---
title: 'How to Fix a Sloppy Shifter and Leaking Transmission'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=qB4oEicjm_k'
video_id: 'qB4oEicjm_k'
date: 2026-08-05
duration_sec: 1976
---

# How to Fix a Sloppy Shifter and Leaking Transmission

> Source: [How to Fix a Sloppy Shifter and Leaking Transmission](https://youtube.com/watch?v=qB4oEicjm_k)

## Summary

In this video, ChrisFix demonstrates how to fix a loose, sloppy shifter and repair a leaking transmission seal on a high-mileage car. He covers the entire process from diagnosis to final test drive, including replacing worn bushings, installing a new shifter, and addressing rust.

### Key Points

- **Introduction and Problem** [00:00] — ChrisFix introduces the video, showing a loose shifter with excessive play and a leaking transmission that has stained his driveway.
- **Measuring Shifter Play** [00:30] — He measures the shifter play at about 3 inches (8 cm) in fourth gear, demonstrating the severity of the sloppiness.
- **Under the Car: Cause of Play** [01:16] — Under the car, he identifies worn and dry-rotted bushings, a rusted bracket, and corrosion as the causes of the excessive play.
- **Tools and Products** [02:43] — He lists the necessary tools and products, including a new transmission seal, polyurethane bushings, a short throw shifter, and Honda manual transmission fluid.
- **Interior Removal** [04:08] — He removes the center console trim and shift knob to access the shifter assembly from inside the car.
- **Shifter Removal** [05:34] — Under the car, he removes the two bolts holding the shifter, carefully dealing with rust, and then removes the shifter assembly.
- **Removing Shift Linkage** [06:23] — He removes the shift linkage and the retaining clip, then uses a 7mm punch to drive out the spring pin, a trick to avoid damaging the pin.
- **Leaking Seal Exposed** [07:48] — With the linkage removed, he reveals the leaking shift seal and notes corrosion on the shaft that likely damaged the seal.
- **Draining Transmission Fluid** [08:40] — He drains the transmission fluid, emphasizing the importance of removing the fill bolt first, and notes the dark color indicating old fluid.
- **Replacing the Seal** [09:50] — He removes the old seal using pliers and a hammer, cleans the shaft with 1500-grit sandpaper, and installs the new seal with a socket.
- **Filling Transmission Fluid** [12:02] — He fills the transmission with Honda MTF, explaining that it has additives for synchros that regular motor oil lacks, and fills until fluid drips out.
- **Rust Removal and Painting** [13:27] — He removes rust from the undercarriage using a wire wheel, then applies rust encapsulating spray paint to prevent future corrosion.
- **Rebuilding the Shifter** [17:05] — He disassembles the shifter, finds excessive rust, and decides to use a junkyard shifter instead, which he cleans and rebuilds with new parts.
- **Choosing Quality Parts** [21:06] — He compares aftermarket shifters, showing that only a $100 shifter matches the OEM ball diameter of 35mm, while cheaper ones have 33mm, causing play.
- **Rebuilding and Installing Shifter** [22:18] — He installs the plastic cage, rubber boot, and poly bushings, using silicone grease to prevent squeaks and ensure smooth operation.
- **Reinstalling Shifter Assembly** [25:37] — He reinstalls the shifter assembly, torquing bolts to spec, and connects the linkage to the transmission, ensuring proper alignment.
- **Interior Reassembly** [28:11] — He reinstalls the rubber boots, cleans the interior, and replaces the torn leather shift boot with a new one, adapting it to fit the old bracket.
- **Test Drive and Results** [31:14] — After lowering the car, he demonstrates the improved shifter feel, measuring less than an inch (2 cm) of play, a huge improvement from the original 3 inches.

### Conclusion

The video successfully demonstrates how to fix a sloppy shifter and leaking transmission, resulting in crisp, direct shifts and a clean driveway. The key is replacing worn bushings, using quality parts, and addressing rust to prevent future issues.

## Transcript

Hey guys ChrisFix here and today I'm going to show  you how to fix your loose sloppy wet noodle of a   shifter that right there is not neutral that way  after you're done watching this video you'll be   able to get some nice direct crisp shifts and  I'm going to show you how to repair a leaking  
transmission which has leaked all over my once  clean driveway put a catch pan under here after I   figured it out and you could see it is leaking  a lot so I'm going to show you how to replace   a transmission seal to fix that that way our  driveway stays clean so let's get started now in  
this car and many high mileage cars your shifter  might feel a little loose and indirect this right   here is neutral if we go into first look at how  much play there is even if I lightly move side   to side there is a ton of play and that's in every  gear there's fourth there's fifth oh there's fifth  
you can see what I'm talking about is very sloppy  and because it's so sloppy it's hard to get into   every gear and know that you're in the correct  gear so I'm going to show you how to fix all   this sloppiness and so we could get an accurate  before and after let's get into fourth gear and  
now we could use a tape measure to measure from  one side of the play to the other side of the   play and we have about 3 in or just under 8 cm  of play which is a lot of play and no wonder this   car feels so bad to drive so let's go under the  car and I can show you why there's so much play  
in the shifter so let's get the car up on ramps  and then chalk off the wheels and now we're going   to lift the rear of the car with the jack and I  like to use a rubber jack pad so I don't damage   anything so lift the car up until she's level  like that and then get your jack stands under  
the car already set up the other jack stand on  the other side and now we can slowly drop the   car onto the jack stands like that beautiful and  I also like to raise the jack up so it's lightly   touching the frame just as backup so with the car  lifted up now I like to give it a good shake to  
make sure it doesn't budge and that is solid so  now let's go underneath all right so that way is   the front of the car so the oil pan is right  here this is the exhaust and then we have our   transmission and if you take a look you can see  this is leaking pretty good over here so we're  
going to replace the seal to fix this now these  right here are the transmission shift linkages   this connects the transmission to the shifter so  if we follow these long shift linkage rods all the   way to the middle of the car right over here it  brings us to our shifter so this is neutral first  
gear second gear and as I rode through the gears  look at how much play there is this is because   the bushings are old and dry rotted and because of  all this rust and you can see here this bracket is   completely rusted away this is what the bracket  should look like and without it you can see how  
much play there is and I'm not even pulling hard  so we're going to replace that bracket and we're   going to replace the rubber shifter bushing  with this poly bushing and that should help   tremendously also all this rust is definitely not  good so I'm going to show you how to go from this  
to this that way you could fix any rust on your  car as well and here's all the tools and products   you need to get this job done as always we're  using common hand tools and you can't forget   about your safety glasses product-wise we have  some thread locker we have a new transmission  
seal a new shifter boot because ours is all  torn up and we're going to be using Honda   manual transmission fluid which is very important  i'll explain more later we're also going to be   installing brand new polyurethane bushings and a  new shifter seat and this is also very important  
and to show you why here is an OEM rubber bushing  and here is an aftermarket polyurethane bushing   the rubber bushing has a lot of give a lot  of play could easily bend this and that is   going to make your shifts not feel as direct now  a polyurethane bushing is a lot harder it does not  
bend as easy so you're going to get more direct  crisp shifts and the last important part to get   good crisp shifts is our shifter we're going to be  installing this short throw shifter now I do have   a really nice spherical bearing fully adjustable  short throw shifter but this shifter costs more  
than I paid for this car and the whole point  of this build is for it to be budget friendly   it's so that you guys could replicate this in  your driveway and not spend a ton of money so   as much as I'd love to install this I'm going to  show you we could get amazing results with a more  
that rust and encapsulate it with a special spray  paint which means you either need a wire wheel on   a grinder or you could use a metal wire brush  like this so that's all the tools and products  
you're going to need to get this job done properly  i'll be sure to link everything in the description   so you could easily find it and with that said  let's get started and the first thing we want   to do is start inside the car because we want  to remove the plastic trim around the shifter  
now normally there is a screw right there as  well as the other side if we move the seat back   you can see there is another screw hole there  with the screw missing the screws are missing   in this because if you guys remember last year I  had to deal with my first hurricane and this car  
was flooded a little bit the carpets were really  wet so I removed all the plastic pieces and seats   and stuff that way I could get it nice and dry so  the only screw holding in the plastic right now is   right there so remove the screw using a Phillips  head screwdriver then we can remove the back part  
of the center console by carefully lifting it out  good then we could unscrew the shift knob all the   way and remove it that way we could get the front  part of the center console out actually we do have   some wires here that need to be disconnected this  goes to our kill switch so let's disconnect those  
wires and if you guys want to see how to install  a kill switch in your car I'll link that video in   could come out and then this rubber boot could be  removed and this just keeps the road noise out of   the cabin and there's one last rubber boot right  here that is again designed to keep the noise and  
hot and cold air from coming into the cabin and if  we just tuck this in like that I'm going to tuck   it under here that way it doesn't get all caught  up when we remove this so now we are ready to go   let's go under the car and loosen this up now  under the car you can see our shifter is right  
here and it's actually only held in by two bolts  there's one right there and one right there now   these bolts are really rusty i'm hoping they don't  snap so I'm going to be careful here if I start to   feel like it's going to snap I'll use some heat  okay beautiful and I thought we're going to have  
a problem with these now I was a little nervous  about this bolt because of how rusty it was but   you could see there is still some of that zinc  coating on the threads it's just this part that   was all rusty so it came out pretty easily now  let's hope that the other bolt comes out as easily
all right two for two i should probably go play  lotto now with this bolt coming out the shifter   is loose and will drop down and that's all  there is to it now with the shifter removed   the back of the transmission right here and  then at the transmission this shift linkage  
mounts to the transmission it's just bolted to  it it doesn't move it provides support now this   shift linkage is what moves when you change gears  so we want to pull this all the way out like that   and then slide the rubber boot back and then that  reveals the retaining clip that we need to remove  
and the easiest way to remove it is to spin it  around so you can see the ends of the clip then   we could use a small pry bar to get under the  clip and get ready cuz this is probably going   to go flying okay so it went flying but we got it  off and this retaining clip is designed to prevent  
the pin from coming out because if it comes out  your shifter is going to stop working now this   pin is officially called a spring pin but it has  a much less friendly name on the streets because   of how difficult it is to remove but don't worry  I'm going to show you a trick to remove it easily  
and the trick is using a 7 millimeter diameter  punch like this this punch fits perfectly on   the outer edge of the spring pin don't use a  screwdriver or anything like that that fits on   the inside because that's going to force the pin  to open up more and make it even harder to remove  
so be sure to use a 7 mm punch get it centered  right on the spring pin just like that and then   use a big hammer something like a 5lb hammer and  just hammer it away now don't let this scare you   this is super easy to do and it should take less  than a minute and you can see the pin is moving
already perfect and that's what the spring pin  looks like now with the pin removed the shifter   should slide right off the transmission just like  that and then we can remove the dust boot and that  
uncovers our leaking shift seal so this is the  shifter shaft which selects which gear you're   in and there is some corrosion at the base of  the shaft which is probably what wore down the   seal and damaged it because this rod moves back  and forth every time you change gear so we're  
gonna have to sand down the corrosion to make  it smooth and then replace the seal but before   we do that let's remove the other shift linkage  so get a wrench on the bolt and break it free   and then we could remove this bolt completely  so the linkage could be removed and finally  
the whole shifter assembly is disconnected  from the car so let's remove it from under   the car being careful not to hit anything and  let's get this thing out of our way with that   out of the way next let's remove the mount right  here at the transmission you technically don't  
have to remove this but it's very rusty i want  to sand it down and paint it plus it does give   me just a little bit more room to work down  here since it's pretty tight so just get this   last bolt out and this could be removed so with  the bracket removed let's replace this leaking  
transmission shift seal here's what the seal  looks like it goes in about that deep and this   right here is the part number i'll leave this  linked in the description so you can easily   find it that way you can install OEM parts  so all we have to do is hammer the old seal  
out and push the new seal in but before we do  that when we remove this old seal if you don't   drain the fluid it's going to come pouring out  so first let's drain the transmission fluid now   to drain a manual transmission there's usually a  drain bolt and a fill bolt on the side so let's  
head over to the side of the transmission and  right there is the transmission drain bolt and   right here is the transmission fill bolt and  you always want to remove the fill bolt first   so let's break this free and then we could  remove it the rest of the way by hand good  
and make sure you don't lose that washer now let's  slide the drain pan under the drain bolt that way   we don't make a mess and this drain bolt uses the  square end of a 3/8 ratchet so let's get that in   there and let's break this free good and with that  loose now you can remove it the rest of the way by  
hand perfect and judging by how dark this fluid is  I bet it's been in here for a long time so this is   your reminder to replace your manual transmission  fluid all right so let it drain all the way and   once it's completely empty let's screw the drain  bolt back in clean up any drips and torque it to  
spec and for this car that's 29 foot-lbs good so  with the transmission drained now let's replace   the seal now this seal is pressed in and to remove  it you could use a little pry bar like this and   just pry around the edges and push it out you  could also use your punch from before and punch  
the edges that way it slowly works its way out or  you could grab your pliers like these these are   locking pliers we could get them right around the  edge here and now grab our hammer and hammer this out beautiful and now this should slide right  off the shaft like so now we want to clean off  
the rust and roughness on this shaft and to do  that we're going to be using 1500 grit sandpaper   it's rough enough to clean the rust but not  too rough to remove too much material but we   don't want this giant piece of sandpaper so I cut  this small thin piece like that and we'll wrap it  
around and we'll sand that smooth you can see all  the pitting and corrosion on here we want to get   that nice and smooth so it doesn't damage the new  seal so the technique is to get the sandpaper and   wrap it around the shaft and work it back and  forth like this the key here is to sand it just  
enough to remove the corrosion but don't sand  it too much where you remove too much material   and the seal won't have a tight fit anymore okay  and this is looking pretty good so let's shoot   some compressed air back there into the cavity to  remove any dirt that might have gotten back there  
from sanding and then let's wipe down the area to  clean it up now if you rub your fingernail across   the surface it feels pretty smooth that way our  new seal won't get damaged all right and now we   are ready to drive in our new seal and I'm going  to be using this 18 mm deep socket it fits right  
on the inside right on that hardened lip that's  a hardened steel lip that's what you want to hit   against you don't want to hit on the outside  of this lip so let's get the new seal on the   shaft and then we can use the socket to push it  in by hand and get it started make sure it's not  
cocked to the side and then with it pushed in  as straight as possible hammer in the rest of   the way you don't need to use a lot of force and  you can see it start to drive in already and then   once you hear that pitch change that means it's  bottomed out so stop hammering cuz you don't want  
to damage the seal and if you remember from before  we use these pliers to grab onto the old seal and   it fit between the seal and the transmission  just like that so this just helps me verify   that we hammered it in to the correct depth and  the seal is completely seated so now let's fill  
the transmission with fluid now if we take a look  in the back of the owner's manual it says to use   10W30 or 10W40 motor oil in the transmission and  while technically this 10W30 would work just fine   in the transmission it doesn't have any additives  for the synchros but that's why I'm using Honda  
manual transmission fluid this stuff came out in  the late '9s early 2000s after this car was built   so it's an upgraded fluid and it'll work much  better because it has additives for the synchros   so this is what we're going to add and although we  unscrewed the bolt from the bottom it's actually  
a lot easier to fill up the transmission from the  top if we take a look down here you can see right   there is the transmission fill hole so to fill  it with fluid grab a long flexible funnel like   this one and then we're just going to get this  right down here next to the engine and I really  
like this funnel it's flexible yet sturdy that way  we can put it into the fill hole without kinking   it so feed it in there and now we could add our  transmission fluid the manual does say it takes   two quarts so that's one and let's add the second  one and as we come to the end of our second bottle  
let's go take a look down by the fill hole because  once fluid starts dripping out and just like that   you know it's full okay so now we could remove  the funnel then we can screw the drain bolt back   in and you want to make sure that washer is still  on there so tighten it by hand and then torque it  
to spec which is 33 ft-lb good and finally  let's clean up this spilled fluid so we can   identify any potential future leaks so with our  transmission full of fluid I don't see any leaks   at all which is awesome so one last thing we  need to do under this car is remove all this  
rust and prevent it from coming back because  look at how crusty this is that's pretty bad   and to clean up the rust here's everything you're  going to need very important you need a full face   respirator and P100 filters because we're going  to create a lot of dust and we're going to spray  
paint in a relatively enclosed area underneath the  vehicle you do not want to breathe that in so wear   your mask tool-wise we have a flaad screwdriver  scraper 180 grit sandpaper and an angle grinder   with a wire wheel attachment that'll remove most  of the rust then we're going to go in and clean  
with acetone or you could use alcohol and then  finally after everything's clean we're going   to spray paint and it's very important that you  use a spray paint designed for painting over rust   this is called a rust encapsulator spray paint  you're never going to be able to remove all the  
rust so using a spray paint that goes over rust is  important because this has epoxy in it which will   block the oxygen from getting to the metal of the  car which is what creates rust in the first place   find it now let's go under the car and remove the  rust now before we begin cleaning up any rust the  
sheet metal to make sure the screwdriver won't go  through if it goes through that means you need to   do a rust repair because the rust is so bad that  the metal is weak and don't worry if that happens  
i have a video on how to do that and I'll link  that video so you can easily find it but in this   case we're good to go so next what you want to do  is grab a scraper and remove all the loose surface   more aggressive and basically all you need to do  is scrape every inch of the surface if there's  
any loose bubbling rust it needs to be removed and  right here is the perfect example you can see how   just by scraping this all this loose crumbly  rust comes right off and that's what we want   okay so once we finished scraping up all those  loose chunks of rust now let's tape up any holes  
into the interior like this giant hole at the  shifter so we're just going to grab some tape   and cover the hole to seal it off because we don't  want any rust or any paint getting into the cabin   of the car good next we can get our wire wheel  and we want to sand as much of the rust away as  
possible now this is where you're never going to  get all the rust you'll get a lot of it you'll   make it look a lot better but there will always  be some rust there and that's okay because we're   using a special rust encapsulating paint but you  definitely want to try to get down to shiny bare  
metal as much as possible and I think you could  see why I said you have to wear a respirator   because look at how much dust there is good after  you're done with the wire wheel next grab 180 grit   sandpaper and we're going to scuff up all the  metal that way the paint has a rough surface to  
mechanically adhere to now with a rough surface  we could wipe it down with some acetone and we're   basically trying to remove all the dust and any  grease from being underneath the car because dust   and grease will prevent the paint from sticking  good and now it's finally time to paint and again  
to start at the bottom here and spray from side to  side and work our way up and as you're doing this   you want to overlap each spray about 50% to make  sure there's full coverage and for this first coat  
coat we're going to put it on a little bit heavier  to make sure we cover everything but for now just   try to get into all the nooks and crannies try to  spray at different angles and different directions   that way you get the best coverage possible  all right now this is looking pretty good and  
the instructions say to let this dry for an hour  and an hour later we are back and ready to spray   our second coat for this coat we want complete  coverage so what I like to do is spray a light   coat and once you finish that immediately go back  over that same area again one more time and this  
different angles make sure you get into all the  nooks and crannies and this is looking pretty   good down here so let me finish this up and then  the instructions on the can say "Let this dry   for 24 hours." Now as we let that dry let's go  and rebuild our shifter and the first thing we  
need to do is take a look over here cuz there is  a lot of rust now you can see the shifter ball and   socket is really rusty in here i mean this whole  thing is just crumbling apart rust means material   is lost and there's going to be extra play and  that is what we're trying to avoid also this  
rod over here that the bushing goes through looks  like it's bad so let's remove the bushing off the   rod o that's not good okay hey and if you take  a look this is really rusty and we're going to   sand the rust off of this to make it smooth it's  going to remove a significant amount of material  
and then when we install our new bushing there's  going to be a lot more play in here and any play   in here is going to transfer to play in the stick  shift so that's not good you know what that means   it's out with the old let's vacuum up all the  loose rust and in with the new well almost new  
so I got this out of a junkyard Dell soul and it  looks to be almost completely rust-free which is   a huge difference so we're going to rebuild this  instead look at the condition a lot better just   need some new bushings i'll teach you how to make  this a little bit tighter we'll install all those  
parts into our shifter and make it basically a  brand new shifter so let's get started first let's   remove the old rubber bushing from the end then  unscrew this bolt that holds in the shifter to   the linkage and now the linkage slides right off  let's get these washers out of the way we don't  
need them anymore and next let's remove these two  bolts here so break it loose and unscrew it the   rest of the way by hand same for the other side  and now we can remove this cover plate that we're   going to reuse and finally the shifter is free  to come right out like that and I guess this was  
from a female owned dell soole oh yeah and let's  get this rubber boot off the top as well okay so   this is the OEM Dell Soul shifter and right  here is a plastic cage with a rubber boot now   this plastic cage will wear out over time and it  makes the shifter feel loose so we're definitely  
going to be installing a new one all right so our  junkyard shifter assembly has been disassembled   and this is much better than the one off my Dell  Soul there is a little bit of rust right here but   it's nothing we can't sand down and paint but just  check out this difference this was the rust bucket  
that came out of my Del Soul and unfortunately  it's just too far gone to make it work that's   why there's junkyards one man's junk is another  man's treasure let's go get this cleaned up get   a little bit of paint on it install our new shift  components and bushings and get it back in the car  
so we could go for a ride but first the other  end of the shifter is actually in pretty decent   shape and moves smoothly same with this joint  right here these move smoothly which is great   but there is room for improvement because I did  notice there's a little play in this and if you  
take a look right there you'll notice all the play  that's in here it's not a lot but it is amplified   because of how long the shift linkages are so  we're going to try to get rid of that play by   hammering down on this we don't want to bind it  up we still want to be smooth we just don't want  
it to have as much play now unfortunately these  joints are riveted in see there's a rivet there   and a rivet here you can drill them out and add a  bolt and tighten them down but those bolts could   loosen over time it's also a lot of work so  let me show you a little trick with these so  
to place this rivet on that hard flat surface and  we're going to hammer on the top rivet and that's   going to squish this together it's going to close  this gap just a little bit and you can see there's  
that little space around the edge of the rivet  we want to tighten that up by hammering it down all right now that is much better and while it's  not much the head of the rivet is mushroomed  
it's still smooth it's not binding up  at all but we did remove most of that   joint so it's still smooth and moves back and  forth no problem but there is no side to side play  
beautiful so now with this nice and tight let's go  rebuild our shifter and before installing the new   parts let's make this look brand new so now the  shift linkage looks brand new let's make it feel   brand new so it's out with the old rusty parts  and in with the brand new ones now when you're  
rebuilding a shifter no matter what car you have  you want to use high quality parts because you're   going to feel it especially when you're picking  your actual stick shift this is very important   while these all look the same online through the  pictures there are big differences let me show you  
now these four aftermarket shifters all look the  same and they're all made for my Honda but only   one is actually good the rest are junk here's the  OEM shifter we removed from the Dell Soul and the   diameter of this ball is 35 mm now if we check  the blue $15 shifter from one company it's 33 mm  
the black $15 shifter from another company also 33  mm the blue $25 shifter from yet another company   33 millimeters and finally the silver $100 shifter  is 35 millimeters same as OEM and this is the only  
usable shifter from this entire group and the  reason why this is a big problem is because the   shifter sits in this plastic cage which acts like  a socket in the shift linkage so any play in this   you're going to feel now this is the OEM stick  shift and you can see it's pretty tight now let's  
take a look at how loose it is on an aftermarket  shifter and holy smokes look at that there is so   much play it's only 2 mm but there is so much play  and that's going to make it feel even worse than   the stock shifter we removed then if we put this  on the well-engineered stick shift you could see  
nice and tight you get what you pay for in this  situation so now let me show you how to rebuild   and install this shifter in your car and the first  thing we need to do is install the plastic cage   and rubber boot on the shifter so let's get this  plastic cage in the boot and this is definitely a  
tight squeeze but it will fit so work it all the  way in there good and it should look something   like this when you're done now we want to add  lubrication and make sure you use silicone grease   if you use petroleum based grease it'll break down  the plastic and rubber quicker over time and with  
that lubricated let's install it on the shifter  and the trick here is to go from the bottom not   from the top and now comes the tricky part cuz  this is a really tight squeeze and what I find   works well is using a mini pry bar and just work  that in there and that'll help you hold one side  
of the boot as you use your fingers to stretch  the other side good and now the boot and cage   can slide over the ball of the shifter perfect  now we're ready to install the shifter into the   shift linkage then we can get that cover plate  back on which holds the boot and cage in place  
and I'm using some nice new zinc coated hardware  to hold this in then we can get a washer on the   front add some medium strength thread locker and  then handtighten the nut on there let's do the   same exact thing to the other side as well then  we can tighten down both of these passengers so  
they're snug and that's one and then that's the  other good now we can install this poly bushing   but first let's get some silicone grease on the  metal that way this not only slides on smoothly   but it doesn't squeak after you install it now the  last thing to install is this rubber piece which  
slides over the shifter and sits on here but as  you can see this rubber is really dry so a little   trick I have to bring rubber parts back to life is  using this protectant spray just spray it onto the   rubber to make sure to coat the entire thing front  and back then use a brush to work the chemicals  
into the rubber and after you let it soak for a  few minutes you can wipe away any excess liquid   and this will keep that rubber looking good and  protected for a long time now we could install   it onto the shifter so it snaps in place good  next we could get the lower shift linkage onto  
the shifter and the new shifter comes with these  two inserts that need to get installed and these   prevent the bearing in the shifter from binding up  so one goes on this side and the other goes on the   other side and now the linkage could be installed  onto the shifter then we could slide the bolt in  
get the washer on and tighten the nylon nut on  by hand normally I would add thread locker but   since this is a nylon locking nut you don't need  to so tighten it down and snug it up all right and   that is a completely rebuilt shifter and just  so you can remember where we started from this  
is the original Dell Soul Loosey Goosey rusted  to bits shifter and this is basically our brand   new rebuilt shifter and we have one thing left  we need to do before we could install this and   that's replace this bushing now the stock rubber  bushing is a one piece design our aftermarket poly  
bushing is a two-piece design so to remove the  bushing first push out the center metal race and   and the metal and carefully pry the bushing out  and this should come out the rest of the way by  
hand good then we want to lubricate the inside  with some silicone paste and now we can install   the poly bushing one side at a time now these are  really tight fitting so it's important that you   get them squared up before pushing them in or it  won't fit same thing for the bottom get it squared  
up and then push it in and finally you want to add  a little silicone to the metal race and let's get   that pushed in as well this is a really tight  fit so it's going to take some force good so   with our bushing installed we are completely done  rebuilding the entire shifter linkage and shifter  
i cannot wait to go for a test drive in this car  so let's go back under the car and reinstall it   actually first let's go in the car and remove  this tape and now we could go under the car   and just check out how amazing this paint came  out just so you could remember here's a before  
and after what a difference so let's get our  shifter assembly back under the car and you want   to be careful because everything is all freshly  painted and it would be a shame if we nicked the   paint so carefully work your shifter up into the  trans tunnel perfect now we can get the bushing  
bracket installed and that just slides over the  bushing next we have these old rusty bolts which   I'm not reinstalling instead I'm going to replace  it with some nice new hardware so get some medium   strength thread locker on these that way all the  vibrations down here won't loosen it up and now  
we need to line it up like so and then we could  handtighten one side then get the other side lined   up and handtighten that side and finally you want  to torque these to spec which in this case is 16   ft-lbs perfect now the shifter is mounted securely  to the car so let's head to the front of the car  
and mount the other side of the shift linkage  to the transmission so let's get our freshly   painted mount in place and I'm using new hardware  with thread locker on these threads so tighten   the bottom one down by hand and then get the top  one tightened down as well then you want to just  
tighten them down with a ratchet that way they're  both snug and torque them to spec which for this   is 33 ft-lb next we want to add some silicone  grease to the ears of the mount then we want to   slide the poly bushing into the mount which is a  lot easier said than done this is a really tight  
fit so I'm going to tap it with a hammer to get it  in place and it's good that this is tight because   it's going to make the shifter feel so much  tighter now we can get thread locker on our bolt   slide it into place and torque to spec which for  this is also 33 ft-lb good next I'm going to add  
some silicone grease to the shift selector shaft  that way it prevents any future rust then we can   get the dust boot on here and this just hooks to  the lip of the seal that we installed like that   and now we can slide the shift linkage on here and  you just want to make sure the holes are lined up  
like so and now technically you're supposed to  replace this spring pin but this one's in good   shape so I'm just going to reinstall it so drive  it in with the same tools you use to remove it
good and you want to make sure that it's flush  with the surface like that now let's install the   retaining clip and you can see there's a little  notch in this clip that notch has to go into the   spring pin hole so snap the retaining clip on the  shaft and then spin it so the notch fits into the  
hole like that good and that's nice and secure  and finally let's get the dust boot stretched   over this so it's covered and we are done all  right so we're finished under the car so let's   head up into the cabin of the car and reinstall  the interior first let's get the rubber boot  
installed on here that way the road noise and any  fumes and hot air stay out of the car and that   just snaps into place around the lip and then  we have another boot which is even thicker for   more insulation and that slides over the top  like that so with that all done let's go and  
install our center console but before we do that  you can see it is a mess in here so let's clean   this up real quick and the trick to vacuuming is  to use a brush to loosen up any dust and dirt and   that gives you a better clean now we can grab some  soapy water and spray the area down then we could  
use a brush to agitate that stubborn dirt and then  finally wipe it all down with a microfiber towel   so with that all cleaned up looking really good  the last thing we need to do is replace this old   crusty torn leather shift boot with a nice brand  new OEM leather shift boot so to remove this shift  
boot just flip it over and there's two screws  right here so grab a Phillips head screwdriver   and unscrew and remove both of these screws so  it's out with the old and in with the new ah  
you got to be kidding me here so unfortunately if  you take a look these two are definitely not the   same they're close but they're not the same so it  doesn't fit even though online it said this would   fit but what's new right anytime you're working on  cars stuff like this happens you just got to be a  
little creative so I have an idea so that idea  is to remove the new leather from the bracket   and transplant it onto the old bracket and you  can see the leather's hooked in by these little   tabs so let's just unhook the leather from the  tabs being careful not to tear it and with all  
the tabs unhooked the leather comes right off the  bracket now let's do the same thing with the old   bracket just unhook the old worn leather from the  tabs and now it's out with the old torn crusty   leather and in with the new and let's see if we  could get this to fit and that actually looks  
pretty close we might be able to pull this one  off so hook the leather around the tab and I'm   going to crimp the tab down just to hold it in a  little bit better good but now we have a problem   the slits in the leather don't line up with the  tabs so what I'm going to try to do here is slide  
the leather underneath the tab push it in like  that then crimp down the tab that way it's going   to hold the leather in place perfect and that's  not going anywhere so let's work our way around   the entire shift boot securing the leather to the  bracket all right even though the brackets weren't  
the same we still made this work so now let's get  our brand new shift boot installed into our center   console and all we need to do now is just tighten  down the two screws to hold it in place so with   those two screwed in our boot is secured and check  this out this looks so good i'm looking around the  
edge here i don't see any silver from the bracket  so we did a perfect job making this fit now let's   go get this installed and go for a ride i cannot  wait so let's get the center console off to the   side here that way I could connect the kill switch  and the order of these wires doesn't matter just  
make sure each one is connected nice and tight  so get these pushed completely together and then   and now let's get this center console in place  and you kind of want to just work it in there  
until it fits so get the shifter boot over the  shifter good then we can install the back part   of the center console as well and that kind  of just fits into place now let's screw on   our shift knob all the way and then finally  I'm going to tighten that single screw on the  
side to hold it in i still need to replace  the carpets in this car so this one screw   will do for now so with everything installed  now let's get this car back on the ground so   we can go for a test drive so lift the car  up and remove each of the jack stands now  
we can lower the car to the ground remove  the wheel chock and let's get her off the ramps holy smokes what a difference a rebuilt  shifter makes real quick just so you remember  
the difference this is before we rebuilt the  shifter you can see how loose every gear is   the shifter is sloppy and indirect and it's very  easy to miss a gear and this right here is after   we rebuilt the shifter so that's neutral that's  first look at that look at how tight that is look  
at how crisp these shifts are it feels so good  it's direct and it feels absolutely amazing i   wish I did this sooner so now let's see the  measured difference before and after so this  
was before with the original worn out shifter  and we had 3 in or 8 cm of play and the shifter   was very loose and this is the after with our  rebuilt shifter we're in fourth gear and if we   move this back and forth you can see we have  less than an inch or 2 cm of play which is a  
huge difference and check out this awesome visual  comparison in fourth gear i think this speaks for   itself so there you go we're one step closer  to turbocharging this car now our shifter is   good to go that way we don't miss any shifts under  boost which could be catastrophic and I hope this  
video was helpful if it was remember to give it  a thumbs up if you're not a subscriber definitely   hit that subscribe button to see more of the  Project Dell Soul and as always all the tools   and products I used in this video are linked  down in the description so you can easily find