I have finally managed to find the time to modify the gear stick to reduce travel (lenghtening the bottom part), as well as bending it in a S shape to bring it closer to the driver.
One thing that has been annoying me for the past 10 years is the squeek coming from the gear stick assembly: disassembling it, I noticed it is produced from the ball joint rubbing against the (old and dry) rubber housing on on the bottom part.
Is it possible to use grease (lithium or other) between the ball joint and the rubber(?) housing. I know petroleum based greases destroy the rubber. I have read somewhere to use silicone spray on suspension rubber bushings. I assume this would be similar
Gear Stick Squeek - Grease or silicone spray??
I was impatient and already done it. 
Sprayed some (read lots!) silicone on the rubber housing and put some lithium grease on the spring. Perfect. No noise at all and it is a lot smoother.
Sprayed some (read lots!) silicone on the rubber housing and put some lithium grease on the spring. Perfect. No noise at all and it is a lot smoother.
[img]http://www.tamon.org/gallery/d/11796-1/holk3-1.jpg[/img]
Totally agreeing with you here on bending the shifter so its closer to the driver. I did the same with mine a while ago and for someone that's not very tall at all, it makes a hell of a difference as I'm not having to reach when its in 1st.
Be careful with the lengthened shifter as the gearbox syncro's don't really like the faster meshing between gear shifts. My first modded gear shifter was just like that but ended up going back to stock just to be easy on the gearbox. 
Boosted F8B Pocket Rocket.