[DIY] Skunk2 Short Shifter Install

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Skunk2 Short Shifter Install
I nor Ozhonda take any responsibility for the outcomes of someone else doing the following. You follow these steps at your own risk!



This guide is for the EK and EG chassis (slight diffrences on the EG chassis is just the interior center console removal. It should also be pretty relevant to DC2 chassis as well. So theres alot of misconceptions about short shifters in general. Some include hacksawed shifters working better, it destroys syncros, it ruins transmissions. Short shifters are not just shorter on the top, but longer on the bottom which keeps a correct placement of the gear knob, so hacksawed shifters are not better, it just makes your knob sit lower. Short shifters do not destroy syncros or ruin transmissions, poor drivers do. More info here.

Working Time: 1-2 Hours
Difficulty:

Now, lets get started. Heres a list of the stuff you'll need:
Jack Stands/Car Ramps
Temporary Jack
Metric Socket Set (3/8 and 1/4 drive preferred)
Metric Hex Key Set
Optional: Metric Combination Wrenches
Vice Grips
Phillips Screwdriver
Grease
Skunk2 Short Shifter

PART A: The Interior
So the first step, before you jack up the car is to do all the interior bits first.

Remove the center console 3 screws on each side.


Remove your gear knob. Its threaded on like a nut, so just turn it.


Pull apart your center console from between forward and rear portions.


Pull the front portion out, be careful with the front section where the cup holder/pocket is.


You should be left with something like this.


Now remove the rubber boot from the chassis and shifter. Flip it up from the outside as shown. Careful with taking it off, any rips will net a trip to your nearest Honda dealer for parts.

Continued in the next post...

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PART B: Under the car
Please use Jackstands or Ramps to elevate the car, Temporary Jacks are exactly what there called, TEMPORARY. The way I did it was to drop the exhaust; some people prefer to take the whole linkage out, but I had my rear bumper off anyway to clean out all the caked up sand and dirt up there.

First I used a temporary jack to lift up the exhaust by the resonator, just to take some of the pressure off the rubber hangers



Slide the rubber hangers off the mounts. You might need to remove the left rear wheel.


You can leave the exhaust resting on the LCAs.


Time to get dirty... First loosen the shift linkage from the shifter.


Now Loosen the two 8mm nuts, you won't be able to get them off as you'll soon see.


Now remove the two 10mm bolts, at this point the other linkage will drop. If its stuck there, just tap it a bit and it'll come down.


Heres why that 8mm nut wouldn't come off...


Gentle vise-grips on the two flat sides fixes that problem.


Now that the shifter is out, you can take the retainer plate off. Be careful not to tear the rubber boot. Wetting the rubber boot helps with easing it off.


Now take the rubber boot off the shifter, go slow again wetting it helps.


Comparison of the OEM single bend vs Skunk2 Dual Bend


Spread some grease on the ball. Don't forget some lube on the inside of the rubber boot too .


Slide the boot onto the shifter.


Since were out from under the car, prep the new Skunk2 bolt with 2 of the rubber washers from the OEM shifter (it should help protect the bearing from the elements). This is the order I installed it in. The spacer on the top is only used for DC2 applications.

PART C: Finishing up

Back to the shifter, put the retainer plate back on the boot. It only bolts up one way, its also a good time to make sure your shifter is facing the right way ~ leaning toward the back.


Bolt up the 8mm nuts with the vise-grips.


Bolt up the 10mm bolts, and slide the Skunk2 bolt into the shifter with all the hardware shown before.


Tighten down the nylon locknut with a deep socket and hex key (Combination wrenches work too, but I'm lazy). After that slip all the exhaust hangers back on.


Lower the car, and jump in and put the rubber boot back on. Try it out, make sure theres no binding. It will be stiffer than what your used too, this is due to the solid bearings on the Skunk2 piece.

Now, just put all the center console pieces back on, reverse how you took them out.

Final Thoughts: The Skunk2 piece is heavy and solid. The weight should aid in the shifting, quality is pretty top notch. Also I've never heard of any Skunk2 shifters snapping like those eBay no named ones.


Enjoi.

[LowEk]

+1 man nice work.

[kenske]

great work man, subscribed for when i get my skunk2 shifter from the states!

[Red_EG4]

Nice DIY. How much are the SKunk2 shifters worth?
When I put my short shifter in I was lucky enough to know the owner of a wheel and tyre shop so we put it on the hoist and didn't even drop the exhaust, just worked around it.
One thing I experienced with my install was it is easy to over tighten the bolt connecting the shifter to the linkage. So I suggest you check the feel of the shifter before putting the exhaust back on and packing all your gear up.
Dual bend looks good, well done.

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I've got another one ~ check my for sale thread.

[chchchino]

One thing I experienced with my install was it is easy to over tighten the bolt connecting the shifter to the linkage. So I suggest you check the feel of the shifter before putting the exhaust back on and packing all your gear up.

How did you over tighten it? The bottom of the shifter comes with bearing and i have no problem to tighten it. If its the feeling that is hard; that's because short shifter feeling and you're not use to it.

This great DIY +1

[Red_EG4]

How did you over tighten it? The bottom of the shifter comes with bearing and i have no problem to tighten it. If its the feeling that is hard; that's because short shifter feeling and you're not use to it.

This great DIY +1

I've had the shifter in for months now, and it was over tightened by the guy I had helping me. Any bolt can be over tightened.

I've got another one ~ check my for sale thread.

Thanks, I was just curious about pricing. Short Shifters certainly aren't cheap. But you get what you pay for.

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But you get what you pay for.

+1 on that. plenty of stories about people snapping shoddy shifters, pretty sure i wont break this one . on a related note, the EK OEM single bend is slightly longer than the EG OEM single bend .

[chchchino]

I've had the shifter in for months now, and it was over tightened by the guy I had helping me. Any bolt can be over tightened.

Make sense. I got mine installed by DIY too, the feeling is stiff, is that over tighten? How to check if it is?

[LowEk]

the bottom of the shifter as you can see in this pic. that bolt and nut you dont tighten the shit out of as your shifter wont move. thats why they give you a (cant remember the name of the nut) the one with plastic in it so it doesnt move no matter if its tight or loose. i found this out when i did my shifter afew weeks ago.

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+1 Its called nylon lock nut, LowEk