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FK8 Acuity Shifter Upgrades

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252
Have any of you on here fitted any of the Acuity shifter upgrades? I haven’t fitted mine yet but I want to know how hard they are to fit and if there’s a marked improvement?
 
Easy to do, and yes. I take it you mean the bushes at the end of the gear cables in the bay?
 
The parts i’m referring to are the Centring spring upgrade, Shifter rocker upgrade and Shifter base bushing upgrade. They are in the centre console, I’ve got a guide to do it and a video which makes it look fairly straight forward but I wondered if any one here has done it.
 
I gotta ask chaps....why? It's one of the best shifters on the planet already, regardless of price bracket. What do these upgrades do?
 
Any crisper and Gary linekar will be advertising it! Fair enough though....but good luck with any future gear box claim I guess.

I read the Americans do it to make it more 'mechanical'...so maybe it makes the right fast and furious noise
 
It doesn't change the shift between gears but it gives a more positive feel engaging the gears. Less springy, makes it feel less likely to miss a gear.
 
Well the OEM Shifter is good but it could be better. I think my 17 year old DC5 had a better throw and feel. The FK8 feels a little loose or springy by comparison. May be in noticing it more than others as I have only driven my EP3 and DC5 for the past 17 years where as others have been driving other makes and models?
 
Ha, just noticed this is for the FK8 :p Ignore my Ep3 input

i've heard the same from the civicx guys as your experiences.
i'm debating whether to do it on my fk2; gearbox side and if i can get fitment confirmed, the shifter base bushes.
 
The gearbox on the fk2/8 has to handle more torque so heavier, over assisted etc so guess it's not as crisp as the rifle bolt ep3/dc
 
On my old EK9 used to happily flat shif all day long, can't do that on the FK8 so no not as slick. The EP3 had a better gear shift position but no better than the EK9 or DC5.
 
So in case anyone is curious I finally did the Aquity shifter upgrades. I changed the centre spring the rocker and base bushings. I also got the Aquity Poco gear knob which acts like a short shifter as it’s lower than the OEM gear knob due to the countersunk design.

My verdict is both the gear knob and shifter upgrades are worth doing. I fitted the gear knob first and drove the car for a week, the shift feels better than OEM.

Fitting the shifter upgrades is quite a long process as you have to remove the Center console to access everything. I think it took about 5 hours from start to finish. If I had to do it again it would be quicker as I now know the best way to take it all apart and the videos on YouTube and Acquity’s website don’t show a few of the steps that apply to the Type R GT.

I would say that the shifter upgrades aren’t a revelation as the Type R already has a very good shifter however the Aquity parts make the throw and gear selection sharper and more positive but most noticing smoother with pretty much none of the slightly spongy feel I would sometimes get before fitting these parts.

They also do a shifter cable bushing upgrade for about £70 but this requires quite a bit of disassembly under the bonnet to fit them. They make quite a big difference according to those who have changed them in the states.

For the price (£170 IIRC) I’m happy with the improvements. I’d like to try the full short shifter assembly but for £499.99 I’m not sure it’s worth it for a daily driver.
 
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I've got the full short shifter installed, with shifter cable bushings too.

I'd reccomend both; The short shifter can be a little stiff off center, but you should get used to it. (@redcap, the centering spring on the short shifter is about 25% stiffer than the upgrade IIRC) - I've set the rest up to be near OEM with just a small reduction in spacing / throw so it's not too wild.

Skunk2 knob for completion :D

If anyone wants to try it, feel free to send me a message - I'm sure something can be arranged post-end of the world. (I'm around Essex) - But bear in mind, half of the point is the adjustability - It's easy to completely transform the feel to whatever you prefer.
 
I've got the full short shifter installed, with shifter cable bushings too.

I'd reccomend both; The short shifter can be a little stiff off center, but you should get used to it. (@redcap, the centering spring on the short shifter is about 25% stiffer than the upgrade IIRC) - I've set the rest up to be near OEM with just a small reduction in spacing / throw so it's not too wild.

Thanks for the info! I bet it feels miles better from the OE shifter! even when you set it up close to OE specs.

Did you fit the cable bushings yourself? Did you have any problems and how long did it the installation take? I'm quite keen to change them but I'm a bit wary of doing it myself due to the amount of disassembly required.
 
Yes - Fitted myself.

They're really not that bad; Personally I managed to do it just by removing the airbox:- Some extra "fiddly" time was needed, but definitely far easier than taking apart the charge pipes et al. - In all, took me just over an hour - I'm sure I could've rushed it and completed a bit faster, but I'd rather take the time to do it properly!

(I did have practice from doing it on a previous car, but that was a 1.4 9G with a fair bit more space above the transmission!)
 
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