My shift cable is broken on my 98 prelude. Should I spend $600 at the shop ($350 for the part, $250 labor)?

I have never replaced one, but I have the helms manual and it doesn't look very complex. Is this a difficult repair? Would anyone recommend for or against attempting to do this myself?

Does anyone know of any instructions online on how to do this? I searched the forums already, but I'm not great at searching so I may have missed it. I appreciate any advice you guys might have.

I don't have $600 and I don't want to take out a loan : (

 

If you have the helms and you are somewhat mechanically inclined you'll be fine. I would also search the board for a used one... they typically go for under $200 used. I may even have one laying around if you want me to look for you.

Basically you will do this:

Jack the car up

Remove the cotter pins from the tranny.

Remove the Metal Clips from the 3 bolt aluminum shift cable plate. You can remove the 3 12mm bolts but this big plate just gets in the way... plus you'll need this for the new cables.

Go under the car and remove the cat. Also you may want to remove a few rubber exhaust hangers to let the rear of the exhaust hang down to access the cables a little better. Use wd40 on the rubber hangers to slide them off easier and also use a flathead screw driver. Remove the misc 10mm bolts holding the exhaust heat shield.

Remove your center console and shift boot.

Remove the other clips that hold the cables on the shift plate and then there is a cotter pin holding one bolt and a 10mm holding the other bolt in tact. Remove those and the install is the same... just backwards.

 

Would this procedure be the same for the 4th gen?