/\ Agreed, I see the point in that 100%

 

How do you get the center counsel out...o got the shift **** off without a problem. i just cant figure out how to take the other part off without breaking it.

 

I need to get around to doing this. Can you change the + and - on the shifter?

 

your going to have to be more specific, if your talking about the plastic cover, it just pops off, if your talking about the rest of the shift ****, you have to pop the little clip from underneath off, its actualy very simple. theres a bunch of wires connected to the cover if i remember correctly that just pop off, i think theres 4 sets. feel free to ask if you need any more help.

 

they're painted on, if you feel like painting them, i wana see how it turns out. i was thinking about buying some stickers to cover them up or something but im not sure what im going to do, just live with it for now.

 

I did this the other day and it's great!!! Thanks for all of the help

 

+1 Simple "mod", great result!

 

Has anyone found an acceptable solution for the "+" and "-" indicators? I'm inclined to try this out, but am not going to do it unless there's a way to change those indicators.

I made the symbols in MSWord and printed them on a color laser printer on transparency film. I'm having a hard time making a clean cut, because the cirlces are so small and I'm trying to get them perfectly circular. The "+" and "-" end up clear on a grey circular background. It has potential but what to adhere it with? It can't show through the transparency, has to have some decent sticking power (likely out to the edges), and should be reversible. I googled for pre-made stickers, but came up dry so far.

Solutions? Ideas?

 

You could try a sheet of address labels. Print your design on a label and then laminate it using clear packaging tape. Use new, sharp scissors to cut out the labels. Take your time.

The only problems I see are that heat in the car may eventually soften the glue on the label and the sun may fade the ink. You can always print a new label if either of those happen though.

Some good heat resistant labels might work better:

Worth Poly Laser Labels

But $50 seems a bit expensive...

 

It's worth a try. They say you can call them for a sample sheet.

I'll give a call tomorrow. I'm have my doubts, but there's only one way to find out. Maybe, if I can get close to matching the colors (shades of gray) it wouldn't look that bad.

It looks like it's made to adhere pretty firmly and says they're scuff proof. Perhaps the packing tape won't be needed. I wish there was a simple way to press a cirlce the correct size.

Found these too http://www.1stopsquare.com/hole.html. One step at a time I suppose.

Thanks for the idea.

 

to be honest guys, i never look at the indicators. no one else ever drives my car so i could care less. i would rather have it still looking clean with the stock + & - and have them being backwards.

but if you really want to, go to a hobby store, buy yourself an exacto knife. that'll give you the nice crisp cut you are looking for. im sure they've got some glue's that'll do the trick inside the car. they'll prob. give you some advice to help you out.

other thoughts, maybe you can paint over them, make some stensiles and just paint them on so you dont have to worry about glue or anything.

or what about geting some bubbly stickers like the ones next to it(the ones that say P,N,D) it would still look clean without having to paint or anything. i dont know where you would get something like that though. just some food for thought guys.

 

This mod replicates F1 style shifting. Pull back to upshift and push forward to downshift. It follows the weight shift under racing conditions. When accelerating, you are pushed back, so it is natural to pull the lever back to upshift and vice versa. However, my brain is trained the other way (maybe from car racing video games as a child?), so I prefer the OEM directions. Mazda and BMW are the only OEMs that I know of that setup their manumatics F1 style. I used to have a Mazda CX7 and I used to shift the manumatic the wrong way all the time because I am not used to F1 style.

 

Quite a few racing arcade games are set up reverse of the G shift directions. I certainly haven't surveyed them all, but I couldn't recall which direction they were setup to shift so the last time I took my kids, I checked. Sure enough, down for upshift, up for downshift.

I wondered why (when I first bought the G) under stressful, frenetic paced shifting, I sometimes went the wrong way.

I'm still not 100% convinced I'd change it and keep it there, but I won't even bother unless I can find a suitable solution for the indicators. My wife drives the car, rarely, and it would be a cold day in hell that she would use manumatic. But sure as ****, I can see it happening; she gets an itch and decides to try it and goes the wrong way. Also, it would keep me straight to have the indicators marked properly. Finally, even though I'd probably change it back if I ever sold the car, If something came up and I didn't get around to it, I'd want the indicators to be correct for the new owner.

 

thatd be the only reason id do it, but how i set it up, it'll take me less then a minute to change it back. i just added the connectors and took my time the first time to do it right. thats a lesson i had to learn the hard way in life, do it right the first time and it'll be better in the long run.

but yeah that'd be the only reason i'd put the indicators, would rather waste my time else where haha..

i do want to see if anyone does it and it looks nice though.

 

would this mod also work with a 2005 and up? The shifters are different