Festivic SS shifter

[BigElCat]

I'll snap some pics of the stock nylon donuts and the retainer spring set up.

When you cut the retainer spring down, and use the Civic/Integra shifter in the stock donuts, it is supported as well, and functions as well, as the original.

Using the Civic nylon socket just seemed to be a step up (at least in my thinking). I'll compare the two systems side by side. I can't do it right now though, I left some pieces at work.

Here's my latest progress. The Festivic in it's unpainted glory.

I'm momentarily fancying myself to be Babe Ruth, pointing over the fence...she's going right there boys...right there...

[bobbyspider]

I have a civi short shift and I hate it. I have always hated short sifters, it just seems like it actually makes it harder to shift and it seems more difficult to tell if I'm in gear... Idk it's just my opinion. The only reason I put it ih is because before I fixed my linkage on my bp car the shifter would have to be shoved into the drivers seat to get into first. And now even after fixing the linkage and installing the shifter it still is to close to the seat for me.

[BigElCat]

The dialogue has become tiresome...it's time for a joke:

Back in the Old West, some folks were riding along in a passenger coach pulled by a steam locomotive. A band of robbers stormed in, and the first one announced, "My name is Jesse James; I'm going to rob all the men and kiss all the women."

A good old boy, sitting next to wife, spoke and said, "Jesse, you can have my money, but I cain't let you kiss my wife."

And his wife said, "Honey, you hush up and let Mr. James rob this train.":p

[BigElCat]

Progress on the Festivic,

I discovered the inner races on the roller bearings would not fit tight on any common bolt. 8mm and 5/16" were both to small. What's a roller bearing good for, if the inner race spins? Nothing IMHO. So I turn the original shift linkage bolt down to seat the inner races. In so doing, I lost the bolt step that prevented the ears on the linkage from pinching together. I subsequently boxed the linkage ears so they are rigid.

[BigElCat]

The box in will hopefully clear the bottom of the support arm/socket assembly in all gears. If not I'll have to do some mods.

The stock Festiva shifter has merits. The two nylon donuts are allowed to spread apart. When the lever reaches the end of it's travel, the top donut rides up slightly, under pressure from the retaining spring. This acts as a shock absorber. The Civic design is stationary...it retains its geometric relationship to the transmission more firmerly than the stock Festiva lever.

Which is better? I'm sure hoping I like the Festivic once it's installed.

[BigElCat]

It's been 7 weeks, what about the Festivic?

I went to install the Festivic, and could not get it thru the hole in the floor pan.

I reinstalled the stock shifter support arm and shifter housing, but used the new shifter linkage and U joints. I used a Civic short-throw shifter in the stock housing. You may notice in the pics that I have two nearly identical Civic short throw shifters. The only visible difference is the location of the grease zerk.

A current view from the inside:

Overall, I think I'm going like the short Civic. I can't honestly compare it to a stock shifter with good bushings, because I never drove one of these.

The short shift throw front to back is really great, the increase in effort and feel is really cool, IMHO. This thing as it is now, has no slop. The side to side pattern, ie 1 3 5, is really narrow. I currently run a 4-speed, and when I move up to a 5, consistently finding 3rd maybe an issue.

I'm thinking beyond the Festivic, that maybe a custom build with a modded stock shifter would be better.

But I'm going to finish the Festivic, just to see how divorcing the shifter geometry from the floor pan works out. In order to understand what I mean about "divorced geometry", wait til my write up is done. I'll explain as I go.

One other impression about the aluminum Civic shifter; it gets really warm from the exhaust system. Not hot enough to be uncomfortable, but very noticeably warm.

[BigElCat]

Here's the new Festivic support arm. It has a 1/2" connector nut welded in place, and a little bit above the stock Civic tail.

Here's the way it was:

This bolt and rear rubber mount will not only keep the shifter from dropping out, it also serves as the only engine/tranny rock limiter on a Festiva.

Maybe ya'll already realize this. The stock Festiva shifter set up also anchors the engine/tranny from flopping fowards and back, when the motor is under load and the load is released by activating the clutch.

All motors work this way. We hot rodders have to anchor the motors with solid motor mounts, or interlocking motor mounts. The side ways motor in the Festiva presents a problem on how to achor it. You'd have run a cable to the radiator support, and even then this wouldn't be strong enough.

The Mazda engineers decided to anchor the motor using the rubber bushings in the shifter support arm.

On the Festivic, I have solid UHMW bushing on the front of the shifter support arm. This is part of my 'divorced geometry' theory. My shifter is going to follow the tranny as it rocks back and forth. I guess this would be integrated geometry, divorced from the floor pan.

As the stock Festiva support arm anchors the motor from flopping, it also changes its relationship to the shifter linkage. The ball on the shift lever 'floats' slightly, relative to the shifter linkage. This 'floating' may be negligible. As long as your not missing gears when you shift, it's nothing to worry about. But I'm curious to see how maintaining this shifter assembly geometry is going to feel.

I will have to anchor the Festivic support arm in some kind of controlled way. Maybe a urethane donut?

I will be installing it soon. But not today. End of chapter.

[BigElCat]

Quick update:

I've been running my modified shifter linkage and the short throw Civic shifter in the stock Festiva stabilizer arm. The bronze oil bushings in the linkage, combined with the ball bearings in the shifter, create a 'microphone' effect. The aluminum shift lever amplifies and radiates significant vibration noise.

The noise sometimes sounds like the heat shield on the convert is loose. Sometimes it sounds like the speedometer cable is binding up. Sometimes it sounds a wheel bearing failure. Sometimes it sounds like all three at once. The noise sucks!

I'll either replace the bronze bushings with nylon, or else source a polyurethane bushing to replace the ball bearings in the shifter. I like the short throw shifter.

[festyfreak39]

This is awesome great engineering!

[BigElCat]

Thanks!

I was all like Babe Ruth pointing over the fence. Now, it's more like facepalm kity.jpg