Miata Shifter: Jinba Ittai

thingiverse

When Mazda designed the Miata, they followed the principle of Jinba Ittai (人馬一体). This is the idea that the vehicle is a natural extension of the body. It is a reference to horseback archery, where the archer would treat the horse as an extension of the body in order to shoot with accuracy. The kanji characters that denote this design philosophy are printed atop the shift knob's curved surface. The shift knob is comprised of four parts (some STL files combine these parts). The top is separate of every other part so that the kanji characters can be printed to your desired level of precision. The bottom piece can be printed as a whole, with the thread piece excluded, or with the thread piece and the middle insert excluded (the thread is a M10x1.25 size, a fit for NA Miatas). You can give the shift knob a custom weight by excluding the middle insert and replacing it with different material. I have found that the shift knob has a weight of about 120 grams when all parts are printed with PLA plastic and with 100% infill. This is lighter than the stock NA shift knob, but I find that the weight difference is negligible. I also find that the larger and more bulbous shape is a lot nicer to handle. Happy shifting!