Saab savior/Genuine Saab short throw installed(WITH VIDEO)

Pat · Oct 13, 2005

Alright this has been 4 days in the making....monday night got all the shit off and got to the shifter and the bolt that holds the gear linkage to the shifter would not fucking budge. ended up rounding it off, and finally said fuck it and took it to my mechanic to deal with on tuesday. They call yesterday saying the throw is so short it wont shift, so i go down there and contact savior and get it worked out...basically he aligned the shaft in 1st when he should have done it in 3rd, so got that worked out and got the car back today.

Was taking the gator off the old shifter...it wouldnt budge and i got pisssed and took a hammer to it and nailed the shit out of my middle finger, which is now broken for the second time in my existance...but the end result is the shifter is on and overall im pretty satisfied with it.

My one issue though is that it is overly difficult to put it into fifth. I talked to guru and she told me that she has heard of this issue, possibly from tweek? So tweek, if you can attest to this let me know, or anyone else for that matter so I know it isnt just me.

Anyways here is the video i took for you guys... I was going to take a before and after video, but i figured most of you have stock shifters anyways, so you know what the throw is like.

http://media.putfile.com/shortthrow

Take care, and if you have any questions feel free to ask and I will answer them to the best of my ability.

V6POWER · Oct 13, 2005

Great Video

Great information, and awsome video. I liked the narration! I hope to obtain one of these someday 8). Although the installation kinda scares me. I've wanted one ever since SOC when I was watchin jrbrangi install his. Good job!

Pat · Oct 13, 2005

Re: Great Video

V6POWER said:
Great information, and awsome video. I liked the narration! I hope to obtain one of these someday 8). Although the installation kinda scares me. I've wanted one ever since SOC when I was watchin jrbrangi install his. Good job!

to be honest man the install wasnt THAT bad... if shit woulda went smoothly I woulda had it done in an hour and a half tops. Taking all the shit off was pie, actually putting it back on was harder... but I got hung up at that bolt. I mean i really tried everything and it just would not go. But I have really bad luck. Anything that can go wrong will...but yeah its nothing too daunting. 2 hours max by yourself(save any shitty issues like I had) and you can have it on no problem.

jrbrangi · Oct 14, 2005

you gotta grid the reverse lock out piece a little then it will smoothly go into 5th

Pat · Oct 14, 2005

jrbrangi said:
you gotta grid the reverse lock out piece a little then it will smoothly go into 5th

the black piece on the shifter?

VAGGEN · Oct 14, 2005

Nice! I haven't contemplated doing this mod before, but it is intrigueing (strokes chin thoughtfully)...

iwantaviggen · Oct 14, 2005

Pat said:
jrbrangi said:

you gotta grid the reverse lock out piece a little then it will smoothly go into 5th

Click to expand...

the black piece on the shifter?

yeah that or the white piece on the housing... but i dont know if SSs come rplaces that or what..

just grind down the little black lip....

jrbrangi · Oct 14, 2005

yea mine was stainless, also the little rivot things stink the wole unit kind of moves , im gonna get it tack welded in a couple sots to hold that center piece.

nbndtrain · Oct 17, 2005

Haven't seen the SS short shifter in person (I have the MP), but from your video the shifter sleeve is not hitting the white bump stop that is supposed to guide it into 5th. In order for 5th to be found easily, lift for reverse needs to work.

See if you can pound the shifter sleeve down some more so that it hits the bump stop. Whatever you do, don't grind anything.

zingZACH · Oct 17, 2005

haha, loved the narration... "too fucking expensive for what it is, but hey, it's a Saab we're used to that, you take care."

EDIT - thanks Cpenning... hehe :wink:

Cpenning623 · Oct 17, 2005

yea i smiled when i heard that. I do think that transmission in saabs suck, so this would be a good upgrade. cars should come stock with short throw shifters.

Cpenning623 · Oct 17, 2005

i thought he said "it's a saab we're used to that", not "where you sit at"

zingZACH · Oct 17, 2005

Cpenning623 said:
i thought he said "it's a saab we're used to that", not "where you sit at"

yeah, that makes more sense hahaha.... I was having a hard time hearing what he said....

:lol:

Pat · Oct 19, 2005

Yeah sorry about that... I was born and raised in va beach but people think im from somewhere else because I tend to talk pretty fast...that and I dont anunciate(sp) like I should... but aye thats just me.

I agree all cars should come stock with short throw... but then cars like M3's where you know... its stiff and precise(like my penis) its fine to me.... but the stock shifter on saabs is a complete slush box imo... I dont like when I can have it in gear and move the shifter from side to side.. it just feels cheap, and this olleviates(sp once again) that.

After a week with it, I can safely say it feels natural now... it doesnt even feel short anymore because Ive grown so used to it... Im REALLY interested to get behind the wheel of someone's 9-3 who still has a stock shifter just so I can remember just how bad it is.

DEFFINETLY reccomended. Given all that went wrong with the install the end result was pretty bittersweet.... I enjoyed it but it was a lot of work...now that Im over that I can safely say I love it.

Only 2 gripes are like I said 5th...which will be fixed soon, and now that I have a precise shifter the steering wheel and clutch feel kinda sloppy... so It makes me wnat to get a steering rack brace and a spec stage 2 with a vigg pressure plate....but that will be later.

Something to look into though guys... its a good product.

Spray · Oct 19, 2005

looks pretty good, I'm happy with my mp shifter though (after i fixed it)

zingZACH · Oct 19, 2005

Pat said:
.... Im REALLY interested to get behind the wheel of someone's 9-3 who still has a stock shifter just so I can remember just how bad it is.......

You'll be surprised how horrible it really is compared to the short shifter.... whenever I go to drive a stock c900 with the truck shifter, it is horrible compared to my homemade short shifter.... The old ones feel all sloppy and gummy, and are like shifting a truck... mines like shifting a sports car 8) :lol:

Saab savior/Genuine Saab short throw installed(WITH VIDEO)

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