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1G too much play in my shifter

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StarFawkes

10+ Year Contributor
325
2
Mar 27, 2012
Wahiawa, Hawaii
Hey guys, my car will be on the road next weekend and I'm trying to address all the small problems that still persist before I get out driving it and they cause real problems. One thing that I really can't find a good solution to is my shifter. It wobbles on the pivot points and the action is just terrible altogether. I've searched for bushings and the like but it always brings up the stuff I don't need.

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I bought this POS off eBay hoping that it will tighten it up; I like the stock height so if it ends up helping I'm probably going to use the stock stick. If anyone knows what I'm talking about and can suggest any fixes please chime in.
 
The OEM bushings on the 2g are terrible in my opinion. They're flimsy, much too thin, almost looks like a woven metal mesh. Turns out, they don't take wear too well.. Go figure.
 
I did the coke bottle trick today, cleaned all surfaces real nice, and lubed everything up with penzoil synchromesh I had laying around. I had previously lubed it with brake caliper lube and I think that's why it started feeling horrible.

It feels super nice! I received my shifter base bushings today, but they sent me the wrong ones. I went with torque solution brand they're made of aluminum and anodized black.
 
I did the coke bottle trick today, cleaned all surfaces real nice, and lubed everything up with penzoil synchromesh I had laying around. I had previously lubed it with brake caliper lube and I think that's why it started feeling horrible.

It feels super nice! I received my shifter base bushings today, but they sent me the wrong ones. I went with torque solution brand they're made of aluminum and anodized black.

i bought the same ones today! hope the work out :thumb:
 
I just ghetto rigged it, like only a millimeter play. I used rollers for the GS pinsetter at work. Lol.
 
Well well, after messing with my shifter trying to tighten things up I found out I have the awesome in the middle 91 shifter. Mitsu did something real fun here. The 90 shifter base is just that a 90, but starting for 91 model year all the way through Oct 1991 they shifter base is technically half 90/ half 92-94 as it share components from each of those shifter bases. So a June 90 build date through Oct 91 build date cars have their own shifter base...yeahhhh.

But how do you know your 91 from a 91.5 - 94 base? I happened to have a 90 base to compare and the inside diameter of this hole measured the same on both select levers (15.5mm). See attached. I don't have a 92-94 base to measure so feel free to chime in. What really tipped me off was I was using a good set of 92-94 bushings and it still felt so sloppy.

Since the majority of 1g DSM are proll 90-91s this is proll the majority bushing that would be needed to tighten things up. Hopes this helps out. I have reached out to RTM to see if they still sell those brass bushings, hope to hear back from them.
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Well well, after messing with my shifter trying to tighten things up I found out I have the awesome in the middle 91 shifter. Mitsu did something real fun here. The 90 shifter base is just that a 90, but starting for 91 model year all the way through Oct 1991 they shifter base is technically half 90/ half 92-94 as it share components from each of those shifter bases. So a June 90 build date through Oct 91 build date cars have their own shifter base...yeahhhh.

But how do you know your 91 from a 91.5 - 94 base? I happened to have a 90 base to compare and the inside diameter of this hole measured the same on both select levers (15.5mm). See attached. I don't have a 92-94 base to measure so feel free to chime in. What really tipped me off was I was using a good set of 92-94 bushings and it still felt so sloppy.

Since the majority of 1g DSM are proll 90-91s this is proll the majority bushing that would be needed to tighten things up. Hopes this helps out. I have reached out to RTM to see if they still sell those brass bushings, hope to hear back from them.
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Mitsubishi has no records of there being a mid-year 1991 base lever, nor have I ever seen one.

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Those are the two 1G levers that they made/have and the production dates. Of course, there have been people who find that the previous owner of their car have swapped things around (especially if they tried to install a 90 transmission in a 91-94 or the reverse scenario), but those are the two choices/production dates. This encompasses all variations of the 1G cars.

The shifter base itself utilizes the same production dates:
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I'm guessing that you're basing this off of the listing for the bushing itself which they listed slightly differently. For what reason, I cannot attest to. Most likely this occurs due to them changing suppliers, a mistake (uncommon but not unheard of by Mitsubishi..), or just the fact that both bushings will work as the measurement is the same, but they decided that the harder bushing (later) was better suited for the material:

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You can technically use either bushing, but we typically just use the MB580253 on the 90s, and MB367320 on the 91-94 as the 91-94 all use the same components (lever/base).

Hope this clears this up a little better.
 
Did you also replace the cup bushing when you replaced the rest of the bushings on the shifter (the other bushing that goes on the base lever--MB307949 (90-94))?
 
I wasn't eluding to 3 different bushings just that not all 91-94 use the newer style bushings even though the armature looks like it is 91-94 (which your caps pic shows), it is the ID that is different in the armatures.

What bushings? I hand made all steel bushings, why replace the old cheap plastic with new cheap plastic, metal > plastic. Hint I used block to head dowels.

Car shifts amazing, the shifter is so tight, but I do have skate bearing up front and a short throw shifter, so between the 3 mods....it's a close to click shifting you can get in a DSM.
 
I wasn't eluding to 3 different bushings just that not all 91-94 use the newer style bushings even though the armature looks like it is 91-94 (which your caps pic shows), it is the ID that is different in the armatures.

What bushings? I hand made all steel bushings, why replace the old cheap plastic with new cheap plastic, metal > plastic. Hint I used block to head dowels.

Car shifts amazing, the shifter is so tight, but I do have skate bearing up front and a short throw shifter, so between the 3 mods....it's a close to click shifting you can get in a DSM.

That's the part I'm missing in your post--the lower link levers come in *only* two types. 90 and 91-94. They both use the same bushing size, it's just a difference in the material used. There isn't a "3rd" ID lower link lever that was used/produced.
 
When I got my 1g, the shifter was horrendous to the 10th degree. I replaced all the old plastic worn out bushings and installed solid bushings for the shifter base. It still felt loose. So...

Mine was missing the shift lever shoe on the shifter bracket on the trans. Installed that.
The shifter was still sloppy, better, but still sloppy.
Because it was driven with a sloppy shifter for God know how long, the shifter assembly was worn down. I used the soda bottle trick where it had excess play.
I also cleaned and lubed the shifter bracket on the trans which helped the smoothness.

I had the shifter assembly apart at least 5 times before I was satisfied.
Good luck!
 
I used milk jug plastic to help my 90 shifter on parts that I couldn't find then finally found a decent 90 shifter and swapped them out as mine was so wore out also. I put new bushings in where I could too.
 
Did you replace all 6 bushings and the cup bushing at the base of the shifter?

If you move the shifter, you should be able to see which part (or parts) has the play in them. Let me know what you see and I'll see if I can point you in the right direction.

Unless you've worn a bushing down to the point where you have metal-on-metal contact, there shouldn't be any wear on the metal parts, and replacing all of the bushings *should* have the shifter feeling like new again.
 
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