I have had a slight irritance in the past with the gearchange on my WRX MY93 - the gear lever seemed quite stiff as if ploughing through thick porridge or plasticine during gear changes! I have just fitted a Roger Clark short shift stick which gives a much more positive feel but am still plagued by the "plasticine effect".

When fitting quick shift I did notice that it was VERY difficult to fit the lever onto the rubber mounting on the lever that connects to the gearbox - partly because the sleeve that the bolt goes through seemed to protrude more than I would have expected on either end of the rubber mount. This meant that the fitting was very tight so much so that it would almost have stayed put without the bolt going through to secure it!

My question is this - would you expect that the stiffness could be caused by this or is there somewhere else that might need lubrication to make for a freer and slicker gearchange? I packed the bottom of the short shift with plenty of grease!

The overall result is a much better and slicker gear shift but still "heavy" with the "plasticine effect".

Am thinking of dismantling it again and either widening the brackets on the shortshifter or removing some of the length from the inner sleeve on the mounting! What do you think?

Oh and yes - the gearbox does have oil in it and I don't have any crunching or grinding noises!!