Before I buy another shift linkage just to see if it works, I have a 2000 Civic EX w/ a GSR swap. I always do all my own work but I recently bought the car already swapped. The shifter is extremely tight. I'm getting used to it but it's defintely not normal, takes some effort & hard to shift.
It naturally rests more to the right hand side & the further I go right i.e 5th & reverse gear can be a bitch.. Upon initial inspection, everything seems to be bolted up fine. It appears there's aftermarket bushings installed.

With all things considered, does anyone have any suggestions. I know eventually I'm going to unbolt & see if I notice anything out of the ordinary but is it possible it's the wrong linkage? Will a D-series linkage or anything else thats not compatible fit onto a B-series trans but still work & give these symptons?

Again, shifter is more to the right
Shifter is very tight/stiff
Very hard to put in 5th (When in 5th it's really far right)
Aftermarket bushings...everything looks okay underneath so far

Possible wrong linkage?

PS. Will both EM1 & 94-01 Integra linkage work for EK coupes? For some reason I have this thought in the back of my head that your supposed to use EM1 linkages for EK coupes.

THANKS

 

i dont think its possibly for a d series linkage to fit a b series, if there are after market bushings installed the previous owner could have just overtightened everything

when i installed my es bushings i overtighted everything the first time around, i had symptoms like yours, loosened them up, and it shifts as smooth as butter now.

not sure if this is your problem, but its a start i suppose

 

Do you just mean the 2 bolts that hold the shifter part of the linkage up to the car or ?
Was your shifter also more so to the right from being over tightened? If so, this sounds promising & will attempt to loosen things up ASAP.

 

on the rear poly bushing, are the metal sleeves inserted? There should be 2 metal sleeves the the holes where the bolts go through.

 

You know I am having a similar issue w/ my setup. I bought a LS/VTEC swap from a EG and it came w/ the shift linkage that fit his car. I don't know if I need to buy an SI linkage for my 2000 EX or what? It is hard to get into gear sometimes. And when I rev the engine up to the rev limit, it acts like it wants to grind going into gear.

 

csulliva, can you show me on a diagram & I'll take a look..? If you can't find one, I'll post one up when I'm back from work.

 

Are you talking about # 10 on this diagram?
http://www.acuraoemparts.com/d...ch=no

 

Make sure both part #9's are inserted into bushing #16.

 

csulliva has a good point there, make sure the metal sleeves are in there.

about the bushings being tight though - mine didnt sit more to the right when it was overtightened, it was just harder to get into the gears on that side, 5th and reverse especially.

[edit] the bolts you are gonna want to check are 24, 25, any maybe even 28

 

Thanks guys I'll be checking all of the above & let you know how I made out.

 

Tomorrow I'll be dropping the linkage to see what's going on but as an update, tonight as I was driving home from work it seemed like all of the sudden the shifter started loosening up, how it should feel.
I guess it broke free & something must have been binding. I still need to find out why it's sitting more to the right though.
I'll update tomorrow.

 

you may be low on tranny fluid...

my car kinda does the same thing when it is low on tranny fluid...it hard to get into 5th gear and sometimes grinds when i try to force it...only in 5th gear though.

 

Since, you just bought it, you should service the tranny anyways. Who knows when the last owner did it. Check the bushings, make sure the linkage isn't bent. Sounds like it might be bent or worst case, bent on the tranny or other issues within the tranny.

 

I already checked the tranny fluid & it seemed at level & the fluid pretty clean but thanks. I most likely will change it down the line but I'm confident it's not the culprit.

The shift linkage doesn't appear to be bent.

I did however take things apart & experiment & lead me to the shifter bushing's itself. #23, 5 & 4 area. I loosened it up & immediately noticed a difference shifting gears underneath the car. So I figured out why the shifter was so tight but still wondered why the shifter was more so to the right.

If you noticed in the diagram, the majority of the bushings/washers etc are more to the left hand side (or driver side) & on my car it was opposite. I tried taking pictures but my camera was dead so I'll try tomorrow but it appears that I might not have all the bushings/washers in the diagram. It also looks like there is an aftermarket shifter because as far as I know, OEM is black & this was silver.
I couldn't tell which way the bend was (single bend) & swapped it around but it's still more to the right. Basically, 1st is where 3rd is etc. The shifter feels 100% better though & I can go threw all the gears effortlessly now.

So I'm assuming the problem lies in the shifter bushings/washers. If anyone has any pics of underneath the car, of the shifter it might help. I'll be taking some tomorrow but for now I'm happy & the car is easy to drive. It being more to the right is more of an eye soar but shifting is a lot better.



Modified by HatchSpeeD at 12:46 AM 4/7/2008

 

I'm new, but I was reading and I have a quick side question... I just installed the energy suspension bushings on my 2000 lx. I just hand tightened them all snug on the installation, the front bushing (tranny-side) I tightened untill a some of the lube squeezed out, and the back side just a little past the lock-washers snugging flat, (and I did swap the metal sleeved before installing).

Is it easy to overtighten the three bolts involved in the job? I so far don't have any problems getting into gear, I do notice a "clickier" feel, like the shifter snaps into the gear positions.

I have always had a small issue getting it into reverse (I have to put into first sometimes like I'm "resetting the synchros" then it slides right into reverse), any tips on that?

Thanks for your help and replies, BTW, after changing the bushings I noticed no change in the position of the shifter at all. I just did the swap this past friday, drove it around all day saturday (lot's o' clutchin' and shiftin' in town), with no complaints.

 

Your fine