Okay, so as some may know, I have recently entered the Honda world by buying a 1993 Del Sol. It came with a half-assed manual swap (hence the thread title, more on that later) that I have spent the last 3 weeks trying to un-****, among other issues. So far, I have done the following:

1. Raised the suspension (it was slammed like a ****)
2. Rewired the reverse lights to work off an unused auto component (Link to thread with instructions to do this; easier than you might think.)
3. Pulled a broken-off connector piece out of the speed sensor to plug in the connector that I at first thought was just the wrong kind
4. Tracked down a short in the brake circuit (it was a shitty wired-in connector to illuminate the brakes from a tow vehicle)
5. Replaced the T-bracket because mine was the wrong kind and made the engine misaligned in the bay (Link)

And now, the present predicament in this parade of precarious pitfalls from the prior proprietor that pisses me off: the pissing shift linkage!

​​​​​So, putting the new T-bracket on revealed this issue to me when my girlfriend and I hopped in the car to finally take it on a drive longer than to the grocery store and back. I couldn't move the shift lever to the left to put it in 1st or 2nd. I had no reason to think it was the transmission itself, so I begrudgingly picked the car back up and had my girlfriend try to move the shifter to the left. Sure enough, the shift linkage was hitting the frame of the car, so probably a good chance that, like the T-bracket, this shift linkage is from the wrong donor car.

At least I can see how to fix this, and it won't be near as god-awful as replacing the T-bracket, but **** me sideways, I hope my next post talking about how I replaced it and it working is my last post on this thread. If it isn't, I'm gonna start using this thread to document all of the half-assed crap the prior owner did that I ended up having to fix because they didn't know how to properly swap an auto for a manual (excluding minor things, like the dashboard saying PRNDD21).

I hope my suffering can bring some insight or inspiration to some new Del Sol owners. If not, I hope it will at least entertain some people.

 

Del Sol DOHC shift linkage is unique and fits no other application. Finding a set can be quite challenging. New OE linkage has been discontinued... if you can actually find a set, they will be incredibly expensive.

 

Well, it is a SOHC D16, so here's hoping it won't be too terribly difficult in that sense. I've seen a couple on ebay, but I get what you're saying.

If, god forbid, I can't find the right thing, are there any alternatives? Have people gotten them fab'd before?

 

SOHC linkage is the same issue... it only fits the Del Sol tunnel. This will be more common to find though. I am unaware of any alternatives short of custom fabrication.

 

Alright, I got a bar of 14 gauge steel bent into a "U" shape to mount between the exhaust tunnel and the shifter bracket to clear the left throw of the shift linkage, and it actually works surprisingly well. Got a few 8mm bolts and nuts to hold everything together. I still need to get the proper linkage for the long term, but I bet this mounting bracket will last as long as it needs to, and for $20 worth of materials and 2 hours of work, I couldn't ask for a better solution.

Basically, I just reamed out two of the holes in the steel to fit the shifter bushing piece and bent the steel into shape using cut off pieces, pliers, and bolts to make clean bends, dropping the shift linkage about 1.5". After making sure the bolts would go through the bushing and the bracket, I drilled holes in the exhaust tunnel to match wherever the bracket fell to make the shifter align in the most natural position. Even shifting feels better, and reverse used to be a bitch to shift into, but it shifts much easier now.

Disclaimer: those fucked up cuts in the frame came with the car; not my doing.

 

It’s gonna get hot in there (queue Nelly) with that hole in the tunnel. Best get some aluminum sheet and fab a cover for the hole. Get it sealed up as best you can. Otherwise, nice hack.

 

Funny enough, she did come with a thin sheet of aluminum with a hole cut in it for the shifter, just wasn't secured to the car yet. Well, those two bolts will be a start. Now time to get some RTV and some rivets.

On a separate note, got the car up to 100 mph today. Wheels definitely need an alignment, but at least it's fairly stable, and not unbalanced.