I've looked ever where for a short throw shift for my 79 and it would be great if the gears were close together

You can shorten the length of the shifter by extending the thread as far as possible and then cutting the excess length off. It won't be as nice as the 81-85 setup but it won't be as long either.

Well first off you have two questions. The first about ashort throw i think slowautxr is right that is all you can do unless you make your own. Or you can get an fd shift linkage assym and use that. it will take some minor adjusting but it will work i"ve done it. and the you said you wanted closer gears? get a gear assym from a miata and put that in your tranny.