Above: 8th Gen Shifter shown from right side
After developing many other shifting related upgrades for 8th Gen Civic, designing a performance shifter seemed like the next logical step. After about 6 months of testing, we’ve moved to production on our new design. We wanted to take a moment to share a little info on this new product.
Initial stages of design involved culling through forums and talking to local 8th Gen owners, looking for the Pros and Cons of the stock shifter as well as other shifter upgrades that were available at the time. This wasn’t the first time we’d designed a shifter, so there were already a lot of features we knew we wanted to include in this unit. Among those features was an unparalleled level of adjustability, so that each driver could tweak every aspect of the shifter to suit their own preference. Ultimately, what we developed was a durable, versatile shifter that is simple enough to allow an affordable price, so you can have your race car without eating ramen noodles for a month.
Above: 8th Gen Shifter shown from above
The shifter’s frame is constructed from TIG welded, powder coated, 1000 Series steel. The lower pivot point features chrome plated all-steel construction, and the upper pivot (where the shift lever mounts) is machined from 6061-T6 aluminum. Both pivots feature oil-impregnated bronze bushings pivoting on hard-chrome plated steel shafts for maximum wear resistance and quiet operation. Shift throw adjustment is achieved using two threaded cable attachment pins, meaning fine tweaks can be made to shift throw, allowing you to pin point the exact throw that suits you. Each attachment pin features a wear-resistant delrin pivot cap for sturdy, quite operation. Dual extension springs replace the OEM style torsion centering spring for better centering action and a less “sloppy” feel. The front/back throw and left/right throw can be adjusted independently and figures for throw reduction are shown below:
Pre ’09 8th Gen Civic Si:
-front/back adjustable from 80%-48% stock throw (20%-52% reduction)
-left/right adjustable from 83%-47% stock throw (17%-53% reduction)
’09+ 8th Gen Civic Si:
-front/back adjustable from 87%-52% stock throw (17%-48% reduction)
-left/right adjustable from 90%-49% stock throw (10%-51% reduction)
Beyond simple throw reduction, we have built in a feature that many 8th Gen owners have long desired but never had: shift knob height adjustment. Our simple single-bolt height adjustment design (borrowed from our popular k-swap shifters) allows the knob to be adjusted higher or lower than stock (within a 1.5″ total range) with only a 5mm allen wrench. Now you can tweak the shifter’s throw AND knob position independently until the shifter functions exactly the way you want it to.
Above: 8th Gen Shifter shown with Performance Shifter Cables and OEM e-brake assembly
This shifter is designed so that base bushings are not needed, meaning there’s no need to spend extra money on solid shifter base bushings. The shifter is compatible with OEM 8th Gen cables, or our performance 8th Gen cables (click here to check out those cables!). Last but not least, this shifter will work on both the base model R18 platform, as well as the Si’s K20 platform.
Last but not least, here’s a video we made back when we were testing the shifter. It sheds a little light on the sort of abusive testing that this shifter went through as we developed it.
We currently expect the first production run of these shifters to be in stock sometime from late July to early August.
~russ
Hybrid Racing R&D