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This is not meant as a definitive how-to, just a guideline of something I found that has worked quite well for me. Cheap & easy (unless you have rusty bolts!)
Okay, so each one of these cars that I've bought had a sloppy shifter. (An Mx-6 & 2-626) The RR Racing bushings work great for the trans end, but I couldn't find much for the shifter end. So, I devised this and thought I'd share.
At the end of the shifter lever itself are 2 white plastic bushings. They are available from Mazda for about $6 each. Well worth the money, they make a huge difference. Simply remove the bolt, pop out the bushing & replace them. The trickiest part is getting the spacer tube back in and still fitting the new bushings between the shift linkage forks.
The shift lever sits in a plate. That plate has a stabilizer bar forward to the transmission itself. The rear of that plate has a stud that is held in by a rubber bushing. Again, I couldn't find this as a poly bushing, so I bought a new one from Mazda at about $20. What follows here is a modification of that bushing to help to firm it up.
By the way, to replace these it makes life much easier if you remove the heat shield. Then remove the shifter rod bolt, then the rear bushing bolt. Then go inside the car and remove the 4 nuts that hold the shifter plate in the car.
So, picture 1 is the new bushing on the left and the old one on the right. Notice the nice collection of rust on the old one.
Picture 2 is both bolt tubes removed from the rubber bushings. They just slide out, although the rust may make it a little sticky. You will need to remove this bolt spacer to modify the bushing.
Picture 3 shows the new bushing with the ears that were cut off of the old one. Cut them straight off, right at the flat part of the body of the bushing. I just used a utility knife.
Picture 4 is the re-assembled new bushing just before installation. Squirt just a touch of WD-40 in the main hole to ease installation. We've filled in the gap above the hole where the shifter plate is held in. The bolt-tube end of the bushing is really the bottom of the bushing. The top of the bushing sits in a pocket & can't move. Now, the downward movement of the shift plate is kept in check by the extra rubber.
Picture 5 (sorry it's blurry) shows the bushing part-way back into it's slot. This is from the rear, looking forward & up.
For $32 give or take, these bushings really tighten up the shifter feel a ton. Take your time like I do, and this will be done in less than 2 hours.
Hope this helps!
Tim
EDIT: Moved the picture over to my photobucket account:
http://photobucket.com/albums/a51/tr...ushing_mod.jpg
Good job, dont stop keep em coming !
