What did you do with your zx2 today?

use b&m shifter as size template

use a grinder or cutting disc to make a straight line on the shifter end. Doing this will allow you to keep the orientation of the shifter bottom with the curvature of the upper part of the shifter. Dont take off paint first, easier to use grinder on the paint. The factory paint will come off after setting it in place with a wire brush



if you cut the bottom part closer to the ball, right at the taper of the shifter end you will have a nice spot to insert a rod into both ends and spread them apart to equal the distance of the lower part of the b&m shifter



once i do this part and get the spacing the way i want it, i then tack the part together. I use the rod inside as the beginning of making this part solid as compared to the hollow the factory produced. This little bit of weight adds a little balance to the shifter  

I have a wire feed mig i use and use that to fill in the gap with wire until it is slightly oversized. Sometimes i leave it like this and other times i grind it down. It does not matter too much because under the rubber boot and if repainted, it will be mostly moisture proof and not subject to rust.

for the upper part. I cut it a little high on the top part of the shifter and smaller on the part which the knob connects to. I do this because if breaks, will still have usable shifter. This is an issue teamzx2 members were having because they did not know how to weld and did not get enough penetration plus they put it at the stress point before the fulcrum so it was weak point with bad weld so it came apart they also tried to use the part they cut out of the top part to use on the bottom part. Of course it came apart because different widths and not good penetration. I have been doing this since i had my 98 way back when new with no issue. In the case of the picture provided, i make the top part a touch higher than the b&m because it is at this height i find the most comfortable and can use fingertips to shift the shifter with little effort and little stress on the shifter housing. Win-win The top part also does not need to be ground down to make smooth if the welds are clean enough. This little bump from the welds will help keep the shift boot up and in place during use without the need for zip ties underneath.

while searching for the installed pic into my daughter's car i found the pics i was looking for. I will put them in order. Hope this helps

replaced the head while replacing the head gasket on the 00 sr. The damage it had from the heater hose breaking was really cooked on there and made a big mess Got it done though, will install jba header when i put the last parts back on later today

Looks pretty.

Went to Ford to offer both the Ford and Mazda tranny parts breakdown to assist them...the service rep started with some double speak..., so you don't want to do the job? No, we do not.

Fortunately, I passed by a new transmission shop the other day. They do actually rebuild transmissions. I gave them the same info I gave Ford and they said fine and drop the car off Friday.

yay, had to change out fuel pump on turdbo today



now waiting for battery to charge so i can try to start it. fingers crossed

any idea who or what kinda tune that actually is??

installed new rotors and pads on my 99 at all four corners.

will likely take trans off car to figure out what is making noise in there later today

finally decided to take the trans off and look for the source of the noise i did not like. the first thing i had pop up was the needle bearings falling out of this



this part sucks because this was changed out last year with new clutch install another thing i noticed was this. Im attaching two pics because this was hard to notice





this is the first clutch disc i have had this issue with. The splined section moves in its spot. The clutch disc appears to have even wear on it but this movement could cause the noise just as much as the needle bearing falling out. These things sucked to have to replace but at least the trans went back on the first try

silver1 got new rear brakes

put 99 trans back together. swapped out the shifter housing while under there. B&M is some work to get out when the o-rings are installed. Even had to replace the axle seal. So much work for the sound to still be there. The only things not changed were the pressure plate and the trans. Maybe one of these are causing the sound? The sound does go away when the car is in gear so it has to be one of these two things Oh well, it is back together right now so will take it for a drive and put it aside so i can finish up a couple other cars to make room for the 02 which will probably be had by the weekend

tranny struggles have been real for these forum members lol

yay, finally got around to replacing the brake hoses which i had noticed having a crack in each of them. unfortunately, the trans is still making a noise i don't like so i will be taking it off again, this time for replacement. I will figure it out later when i have the time and patience for it. Really getting tired of lifting it for install

but, the clear ones just looks so cool





i finally got around to replacing the trans again yesterday. The car drives well and feels a lot better with a new clutch installed. I hope this one does not come apart because the grab on it when it engages feels real nice and firm. This car pulls strong once more with no more unusual noises. Whew, i was getting tired of taking this car apart. Now on to finishing up a lot of other things around the house and yard. Can't wait

ps. also let someone else drive my car to see how he drives and to show him the difference in his car compared to mine. he was scared because the car makes a lot of noise and getting pulled back into the seat was new to him this darn little yellow car has been a lot of work at times but worth it

Yellow 03 looking FRESH!