I bought these Energy Suspension Polyurethane Shifter Bushings a few days ago from Summit Sport Compact (thru the website). Overall it is a very cheap upgrade and really isnt too hard, but it does help out the shifting feel a lot. It gives you a much more positive engagement. The bushings themselves were $9.95 and S&H was another $9.99

The kit comes with a front brace bushing, plus the stabilizer bushing along with 2 little packets of Formula5 Pre-lube. The bushings are made out of polyurethane and have a much better lifespan and feel in comparison to the stock rubber bushings.

The front stablizer bar bushing is quite easy to put on, all you do is undo 2 bolts underneath your car where it attaches to the end of the tranny and basically pop the old bushing out (i used a screwdriver), then put in the new bushings, lubes up so that you can fit the original bolt in it without too much hassle.

The back stablizer mount is a different story. The easiest way to do it is by undoing part of the exhaust and moving it to the side, then taking out the whole shifting mechanism.

The only somewhat hard part about this installation/parts is having cut off a flared end on a part at the base of the shifter, but other than that its quite easy.

Downsides - Didnt include ANY instructions. Just showed a little picture saying when you would have to use original parts. Still didnt fix ALL the play in the shifter

Upsides - Gave a much better shift engagement. Very easy to install (granted you can get your car off the ground to get under there. I had mine up on ramps, so it would have been much easier if i had used a lift at a shop somewhere). Summit did a great job with my order. I ordered it on a monday and got it 3 days later. The quality of the product is great, the poly is much stiffer than the rubber yet still dampens road vibrations decently.

I really didnt know how to do this all myself, so i did a google search and found that Sport Compact Car had basically the exact directions on their site. Shifter bushing/short shift directions

Overall a GREAT buy if you want to get rid of some of the slop in your shifter and have the 45 minutes - 2 hours to install.

 

cool man, glad you like it. i love how notchy my shifter is with mine. also, i wanted to point out, you dont "have" to cut that thing off of the back, but it sure makes it easier to slip the new bushing over it. i did about 5 of them without ever cutting the tabs. but it doesnt really matter anyway. oh, and make sure you dont tighten the bolt on the bottom too much or too little, as it will either bind up the shifter, or fall out.

 

Yeah, i read that u didnt have to, but it was pretty much impossible for me to get it on if i didnt cut it off. I tried without cutting it for about 5 minutes, then decided to cut it off and that took less than a minute to do that.

And yeah, i didnt tighten the bottom one too much. Your only supposed to tighten it to 7lbs, so its really not too much at all. You can usually tell if its too tight by how well you can go thruough all the gears.

Great upgrade though!

peace, Evan

 

I just ordered a set yesterday.

 

i double-nutted mine (yeah, i know thats asking for it, but thats what its called) or use a little loctite to hold it since you cant tighten it enough to really be sure it will stay on. i had one come out on me, on an off-ramp from the freeway. not fun.

 

yeah, ive double nutted a few things before, i just didnt do it to that. lol, sorry i just had to say that considering u prolly knew it was coming anyways. I really should do that though, its quite the [sm=goodidea.gif], especially since when i was putting it on i really thought that it wasnt tight enough. 2 nuts are always better than one. ok that went a bit too far, im done [&:]

peace, Evan

 

Right on. Good post. I am off to purchase some of my own. I need a new shifter anyway since I broke mine putting my clutch in.

 

I just got mine in the other day. Thumbs up. I suggest them to everyone. Oh, and those tabs on the back of the extension rod, I just bent in a little with a pair of pliers then it slipped on with a little work.

 

amg is right, you can slip it on with the help of the pliers, but depending on how hard it goes on its easier sometimes to just cut off those little flanges. I also figured i would just cut it off because i figured saving the weight from cutting the metal off would lower my quarter mile times by about 2 and a half seconds

 

nothing of the sort crossed my mind until i read the thign in parenthasees.

good job.