lower shifter bushing removal?

I'm in the middle of changing my shift boots and nylon bushings on my 99. I've got the shifter out and there are two metal posts on each side of the housing (front and back) that the slots on the ball of the shifter slide down into. The lower nylon bushing is located under these pins.

Question: How do I remove one of these pins so that I can change the lower bushing? I tried lightly pulling on them with some pliers but neither budged. Didn't want to get too carried away before asking.

Thanks,
Keith

I've never tried to change that one out. Sorry.

I could not find any help in the 1.8 Enthusiast's Shop Manual.

Channel locks, Vice-grip pliers...something along those lines should do the trick reasonably well. Remember to twist/rotate the pin while pulling.

I tried clamping on them with vice-grips and then tapping lightly with a hammer to drive them out. No luck, they're really in there.

I emailed Tommy at Rosenthal this morning and he said not to remove the pins. He seemed to think it was similar to the 6 speed shifter design even though it's a 5 speed. I guess if the lower bushing is shot you just have to replace the entire turret housing cover.

Thinking I'll leave the old one alone and just put it back together and replace only the upper bushing and the bushing at the end of the shifter.

Thanks for everyone's help/suggestions though.

Everything is back together. Shifts smoother. Even quieter when I took it for a test drive with the top down :-) Now on to the next project....

Thanks again.

Found this on Miata.net - http://tilt.sexyracing.com/howto/1/1...&PROJECT_ID=18

Nice website with great pictures. my turrett was different than the one he shows. his only had one metal post in the turret allowing the lower plastic bushing to be removed. mine had two metal posts so that the lower bushing couldn't be removed. also, in the pictures the shifter ball has a plastic bushing in the slot. mine had a slot on each side ( one for each metal post) and did not have the plastic bushings in the slot. I had bought the plastic bushing for the slot but the shifter wasn't made the same way as the one slot shifters and it wouldn't work.

Main thing I learned from this exercise is that it seems that all shifter assemblies are slightly different. :confused: