Short Shift Kit Installation

 

 

 

*NOTE*: THIS IS A VERY DANGEROUS JOB THAT SHOULD ONLY BE EXECUTED BY A PROFESSIONAL OR EXPERT MECHANIC.  CARS ARE HEAVY AND TOOLS ARE DANGEROUS.  SHOULD YOUR MINI FALL OFF JACKSTANDS OR JACKS AND LAND ON YOU, IT WOULD REALLY HURT, AND IT MIGHT BE FATAL.  IF YOU’RE NOT SURE, GET A PROFESSIONAL TO DO IT.  BY ATTEMPTING TO INSTALL THIS SHIFTER IN YOUR CAR, YOU HOLD HELIX MOTORSPORTS OR ANYONE ELSE ASSOCIATED WITH HELIX MOTORSPORTS HARMLESS FOR ANYTHING BAD THAT MAY HAPPEN.  IN OTHER WORDS, YOU ARE TAKING A RISK, SO PLEASE BE CAREFUL, AND IF SOMETHING GOES WRONG, YOU HAVE ONLY YOURSELF TO BLAME.

 

 

Tools Required

 

1.      Four jack stands, or professional automotive hoist

2.      Floor jack

3.      15mm box end wrench

4.      10mm socket and ratcheting wrench

5.      8mm socket

6.      1/8 in. hex key

7.      Two pairs of small adjustable pliers (like Knipex or Channel Lock)

8.      Large flat-head screw driver

9.      Red LockTite or other fastener locking agent.

 

Directions

 

1.      On a flat, paved surface, carefully jack the car up and place it on 4 jack stands.  Before getting under the car, be sure that it is safely lifted and you are not at risk of injury.

2.      Remove the two 15mm nuts at the flange between the header and the exhaust.

3.      Remove the 6 10mm bolts that hold the exhaust mount bracket to the chassis.  Let the exhaust hang from the rear hangers.

4.      Unclip the 2nd oxygen sensor wire from its two clips (near the front drivers side of the exhaust tunnel).

5.      Remove the 10mm sheet screws from the center section of exhaust shielding.  There are 7 screws.

6.      Remove the 8mm screw at the top front of the tunnel heat shield.

7.      Carefully push in the bottoms of the heat shield to clear the mounting studs and slide the shield toward the back of the car until it clears the header flange.

 

8.      Pull the shield forward under the header flange to remove it.

9.      remove the plastic cover to the bottom of the shifter box.

10. Grab the center shifter lever at the bottom just above the ball joint with pliers, and carefully pry the cable joint of the shifter ball.  This may be difficult.  Be patient.

11.  Push the shifter cable end as far as it will go toward the front of the car (so that it goes into 4th gear).

12.  With a pair of pliers, grab the shifter cable end right where it meets the cable housing.  With another pair of pliers, carefully bend down the socket of the cable end

about 3/4  to 1 inch, creating the bend fulcrum at the   pliers nearest the cable housing.  Be sure that the cable is fully pushed into the housing so that you don’t bend

the cable end where it is intended to go into the housing.  That would be bad.  When you are done, and have replaced the shifter cable onto the Helix selector rod

extension, the cable housing is closer to parallel to the bottom of the car.

13.  Remove the setscrew from the shifter extension utilizing a 1/8 hex key.

14.  Place a drop of red Locktite on the setscrew.   Replace the setscrew 1 turn into the shifter extension.

15.  Place the shifter extension on the bottom of the shift lever so that it completely bottoms out on the shift lever.

16. Tighten the setscrew firmly.

17. Do not replace the bottom plastic dust shield

18.  Get in the car and confirm that you can shift into all gears including reverse.

19.  Using your hands, gently make an indentation in the top of the exhaust heat shield where the shift lever extends down below the shifter box.  This is to prevent the bottom of

 the shift lever from rubbing on the heat shield.

20.  Replace the heat shield, being sure to re-clip the oxygen sensor wires.

21.  Replace the exhaust hangers and flange bolts.

22.  Drive the car like Senna.