After much grinding and many fitment checks, I finally got the shifter movement to clear the tunnel casting going into first gear. I thought I was done and took it for a test drive. All was good until I got home and tried to back into my garage. I could NOT get into reverse. I ended up pushing the car backward so that I could drive forward into the garage. My first thought was that the clearance disappeared as all parts warmed up and expanded.
I had leftover 1/8” thick aluminum from my S2000 DIY brake duct project. I made spacers out of them to place under the four corners of the shifter base.
I put the shifter back in, and I still could not get into reverse! It turns out I could not set the driver-side cable back in exactly the same position as the stock shifter. I had to move it about a quarter inch to get the range of motion correct to get the transmission into reverse. So, I may not have needed the spacers after all, but I figure a bit more clearance couldn’t hurt.
While I was in there tweaking things, I grinded away material from the base of the shifter so that I could shift it closer to the driver a smidge. I also slotted the four mounting holes.
The grinding was to make clearance to this stiffener rib in the center tunnel. Now the driver-side cable is straighter, and there is less binding of the metal tube as the metal shaft moves in which happens going into first and reverse. Before offsetting the shifter to the driver a bit, I could feel the force required to move the shifter increase as the metal shaft of the cable moved into the tube at an angle and tried to bend the tube.
I finally got everything shifting nicely and then I couldn’t get the center console back on all the way. Because I raised the shifter an eighth of an inch, it now clashed with the center console.
6 comments
Install the Numeric cables because they make a significant improvement and because the stock cable ends have a reputation for breaking.
Took me two days to do the shifter and cables. Miserable work. Adjusting the cable ends on the transmission is fiddly but the vids online help it make sense. Routing the cables in the engine bay sucks. Trying not to break or damage the interior trim pieces made for slow going. Sometime more force than you want to use is the answer. Sometimes a better tool or technique is required.
Regardless, it sucks. The end result is worth it though. They are that good.
Appreciate the insight. So I’ll plan on a 2-day install. I’ve taken apart most of what is needed in the interior to do the cable swap; the only part I haven’t removed yet is the center tunnel and armrest. Looks like I should bundle it in with an air filter and oil change job. Maybe a header swap.
Numeric video on the cable swap into a 718.
https://youtu.be/-5yQTwCA5EY?si=pn1VrN2GOPMohDIw
Thanks for this- Based on how involved this was, I will wait until I wear the stock linkage out to move to Numeric.
I am very interested in the headers, so I hope you pull the trigger on this.
I would say my experience was abnormal. It seems my car was just at the extremes of the tolerance ranges. The grinding I did to the base of the shifter to offset it is unnecessary, just a tweak that I did. Having some washers ready to act as spacers and knowing how to adjust the cables in case you can’t get into reverse cuts off pretty much all the extra time. It really should be less than an hour job.
am I the only one that finds how much extra crap you had to do to make this shifter work ridiculous? its a $700+ part going into $70k+ car and you still had to grind down the part and the car and trim interior plastics…? kinda shameful… Acuity does a 10x better job for shifters half the price for shitbox hondas
I do think they should have done a design update given it’s a known issue on some vehicles to have the clash. And I would have engineered in a few other tweaks. But, it does seem my car is a bit more out of the norm as far as fitment issues.