Applicable to: '90 - '97 1.6 liter 1.8 liter
This was the 10th anniversary shift knob by Skunk2. It is stainless steel with a gunmetal finish, and a little 10th anniversary engraving on the side. The shift pattern on top is also engraved, and painted red in the crevasse for better visability. Although I was unable to find the knob with the correct thread pattern on Skunk2's website, I found it on a couple other websites and ended up ordering it from heeltoeauto.com. It took a little longer than expected to receive it, but they were out of stock and had to reorder it.
This shift knob is a HUGE improvement from what was on there. A couple months ago I switched the stock knob for an aluminum one in the same shape. The aluminum one had a lit shift pattern, which was kind of ricey, but not too bad. The problem was that it was a universal fit knob, so it had a little cup to sit on and had three set screws on the bottom. No matter how tight I had the knob on there, it would always vibrate under high RPMs. Being aluminum it was also pretty light. The Skunk2 knob, on the other hand, is not. I think it said it weighed 440 grams somewhere. In the package is the knob itself and a matching (gunmetal) nut which only has threads on half of the inside. The purpose of this nut is to put underneath the knob, then screw the knob on top of it. This allows the shift pattern of the knob to be lined up however you want. The nut itself was a little hard to screw on to begin with, but this is so you can stop it before the end of the threads if need! ed to align the shift pattern. The only thing I see as somewhat of a drawback is that the knob sits slightly higher than my previous one, so some of the shaft is showing between the knob and the boot. I could put spacers on the shaft to lift the boot up some, like some people have done, but I think I'll just get a nice short shift kit to make up the difference.
Overall, this was a great improvement. Compared to the universal one where I could feel the grain of the brushed aluminum the finish on this knob is very smooth, not to mention the fact that the gunmetal goes with my black interior better than silver. Also it seems to shift more smoothly, whether that is due to the extra weight (it is almost twice as heavy as the previous knob) or just in my head, I'm not sure. Overall I give it a 99%, once I get it set flush with the boot it will be perfect. It took maybe 7 minutes to remove the old knob, since I had to take out the center console to unwire the lit part. Going from the stock knob to this could be done in under a minute.
Under 5 minutes to remove
Applicable to: '90 - '97 '99 + 1.6 liter 1.8 liter
Very good looking knob. Gunmetal brushed look. Begins to polish with use! Very heavy (440 grams)
i ordered a Skunk2 shift knob after using my friend's in an Acura Integra. I wasn't sure about the thread pitch so i ordered one for a Honda Acura (10x1.5). Upon recieving it i realized it was the wrong size, as the Miata shift knob is 10x1.25. Luckily a friend of mine had a drill tap sitting around for 10x1.25 and it worked. I since have been using it and it is much better than stock. The shape fits my hand perfectly and it's heavy enough to make shifting very easy. Be sure to order directly from Skunk2, as most used and e-bay skunk2's are for Honda Acura. The Toyota knobs should fit.
Under 5 minutes to remove
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