These bushings were designed to be much more stiff than the factory bushings which will lead to much less overall softness in the shifter assembly during hard shifting. This will provide a more solid feel and allow for much more positive and precise gear changes in all conditions.
Only basic hand tools are needed to install these bushings. I used a long flat head screw driver, small pry bar, 12mm socket with 6" extension, 19mm socket, 19mm wrench and a ratchet. Install should take about 30 minutes.
1. Start by putting your car up on jack stands or a lift. Once secure, unsnap the shift boot from around the shifter and unscrew the shift knob. The entire shifter assembly is coming out of the car and these need to be removed to get it out.
2. Now working under the car, remove the heat shield that is above the cat ont eh exhaust. I don't have a picture of this as we removed the shield some time ago. The shield is held in place by a series of 10mm hex head bolts. Remove these bolts and set them aside. You will also have to remove the two 19mm rearward nuts on the cat pipe of the exhaust. This will give you enough room to move the exhaust down to get the heat shield out of the way. Set the heat shield aside.
3. Once the heat shield is out of the way the driveshaft is the next challenge. You only have to remove the front portion of the driveshaft and let it hang. It will be slightly in the way, but is easy enough to work around. There are three bolts that you will remove from the guibo (rubber disc attached to the driveshaft). They have 19mm heads with 19mm nuts on the other side. You want to remove the bolts that are forward facing, i.e. the bolts with the bolt head towards the rear of the car and the nuts to the front.
Once you have the three bolts out, slide the driveshaft towards the rear of the car then down. It will hang from that position.
4. Now that the driveshaft is out of the way yuo have clear access to the shifter assembly. Below are two pictures of the assembly. The first is a picture of the rearward end of it. Yours will have a black boot on it that we have removed. The second picture is the front part of the shifter assembly. The bushings that you are replacing are in the front section of the assembly.
5. To begin removal of the shifter assembly, first remove the two pins that hold the front of the shifter stay arm in place. To remove, you must pry up on the clip with a screw driver then pop the clip up and towards the outside of the car. Once the clip is popped up you can slide it out of the trans.
Pic of the clip.
Get under the clip with a flat head screw driver and twist the screw driver to pop it out.
There are two clips total you must remove; one on each side of teh shifter assembly. They work the same way, but come out in different directions. The clips are directional which is important to remember when reinstalling.
6. Now the shifter control rod must be removed from teh transmission. This is the long rod that goes from the bottom of the shifter lever to the transmission shifter input. This rod control what geear is selected when the shifter is moved. There is a small, easy to remove clip that is on the side of the rod that needs to be removed. This clip holds in a pin that attaches the control rod to the trans. Once the clip is removed, the pin can be pulled out. The clip can be popped free with your fingers or you can use a flat head screw driver to knock it out. Once remove the pin will easily slide out of the control rod.
This pic shows the lcoation of the rod and pin. The clip is on the far side out of sight in this picture.
Pic of the clip that needs to be removed.
Once the clip is removed, slide the pin out.
7. The last step to removing the shfiter assembly is to unbolt the base. The base is held to the car by 4 12mm hex head nuts. Remove these nuts being careful when you get to the last one. As you remove the last nut support the shifter assembly with your free hand or it will fall out on your head! Don't as me how I know....
After all has been removed from the car this is what you will be lookng at. The bushings you will be replacing are int he front of the assembly to the left in the picture.
8. Pop out the stock bushings. This is fairly easy to do as they are soft and rubbery. Just push on them with a screwdriver or socket. A quick smack with a hammer to the correct size socket will knock them out of their holder.
This is what the stock bushings look like.
And what the hole looks like after removal.
Our bushings compared to stock. Ours are a split design that make them easier to install.
Insert the new TiC Bushings into the shifter assembly. They will slide right in.
9. Now follow the instructions in reverse for the installation. First slide the front of the assembly into position on the trans. Swing the rearward base up into position and loosely tighten the 4 nuts. Insert the pin through the shifter control rod and secure with the clip on the other side of the rod. Reinsert the two pins into the areas with the new bushings. Note: the pins should slide in easily, but will be difficult to close fully. It can be done by hand if you push hard, but I like to use a screw driver to apply more direct force to the clip of the pin. They should seat fully with the bracket of the trans when closed.
10. Once buttoned up, go out and enjoy shifting. You will likely get a bit more noise from the transmission during shifting, but this is normal with stiffer bushings. Gears should engage more solidly than before with less play and a more defined gate.