Took the time to do some more work on the ole Fastback today and installed a nice upgrade for the interior.
The object in question being a very nice short shifter from Hybrid Racing and a set of stiffer shift-linkage bushings from Hardrace.
The installation was pretty straightforward - take off the interior trim that surrounds the shifter, undo a few bolts and take out the b*tch pin, take off the old shifter and replace all the original parts with the shiny new ones.
Even the rubber gasket went on there relatively easily, with a bit of lubrication of course ;)
And the finished product looks like this:
Had to take out the small plastic ring out from the top of the shifter boot to be able to install the 'swan neck' part of the shifter on top of it, but I really like the way it looks (and feels)!
The biggest hold-up was the size of the hole where the shifter bolts onto the shift linkage. Had to take off some material or otherwise I'd have to choose between either only having gears 1 through 4 or gear 3 through reverse. Nothing bad though.
File down, reinstall, take off again and file down a bit more and boom - bob's your uncle.
There are still some vibrations to chase down, but nothing a bit of lubricant/machine oil can't fix.
All in all, I'd say it was a huge upgrade for the driving experience - it's super notchy and rowing through the gears almost feels like racking a gun at times.
I'd give the shifter itself a solid 9/10, feels well built, installation is straightforward and well documented by Hybrid Racing, they give you all the hardware you need and you don't have to damage or reuse old components (except filing down that linkage hole, but that's a M-chassis issue only).