Acuity Shifter Bushings | 8th Gen Civic
If there was one thing I notice immediately it’s the feel of a shifter – especially if there’s lots of play in it. My old 1999 Civic EX shifter was complete garbage and I took it apart to see that the previous owner had somehow tried to salvage the old bushing with very little luck. I ended up getting a Skunk2 Short Shifter with OEM bushings and it was magic. The shifter made for a much better feel and I don’t exaggerate when I say that it was night and day!
The shifter feel in my current Civic has a lot of play that I wanted to rid of. After some searching online, the first thing was to replace the shifter bushings from new ones from Acuity. It was relatively inexpensive and didn’t seem like a lot of work so I went for it.
The AEM short ram intake didn’t give me all the space in the world, but there was still room to replace the bushings without removing it which was nice.
The install was really simple. I didn’t bother loosening the shifter cables from their locking tabs, but I did take care to not tug or twist too hard on the cables to avoid damaging it.
Removing locking pin 
Prying off with flathead
The hardest part was putting on the locking washer of the upper shifter bushing (the black one) mostly because of the space. I couldn’t take a picture while doing it, but its sort-of like a “spirally” like a keyring holder. It’s hard to explain, but you kinda have to lock it in place sort of like how you put a key on a keyring…
Here’s the sad news for me:
Replacing the bushings did NOT get rid of the play
…at least not enough to where I had the same night and day difference with my 1999 civic. Was there an actual difference? Maybe…. I did make a video showing a before and after to see…
I went and took a further look and I believe the “play” is more in what I have circled in red because when I shake the shifter, that is what is moving. I feel like if the cables were the culprit, the shifter cables would be moving rather than the part circled. I found very little about it online but I am intrigued to possibly look more into it later on.
The good news is that the shifts do feel more “punchier” than before – feels like it goes into the next gear much more solidly. I just need to get rid of that play!
Anyone else look into this?
