no there is no welding involved in making the short shifter for the pre-98. the short shifter you bought for the 98 WILL NOT WORK, GET RID OF IT. you must use the shifter that came in your car. cut it down to the desired height and reinstall. make sure you take out the cable that runs down the center of the shaft. doing so will remove the reverse lockout so you can then install whatever shift knob you want. dont worry you will still have the reverse lockout in the transmission so you still have to go to neutral before you can go to reverse. removing the one on the shifter does not hurt anything.
