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short shifter help

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pimpdcontour

Veteran CEG'er
Joined
Jun 12, 2003
Messages
574
Location
butler county PA
ok so here is the deal... i got tej ford racing shifter and riser plate for the 99 contour as that is what the contour is a 99...however once i got it taken apart i relize it is a 2000 style shift tower. the riser plate does not even fit on it. why would ford put a 2000 on a 99.. it has a built date of 9-3-99. so does this make it a 2000??? and is there a riser plate that is for the 2000?? i want my shifter on.. please help. ok does any one know the part # for a 2000 shift tower so i can make the riser plate.. also would it need to be 3/8 in think also??
 
Last edited:
It could be. My 98 was built in 4/97.

It is also possible that it was a very late build and that some parts were pulled ahead.

To see the true model year, look at the emissions decal on the underside of the hood. It should identify the model year that it was certified to. Also the door decal with the VIN number should not only give you the build date, but also tell you the model year that it met the safety requirements for.

Also you can look at the 10th character of the VIN. The letter (or number) here is unique to the year. It is uniform for all cars sold in the US (and Canada). I don't remember what letter matches to what year, but my 98 is a "W".
 
My car is a 2000 and the build date was in 99 as well. Thats why Almost every thread regarding shifters says to remove your console and see which one you have. The year of your car can be misleading.

Now on the other hand, if your Ford shifter is the steeda one (or the same design) then you need to remove the tower, take off the bottom plate, and attatch a new plate from the underside of the car where the hole is. (youll see what I mean). This provides a little extra room for the shifter to not catch the bottom plate when shifting.
 
see i thought i ha dto take out the tower from under the car and place the plate under the tower inside the car and trim out the bottom of the tower.. does any one know or have the dimensions of the plate i need to make as this is a the daily driver and i only get 2 days a week off. don't really wanna rush making this just to get it on.
 
Just wanted to bump this. Did you get it sorted pimpd? I have the frp short shifter and a 2000 as well but haven't got around to tackling this yet. I have a pic of the 2000 riser plate, but I'm confused because it is solid and I would have thought it needed to be a cutout to increase clearances. I also need to know what thickness it needs to be, its much thinner than the regular riser plate in the pic.
2000riserplate.jpg
 
yea real easy.. put the car up on ramps -take out the console-take off all the shift cables-get under car and remover the front heat sheild. might have to drop you exhaust. i did not as i have a test pipe. then remove the 4 10 mm nuts. be care not to break them like i did. once they are out get back in car and pull up entire shift tower. go to work bench and install shifter. that is a plastic plate on the bottom of the tower you will see what i mean cut that out. reinstall tower in car. get under car and install plate on UNDERSIDE of car. it will go floor plate then heat shield. i put undercoating on the plate. put all the bolt sback in and go enjoy it. any other ?'s pm me it took me about 1 1/2 hours. not real hard at all.
 
I recently replaced the RCM ni my car and got a good look at my 2000 shifter - I can see why you need to go under the car, but what do you gain by putting a place under the car? You would think if there is a clearence issue, it would go under the tower.... I guess I'm confused on why you actually even need the riser place.. Do the actuators where the cables attach to hit the floor?
 
it is not really a riser plate more of a hole cover. once you take out the plastic piece that is there stcok there is a hole there. the plate goes under to cover up the hole. and the white bushing is what hits and rubs. you can not shift i tried! all you need is like a quater of a inch with that out it fit perfect. had mine in for a little over a month and no issues and i love it.
 
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