New Product Release - MAZDASPEED 3, GEN 2 Adjustable Short Shifter!
 

Details:
The JBR Double Adjustable Short Shifter not only reduces the throw of your shifter by up to 35% but, it also reduces the height of the shifter by 1.75".

One of the side effects of short shifters when the throw is reduced is, the shifter moves forward of the OEM neutral location. To fix this, we've also made the neutral position adjustable.
We didn't stop there either! The OEM offset of the shifter has been maintained so there is no increase in lateral reach or awkward look.

The JBR Adjustable Short Shifter also includes a Reverse Lock Out Gate Guide. This guide greatly reduces the side slop in the shifter, eliminating the need to spend upwards of $500 for a full replacement shifter.

This direct bolt on shifter is simple to install, it accepts the OEM shift knob or one of our Spherical or Cylindrical Heavy Shift Knobs.

Constructed out of hardened steel so there's no chance this shifter will break off in your hand like the OEM shifter.

James Barone Racing.com

Application: 2010-2013 MAZDASPEED 3

The kit includes:

• 1 Short Shifter
• 1 Gate Guard
• Shipping is free in the US & our Hassle Free Lifetime Warranty is included.
• Installation instructions are available in our support section.
  

http://www.jamesbaroneracing.com/sho...SS-1013-S1.JPG

http://www.jamesbaroneracing.com/sho...1013-S1_01.JPG

http://www.jamesbaroneracing.com/sho...1013-S1_02.JPG

http://www.jamesbaroneracing.com/sho...1013-S1_04.JPG

Looks good! Now to just decide which one to get. JBR or CorkSport...

$211 shipped vs $155 shipped, the JBR option is certainly cheaper. Obviously, money isn't everything but for that big of a difference there would have to be a pretty compelling reason to persuade me to go Corksport. I suppose if you are looking for an option that allows you to raise the stock shifter you might opt for Corksport.


@jbarone; looking at picking one of these up within the next week. Do you have 100s on hand to ship or do I need to order quick before they are on backorder forever?

I have a $100 CorkSport Gift Card, so the price argument is equal when it comes to the shifter. I also have a shfiter extension by Stratified so I have a tall shift as well. No height adjustablity on the JBR but CS does. I do like the gate is included with this one though...

so, money aside, is one easier to install over the other? I too would prefer a taller stick with a shorter through; adjusting neutral looks like a good deal.

Just placed my order. Really excited to get this on my car.

@jbarone; not packaging a staged kit with shifter bushings like on Gen1? Or is it on your site that way?

Definitely the 2 options to go with, does Corksport have a gate seperately? Someone needs to be the guinea pig and get this on asap and give us feedback.

Don't think corksport has the gate. Short shifters, like cs, that don't have the bend towards the driver look really odd when installed. Will be ordering JBR SS soon.


Sent from my iPad using my stinky fingers

^ +100000

But even worse is the FAR lateral reach to get up into 5th.
Its horrible without the bend towards the driver.
Immediate deal breaker with the CS shifter.

We made more today so there was no lapse in shipping. Thanks for the overwhelming response to these.

-Jamie

just installed mine today. no problems at all and even gave @jbarone; some install feedback. ive only drove around the neighborhood, but plan to do some testing tomorrow.

Happy customer as always.

How about a review with install feedback for us?
Id love to hear what you thought.

ill work on it and get something together. not much other than follow the instructions. the hardest part (for me) was getting the spring back on the shifter assembly. i also had to do the optional trimming on the shift boot ring (2010). ive only drove around the block. when i get some miles on it ill get a good review up.

Where did you find the instructions?

On the website under support.

I only see gen 1.

They are right below the GEN 1 instructions....


Here's a link:
http://jamesbaroneracing.com/support...structions.pdf

I swear that wasn't there when I looked this morning. Thanks for the link.

Sunday is last day of sale. Hopefully this guy's review comes ASAP.

Driven on it some more now. Not much to say other than 100% as advertised. Install exactly per instructions and no issues. Every gear engages well and like it should. I plan to shorten the throw in the future but it is good for now. I have it set in about the middle for throw and neutral position.

I also did the option attachment for the gate (screw) and had to trim the shift boot ring as directed (2010). I had to trim off a little more than instructed but no big deal. If it taps plastic throw everything back together minus the shift boot to see where it hits. Trim off a tiny extra and good to go. I tried a razor blade....sliced my finger....and picked up my cutoff wheel. Just be careful.

I was not a big fan of the ssp I had. Been gone for a while. I felt like it caused binding and did not want to fool with adjusting the cables.

If you guys need any specifics...feel free to ask. I didn't really take enough pics to post a thorough review.

Attachment 183353

I installed mine this morning, so I'll throw in some comments as well. Ergonomically, this feels much better than stock. I'm 5'9" with short arms. With the neutral position adjusted all the way back, my hand falls right onto the knob and the height is perfect. The shifter is worth it for that alone, for me. The factory position was just too high for the way I'm shaped.

I have the throw set as short as it will go and it feels about the same as the middle position of the SSP (which I removed). However, it's much smoother and the 1/3/5 throws are the same length as the 2/4/6 throws now. I have not tried the SSP along with the shifter and I don't plan to.

Overall, this is a better solution than the SSP. That said, if you already have an SSP and you're happy with it, don't feel like you have to buy the shifter. It's a nice upgrade but not a radical difference. I'm a bit of a princess about shifter feel, so for me it was worth the money.

Thanks for the comments guys. keep 'em coming.
Any negatives that you have encountered? Minor or not I'd like to hear.
That could be with the installation, design, feel, whatever.
Thanks in advance.

Like all the other JBR products I've bought, the design is well thought out and the manufacturing is dead-on. Absolutely no complaints there. This is a very high quality piece and it's way better than the half-plastic piece of shit Mazda gave us from the factory.

There's no way around this, though: Installation is a bitch. Getting the shifter assembly out of the car is tedious and takes a while and getting the retainer clip off the cable arm is the same. That said, getting it all back together is much easier and goes way faster.

Like I said in my prior post, overall feel is much nicer. My previous setup was JBR SSP, weight and heavy spherical knob. Current setup is JBR knob, factory weight, no SSP and short throw shifter. What I had before was decent, but the current setup just feels better and smoother. The SSP feels like an aftermarket hack to get a short throw without tearing into the center console (which it is, and it suffers from some compromises as a result). The shifter is just a better functional solution, but with a higher price and much more involved installation.

Monday at midnight.

I plan on using the adjustable ssp with the Shifter. Hopefully it works well together.

I just installed this piece yesterday. Install wasn't that bad. One thing I do wish is that if the knob was kept the stock height. I am a little talker than average guy and liked the stock height. Sometimes going into reverse now I smash my pinky finger. Its just gonna take some getting used to. I am getting some first gear lock out when I down shift. I am going to mess with the cable adjustments today and see if that helps. I do have the adjustments down to the minimum side. I have 2010 and didn't have to trim the ring.

Also I am running this with a DM ssp with stock shift weight and the throws effort is pretty good, not too difficult. I might take the ssp off and see how it feels in a week or two.

Update adjusted the neutral sitting all the way to max and seemed to cure my first gear lock out issues on the downshift. Everything perfecto now

Last of them until January. Thanks for the overwhelming response.

-Jamie


http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14...f135c832c2.jpg

Glad mine is on the way!

Plan on picking this up after Christmas granted some are still around. Really excited, and thanks for the reviews

damn cant wait till i get mine too

I gots mine! Boom with the fast shipping.


Sent from my iPhone using sausage fingers

Installed mine yesterday and i expected the throw to be shorter than what it actually is. That being said i really like it and the shifts are smooth as butter where it felt kinda hareh with the corksport ssp.
Im happy

I installed mine yesterday, I love how it feels, but I'm having problems with my 1st gear. Maybe I have to remove my SSP :thinking:

What's the problem so we can help?

One of the guys said to put your neutral setting to max and it should help. Post updates.

it's kinda hard to engage the 1st gear but the rest of the gears feels great

Hard when, while the car is off, running but not moving or down shifting in to 1st?

When the car is running but nt moving

Thats the ssp. Take it off and it will be much smoother

You can back the throw off on the SSP and make it a bit longer there and do a gate adjustment. See the "How To Adjust Your Shifter" in the support section of our website.

-Jamie

I got my shifter today. Is this piece supposed to be bent like this or should it be flat?

Attachment 184361

Had the same question. I figured it was how it was supposed to be.

Mine was like that too

The little hoop is suppose to be bent like that.

Good deal, just making sure. Thanks for the quick response :)

We have officially run out of these until mid January. 47 sold in 19 days! Many, Many thanks!!

We're still taking orders so keep that in mind if you want one of the next batch of 50.

Thanks,
Jamie

Installed mine saturday and took off the ssp. Shifts feel much better. The only issue that may actually be normal is i have a lot of side to side movement when in gear from the shifter. Took panels off today and looked at it while moving it around and everything is tight. Anyone else have this?

I do have a small amount of play in the shifter if you twist the knob back and forth. I found it's coming from the shifter neck itself from the pin next to the spring that pushes the shifter back up when you push down for reverse.

Compared to stock and SSP, I have basically zero lateral play in my shifter now. Make sure the white cap that goes in the cable arm is securely attached to the ball-joint that sticks out the side of the shifter. I made that mistake at first and had a huge amount of play until I fixed it.

Just installed my 2nd gen short shifter today. It is very tight in gear and feels buttery smooth as mentioned before. However, I have to push down on the shifter for the pin to go under the gate guide for first and second gear. Is this normal or do I need to adjust something?

That is NOT normal. Is the gate guide all the way against the OEM gate? There is some adjustment there. Also, please check all points of the reassembly process ensure it's all correct. If the problem still exists, shoot me some good pictures to jamesbaroneracing@gmail.com so I can take a close look at them.

-Jamie

Check all the linkage over carefully to make sure all of the clips are fully pushed back in.

Got it. It was the adjustment on the selector cable. Somewhere putting it back in I must of knocked it or moved it off that nipple. Thanks for replying so fast.

Thanks for the help. I had a feeling that something wasn't right.

Got mine and attempted to install before work. Having a real hard time getting that second cable to pop off. Anyone have any tips or suggestions for that?

13mm open end wrench is how I popped mine off.

So I took mine apart to check it out and found the arm that comes out the left of the ball of the shift rod that screws into it came loose. So I tightened it up and it fixed the play. After driving it about 20 miles its loose again. You think I should use some loctite on it?

I presume you did tighten it with a wrench? If that doesn't keep it tight loctite will for sure. I'll add a note to the instructions to use some loctite as well.

Thanks for the feedback.

Ya thats probably for the best just make sure to say blue loctite and not red lol. One more time taking it out of the car hopefully.

I should be installing mine this coming week. I have the JBR adjustable short shift plate, set in the middle. I intend on keeping the ssp. I haven't seen any reviews yet with the combo installed, so i'll let yall know how it goes. My car is forced to use the SSP due to my blowthru setup. The stock setup with stock weight would contact my intake piping. The SSP on the middle setting works real well on its own, so hopefully the shifter makes it even nicer.

One last question, I notice that you have white lithium grease, I've been trying to get my hands on some and when I finally get some. It's black. Is it necessary to use white grease? I know that's a stupid question but I just wanna make sure before I go slathering that shit up

So I installed mine today and I love it but when I go over to first it doesn't spring back to neutral. It does from 5th and 6th. Also, in reverse it doesn't spring back. I think the spring is weird. I'm not pulling it back apart though. I can live with it.

I saw this issue in our shop car once out of many, many installs it didn't really resonate with me at the time but, here's how to fix the problem you're having.

Loosen the torx screw that holds the gate guide down. If you added the optional screw, loosen it too. Waggle the shifter back and forth and then tighten them back down again. This should resolve the issue with the shifter not returning to neutral. There should be no need to remove the shifter to correct this.

Now, the stalk not coming all the way back up, we think is caused by the thick lithium grease we used during assembly. This issue especially prevalent if the car is very cold and the grease is even tackier. I suspect it will get better with time as the grease breaks down.

Let me know if this solves the problem and I'll add a note to the installation instructions.

-Jamie

Excellent! I'll give it a shot. I did use the optional screw and if it is that easy I will certainly be fixing it up. Thanks! It returns back up just fine. No issue there.

Jamie
Im sure you know about Lubriplate.

This is what came with my Factory Mazdaspeed short shift kit from Mazda.

Also included in the B&M shift kits as well as others. Its the only grease to use for shifters in most opinions.

http://cdn3.volusion.com/tost5.qb9x6...LATE-175-2.jpg


http://c.shld.net/rpx/i/s/pi/mp/2188...a8891169ac6095

Cheap on eBay.

Lubriplate Aero Lithium Based Grease Lubricant 5 Pieces 3 8 oz Tubes New | eBay

I've heard of it but I've never tried it. I will get some. Thanks for mentioning it.

Here's a fun fact....

Mazdaspeed and B&M supplying the same grease a coincidence? No, B&M made the Mazdaspeed shifters for Mazda to Mazda's specifications.

-Jamie

^ Right. Also the Mazdaspeed kits came with a nice pressed steel tool for removing the ball so you dont have to mess with paperclips etc. Thats a B&M thing. They include the tool in other SS kits.

That grease is godlike, BTW.

.

Ordered!!

Drove a friends MS3 with the shifter last night and I can truly say that this one of the best aftermarket pieces I have ever seen or felt. The shifting was smooth, precise and effortless. More importantly, there was no slop in it at all and the confidence with the shorter throws and the precise way it goes into every gear, was amazing.

I have driven cars with B & M, Mazdaspeed, TWM and others, this one is second to none. It felt almost like driving a car with a sequenial gearbox, the down shifts were smooth and precise as well. I cannot wait to get this shifter on track @ Mid-Ohio and put it through it paces and see the results of a couple of days of work!

Installed the shifter today in my gen2. Instructions are spot on. I added blue loctite to the shifterball you tighten.

I set throw all the way down (least reduction) and neutral all the way back (pulled to rear). I have a jbr adjustable ssp. I set that to minimal reduction.

Shifting is smooth and short. 3rd gear is so smooth and short compared to the rest it almost is hard to tell I even engaged the gear. All gears engage fine upshifting and downshifting. Reverse is normal as well.

Install is tedious but not hard. 2 1/2 hours start to finish including ssp adjustment and quick snack break.

If my new intake setup provides me with enough room I might take the ssp off to try that. I initially had the ssp in the middle position, and while everything worked fine, 3rd was too short that way for my liking.

All in all a great product. For the amount of time and precision it takes to design this thing the price is an incredible value.

Thanks JBR

Update-The way 3rd and 5th felt with the SSP I did not feel comfortable driving. It is not because it didn't work, it was because you couldn't feel when 3rd and 5th engaged. It was that short. It was at least half as short as 2nd and 4th. So I took off the SSP but retained the JBR shift weight. I left the shifter at the lowest reduction. Now all gears feel equal in shift length and all engage perfect. Next step is to increase the shift reduction by about 10 more percent via the shifter, and I should be all done.

The point of this is, yes you can use the SSP with this shifter. Based on my experience today, however, I would not personally recommend doing it. It is not needed, and only takes 10 minutes to remove. The new shifter has enough reduction ability to meet anyones needs without an SSP.

Update 2- Moved the throw reduction so that a tad past middle. This required more trimming of the plastic than the install instructions said. I think someone else mentioned this in here. No big deal. On future shifters in production it might be easier to radius that corner. Anyway, throw is great and all gears have easy positive engagement. I am happy with where its at. I'm done :D

I hope my review helps some of yall out there.

Nice work Jamie! I would love one if I was not currently a broke college student haha

Installed mine, absolutely love it, used the Lubriplate grease as mentioned above. Only thing I'm having a problem with is I have trimmed A lot off of the plastic piece and I am still hitting it. I'm not sure I can take anymore off. Is it possibly something I did during install? Shifter is set at shortest throw and neutral all the way towards the back. (Towards the inside of the car)

I doubt you're doing g anything wrong. If you have it set to the shortest throw its actually exceeding what it was designed to do. So, back off a bit and it will clear. You won't notice the throw being a tad longer.

Hope this helps.

-Jamie

Its possible you did not trim enough. I had it set at the shortest and had no issues. I went to the middle and had to trim more. You can take the cupholder out but place the shifter bezel back on, and reach your hand under there and feel exactly where it hits...that's what I did.

stupid question, but i couldn't find anything, I just took the SSP off and kept stock under the hood with the short shifter. The red adjustable piece, I have furthest back towards the back seats, but in terms of height, does the shorter it goes make the throw shorter or longer?

ie the higher up its set, will that lengthen the throw?

Up is shorter, all the way down is longest throw.

Wifey gave me this shifter for Christmas (we opened gifts early) and I started install. All is going smoothly, but I cannot for the life of me get the shifter out of the shifter base (where you have to depress the 3 tabs to take it out. One tab has a paper clip holding it open, but no matter how much we press the other two tabs, the shifter still does not come out. Any tips for this?

There are access holes to each tab. You can slide a flat head in each one and then it should pull right up.

Make sure you are pushing the tabs IN IN IN...do not push them out. Push tabs in then put paperclip behind it, it will come right out. I pushed out at first and was like WTF.

Thank you guys! I feel so stupid haha. Once I got that part out of the way, it took about a half hour to get everything back together, and put back in the car, with the upgraded shifter bushings. Shifter feel is AMAZING. Thanks again guys!

No problem haha. I did it as well, that's how I knew what your issue was, so don't feel bad :)

Okay after using this shifter for a couple weeks now my overall Impressions are FANTASTIC. Take a little time to tune it in really nice and make sure to use a lot of grease on the spring! Where it goes on the selector arm and where the base of the spring is. (Not sure that part was mentioned in install instructions) I used the Lubriplate grease and that stuff is fantastic. Once again Jamie released another fantastic product! Shifts are super smooth and crisp

Ordered

Santa dropped off this wonderful goodie and I got a chance to install it today. Installation wasn't difficult, just tricky - getting the retainer clip both off and on, as well as putting the spring back on required a lot of patience. For someone who's never done this before and took their time - took about 2 - 2.5 hours.

I put the throw just a hair below max reduction as seems to be recommended. With this, putting the neutral attachment all the way forward (so the shifter goes as far towards the back of the car as possible) seemed to be just right. Seems to be dialed in just right for me like this, but glad there are lots of adjustments that can be made on the shifter and on the shift cables to dial it in just right if necessary.

Thanks JBR!

Quick question, I love this shifter but after a night of hard driving (Having fun with my buddy and his ms3 and another with a 350Z) I noticed it to be a bit notchy during shifts I'm running ford motorcraft trans fluid and the fluid change was fairly recent so I'm not sure what is causing this. Feels smooth shifting when the car is off but when driving I feel the notchiness and downshifting to first only happens on occasions. I have to be gentle when shifting into 5th or I will get a possible grind

Probably needs to be adjusted out.


Sent from my iPhone using sausage fingers

Sorry for my slowness lol but what do you mean adjusted out?

Mess with the adjuster? Take off ssp if you have one? I'm confused because you gave rave reviews before.


Sent from my iPhone using sausage fingers

I have the stock shifter plate and weight on now. I do own a JBR ssp and counter weight. That's why I'm confused as well because it was great before then after that night it wasn't the same. I was wondering if I knocked something loose or what the deal is. I've been trying to adjust the cables but it doesn't seem to be working

It's possible the adjuster plate is loose or maybe the selector arm actuator. If it's not either of those, I'd venture to guess it's not the shifter.

Okay thank you for input! I will dig into it again asap and post up what happens!

Okay I think Ive narrowed it down to something with my linkage cables. So it is NOT the shifter. Couldn't find anything loose or out of place when I took it apart so I pulled just the cable that hooks to neutral and it still felt weird. Then we had one warmer day and it was back to smoothness. Back to cold and once again feels wrong.

I can see the cold having an effect on the lubricant used inside the cable sheathing.

Did it feel like there was any rough spots as you moved the cable in all the way and out? If so it could be some debris has managed to find it's way in nut that's sort of a long shot. It sounds like the cold is the issue. What are the temps when you say cold?

-Jamie

It was rough moving it in and out. Can pin point a specific spot with just the cable. But when attached to the shifter and actually driving not just having the car run, 5th feels awful. I have to line it up and apply light pressure until it decides it wants to go in and even then it feels really rough. like it is grinding on something but it doesn't make any noises. The others just feel a bit rough and notchy but not like 5th. By cold I mean 40's. (Illinois weather) then we had one day of 55 and it felt great

Hmmm I wonder if it's trans related? What fluid is in it?

Sorry first post was supposed to say can't pinpoint. Just changed the fluid switched to Ford Motorcraft about a month and a half ago car has 29k miles. Always let the car warm up before driving