As most of you know, I am doing a massive bolt on party here in the next two weeks when vacation time rolls around. I've bought all the parts needed and one part I bought was the Tanabe Sustec transmission Brace. I was going to go with a full Nismo Mount setup, but decided against it due to uncertainty of fitment issues. The route I decided to go was with my stock mounts filled with polyurethane and an upgraded transmission mount to take all the slop and flop out of the shifter.
I bought the piece from Phase2Motortrend for like 104 bucks plus shipping. Included with it is a yellow/green transmission insert, new metal bushing for the shifter, and an aluminum counter weight for the shifter itself. Plus the ultra cool and all important Tanabe Stickers
Since I am kinda lazy, it was hot, I hate sweating, and I am in Ohio and I am scared of cicada's, I didn't put in the insert yet. I just installed the bushing and counter weight. It took me all of about 10 minutes to do this part of the install. Again, hardest part is getting that C-clip off the shifter.
I had a left over shifter from a previous transmission, so I just used that one. First thing is to pry off the old crappy plastic bushing at the bottom of the shifter. Then drop the new Tanabe metal bushing into the transmission. It does not snap onto the shifter itself, rather slipping into it when the bushing is in the transmission. Put the c-clip back on and then the rubber boot. Next grab the counter weight and with a 5mm allen wrench install the collar around the shifter. It is indented to fit up onto the larger part of the shifter lever. Reinstall the outer boot and put it all back together. That's it!
I knew immediately this thing was awesome. I could grab the shifter, give it a shake, and it was very tight. A LOT of the slop was gone out of it. Then I started up the car, and a lot of the floppage was gone from the shifter too. Shifting is much more precise now when driving around. If you are using a heavier knob, there will still be some shaking in the shifter, that's physics. But if you use a lighter knob more of the shaking will be gone, but you will get a bit more harshness felt through the shifter. Also there is a bit more vibration coming through the lever, but nothing that is intolerable. Overall I am very satisfied with this upgrade, and highly recommend it to cure sloppy shifting. I couldn't even begin to imagine this system tied to a better shifter like the Nismo, B&M, C's, or even the OBX ones.
Again, HIGHLY recommended product. I can't wait to get the mount itself installed and my motor mounts filled. Then my hotpipe can stop slapping my hood on startup
Joe
