strange '99 shifter assembly

[xman]

Well I'm cutting down the shifter this weekend and I looked up the thread(s) on installing the aftermarket short throw shifter and let me just say I'm a bit confused. My car was made on 6/98 and once I removed the boot and the center console my assembly didn't look anything like the pics. I didn't see that plastic retaining clip everyone is always *****ing about for example. Another concern is where the heck is that centering spring and is it hard to reinstall? basically what I need to know is: How do I remove the shaft so I can cut it down and rethread it? Any help would be appreciated. I'd like a little guidance before I go in there all half crazed and really mess something up.

[Knibbs]

if you had pics that would be more helpful. what might have happened is that if you bought your car used then the shifter might have been broken or something and the people replaced it with a 2002 shifter. what leads me to this is the fact that i did a b and m shortshifter in my 02. and i broke this plastic piece that holds the center spring. i went to the dealer to get a new plastic peice and i come to find that you have to buy the enitre shifter.

now onto to you question how to remove the shaft. take of the knob by twisting it off. then remove the shift boot. now push the shifter into 3rd gear. take a long flat head screw driver and pry apart the ball and socket joint under the shift assembly right above the carpet., it should come off fairly easy. then you have to figuire this out hot to remove the center spring. it should be held in there with shaft that goes through the assembly. at one end of the shaft there should be a spring(centering spring). now once you have figure out how its clipped in there. if its the 99-01 then there should be a small c clip on the passenger side and all you do is slide it off. the way i do it is to spin it around till the fat part of the clip is closest to the ground, then i take a flat screwdriver and put it in the fat part and push down. dont push too hard cuz it will come off pretty easily , and you might never see it again if you press too hard. if you have the 02 assembly then there should be a flower looking peice on the drivers side of the shaft. to get this out is a lil tricky. try and push all the pedals back gently and once you do take a flathead screw driver and put it in the gap on the passenger side between the sping arm and the shift assembly. what out cuz the piece will pop out.
now once you have the the folowing disconected then the rest it simple. there are 4 torq screws on top of the assembly. take those outand put the shaft striaght up and it will come out. since you are only cutting the shifter then you really dont need to do anything else. jsut cut it to the height you want it and your basically done.
ok you have you shofter cut. now you wanna slide the shifter back in. put the torque bolts back in(note: if you have the 99-00 you can take out the reverse lock if you dont want it in there at this point. there should be a metal peice on the passenger side closer to you that you bolt in when you put the torque bolts back it. if you dont want it then just put the bolt back in and not the metal peice.
now you wanna connect the springs and cables. take the shaft with the springand slide it throught the assembly. now this is where it gets a little tricky. get a big pair of pliars. i use pipe pliars, helps for this part . there should be a white peice on the small arm that hangs off the side where the sring assmebly is. insert that into the small whole in the spring asembly as far as you can. this is where you take the pliars and put one part of the mouth on the spring arm. and on somewhere where you wont break anything off. squeeze and wait till you feel/hear a click like a plastic piece snapping into place. once you get that jiggle the shifter shaft side to side to make sure its sitting in right. then put it in 3rd gear. use the pliers to put the ball socket back together. use the pliars in the same fashion as you just did. onc eyou get it connected jiggle and make sure its on .
congrats you are about 2 steps from finishing it
now if you want to keep the reverse lock outthen you should be able to keep the metal piece thats connected to the shift boot. just put it on and put the know back on and you should be in business.

but what i just remembered is that if you have a aftermarket knob then you will most likely loose the reverse lock out feature. all you do it turn the shift boot inside out. look at where it meets the metal. cuz the zip tie that holds it , pull out the metal peice. then get some more zip ties and some tape. take some eletrical tape and put a peice around the top where you want the shift boot to rest. then take a zip tie and put it just about the tape and get it as tight as possible. cut off the extra strand so nothing is haning off. then take the shift boot. feed a zip tie through the top of the shifter boot where you cut the other one out just a few minutes ago. put the zip tie one the shifter and tight as tight as you can get it. cut off the excess and turn it right side out. , put the knob on tighten the bolt and you now have a short shifter. here you go , ill show you a pic of the 2002 shifter if you have any questions let me know and ill do what i can to help you , the one with the wierd round knob is my 99 shifter that i did

http://www.fastcougar.com/forums/attachments/ACF2BEF%2Ejpg
http://www.fastcougar.com/forums/attachments/shifter4%2Ejpg
http://www.fastcougar.com/forums/attachments/shifter5%2Ejpg
http://www.fastcougar.com/forums/attachments/srhtshifter%2Ejpg
http://www.fastcougar.com/forums/attachments/shrtshifter2%2Ejpg
these are the 02 shift assembly
http://www.fastcougar.com/forums/attachments/shifter%5F3%2Ejpg
http://www.fastcougar.com/forums/attachments/shifter%5F2%2Ejpg

[xman]

You are officially my new hero cougarct. Thanks for the step by step how to. I feel confident enough now to take it on, but if I get stuck I'll drop you a line. Thanks again. I love NECO!!!

[Knibbs]

hey no prob, i have done both . and i like to help good luck