down the housing in order to engage 2/4/R. Picture makes them look quite similar but the difference is much bigger irl.


Finished look. iPhone camera is potato.

Ben-B

So to date, the full spec list is this:


2003 Ford Focus Mk1 facelift (Mk1.5)
1.6 Zetec

Bought: May 2012 (1 previous owner since new... my dad!)
Mileage: 67,500


Wheels/Tyres
- ST170 17" alloy wheels. Dunlop Sportmaxx RT 215/45/17 tyres. TR412 stub valves.

Suspension/Handling
- Eibach 35mm Pro Kit lowering springs
- Eibach F&R uprated anti-roll bars
- 10mm rear axle "handling upgrade" spacer kit
- Suspension turret covers

Engine/Exhaust
- ST170 airbox with resonator removed
- ST170 snorkel and auto wind deflector
- Piper 4-to-1 exhaust manifold, 200-cell sports cat & stainless steel exhaust system, 3.5" inward rolled tailpipe
- Powerflex exhaust bushes
- 90-degree Lambda sensor spacer
- Denso Iridium sparkplugs
- Magnecor 8mm ignition leads
- Fuchs Titan Pro S ester synthetic 5W-30 oil
- Dimple magnetic sump plug
- K&N free flow panel filter

Brakes
- Focus Mk2 ST "ASBO" front brake kit, 320mm discs
- ST170 rear disc conversion, 280mm discs
- Goodridge Phantom performance stainless steel braided brake hoses
- HEL Performance stainless steel brake bleed nipples
- Motul RBF600 racing brake fluid

Gear/Drivetrain
- Tarmac Eater short shifter gear linkage
- Tarmac Eater heavy-weighted stainless steel gear shift knob
- Slick50 gearbox treatment
- ST170 pedals
- ST170 handbrake lever

Lighting
- ST170 Xenon headlights with 4200k Osram sidelights
- ST170 fog lights
- Focus SVT US rear lights
- ST170 clear indicator side lenses

Exterior
- Debadged boot and wings
- ST170 lower grille
- ST170 spoiler
- Colour-coded front upper grille
- Colour-coded de-locked exterior door handles
- Colour-coded boot strip
- Colour-coded bumper inserts
- Colour-coded door rub strips
- Heko tinted wind deflectors F&R

Interior
- Armster leather armrest
- Focus Ghia variable speed wiper
- ST170 interior door handles
- ST170 Recaro black leather interior
- Focus RS alcantara steering wheel
- Genuine Ford "FOCUS" door scuff plates

Audio/ICE
- Alpine double-DIN headunit with satin silver fascia adapter
- Alpine bluetooth connectivity module
- Brodit active iPhone cradle charger

Other/Misc
- Focus Mk3 heated mist washer jets
- Bosch aeroblade wipers F&R
- Focus Mk2 flip key fob





PLANS FOR THE FUTURE
- Eibach camber/caster adjustable suspension top mounts
- Eibach adjustable rear camber arms
- Front upper & lower strut braces
- Rear lower strut brace
- CG Motorsport stage-2 carbon-kevlar clutch
- Ferrodo DS2500 brake pads, front & rear



POTENTIAL PLANS ONE DAY
- Uprated brake master cylinder
- Piper fast road cams & vernier pulleys
- Quaife ATB differential
- Uprated damping-adjustable shock absorbers