Installation Of Prolex "quickshift"

[BazzaCS]

Prolex Quick shift fitting

Fitting Date : 7th Nov 2009

I started by checking the box and reading thought the instruction leaflet, So I was fully aware of any awkward parts of the installation. Everything seemed pretty straight forward so I got to work on the removal of the gear shift cradle.

This involved the removal of the centre console that sits around the handbrake and gear stick gaiter, this is held in place by 1, 10mm nut/screw in the rear cup holder and 2 plastic clips below the two cup holders at the front. I also have a small LED down by the handbrake (Alarm arming light) that needed to be disconnected allowing me to totally remove the console from the car.

Now this was out I had a better view of the job ahead, 1st job was to disconnect the selector cables from the cradle, side shift cable was easy as this was just a case of removing a pin with a pair of pliers, Lower cable was a bit trickier as I needed to carefully draw out the ball joint from the nylon socket. I did this with a large screwdriver and levered off the side of the cradle. Now both cables were free I unclipped the cable supports from the front of the cradle and started to remove the 4, 12mm bolts , you will also notice some cables taped to the drivers side of the cradle, these need moving out of the way before removing the complete cradle from the car. Once out of the car I got to work on removing the shift rod out of the cradle.

This next part was to prove the hardest bit of the install, The instructions say to remove the “one-way” washer by punching out using a hammer and punch. This would not work for me at all and I ended up breaking the washer which meant it could not be replaced once I had the pin out I chose to drill a small hole through the pin and install a split pin and washer when rebuilding. I used a screwdriver to prise off the top of the shift stick pivot ball allowing complete removal of the old stick.

Time to rebuild the cradle assy installing the new quick shift stick, this was easy to do but do make sure the spring assy is fitted the correct way before securing the pin with your split pin (my method) or reusing the “One-way” washer if you got it off in one piece or you had a spare. Apply plenty of new grease (Not supplied with kit) and check the spring returns the shrift rod back to the centre position when moved.

If you follow the instructions given you will notice they ask for a couple of cut-outs to allow for extra room so the new shift rod does not collide with the cradle, I cut these out with a dremmel as they seemed to be very close when trial fitting the cradle back in the car.

When I 1st reinstalled the new set-up back in I chose to use the 2 washer height but when trying to reinstall the centre console the front cup holders fouled the cradle by around 15mm also the selector cables appeared to be a bit stressed with the un natural angle so I took the cradle out once more and fitted with only 1 of the spacer washers. I screwed everything in nice and tight and reconnected the selector cables. At this point I adjusted the height of the shift stick and set the position by tightening the 3 grub screws with the provided allen key. I then screwed on the shift knob so I could give the car a small test drive to check I had access to all gears. Everything worked well and all gears just slotted in nice and easy so it was time to re install the centre console and get ready for a proper test drive.

Test Drive,

From the moment I pulled away form my house I liked the feel of the gear throw, it is nice and short and just clicks into place, the shift before was quite long and sometimes notchy but now it seems more like just throwing a switch into each gear, All through the gears its is very quick and effortless and even finding reverse was easier than I thought it would be, the car feels very different to drive now and the shift seems much quicker than before which will be handy on my sprint days. I have fitted a TRD Quick shift to my old GT4 and never really found it to be better than stock but this mod has made a big difference to the gear change of my Yaris.

To sum up...............

I found it easy to install, taking just over 2 hrs although I could do it in 1hr easily now I know the tricks , I would like to see a replacement “one-way washer” with the kit to save drilling and installing a split pin and a small sachet of grease. I give this product a 9 out of 10 it appears to be well made and looks strong enough to withstand the test of time.

I will report back in a few weeks time and update you all with any changes during my testing.

Many thanks to Dave from Prolex who supplied the “Quick shift” I'm sure anyone who purchases this product will not be disappointed with it.

Regards

[Raeman]

Nice how to...

A thing the vw owners (and me) used to do was to hacksaw the gearstick for a shorter throw.

On my old Jetta Gti (Great car!!) i fitted a smooth shifter, basically just a weighted ball on the gear linkage to help it slot in better,woked well too!