NST Upgrades
As everyone knows, NST is one of the few companies that offers amazing products for our xD's. Well I went ahead and placed an order for what they had in stock. In cabin short shifter, engine bay bushings and the underdrive pulley. I am currently still searching for the Engine bay short shifter, and the in cabin bushings. I wanted to let you all know my results.
In cabin short shifter. Found a DIY guide online, and got everything apart and ready to install within 10 mins. I ran into a problem very quickly. I am assuming that this short shifter are machined out of just stock stainless, on a lathe or some such. Well whatever tool was used to machine out the inside of my product messed up (the area where the old shift stick slides into). The diameter of the inside on the thing changed. So i could get the old rod about 1/2 way into the new piece, and no farther. I ended up having to us a grinder to decrease the diameter of the ball on the bottom of my old rod. Granted, this only set me back 20 mins but still. After the hassle, i got everything back together and went for a ride. This thing was amazing. It's simple math as to why it works, but still was very happy with the results.
Engine bay bushings. Once again, found a DIY online. Took about 10 mins from the second i popped my hood until i closed it. They went right in, were easy to install. Another amazing improvement. I cannot believe i shifted without these before. Pure brilliance.
Pulley. Another DIY online. Took about 2 hours tops (including the drive to the local rental shop to grab an impact wrench). Old pulley came off with no trouble. New pulley went on just as easy. I threw a CEL on startup, but i think its cause i had my wheel off on first startup....dunno. Reset the ECU and we'll see if the light comes back. OMG, what an improvement though. I never realized how sluggish the engine was before. Pure brilliance. The pulley was beautiful, and so much lighter than i thought (didn't really appreciate it till i got the stock one off WOW that was heavy).
Anyway, i know that people have installed these before and sung their praises. But i just had to do the same. Because these 3 products made the car 100% more fun to drive, for about $300 and 3 hours of time. Brilliant! I don't even care about the snag with the shortshifter being messed up.
So now i got some questions. Does anyone know anywhere that stocks NST parts.....besides NST? I have tried 3 places and they are all "on order from NST." Which i was told by NST that they have no idea when they will order more.
Also, is the TRD engine bay short shifter the same as the NST? I heard they were somewhere, can anyone confirm?
Do they cage bushing make that much of a difference? I want them, and they are cheap but still would like to hear someone opinion.
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