I combined the Mugen short shifter with an H-Fit short shift kit. Many have talked about it, but as far as I know this is the first report of it actually being done.

Truth be told, I don't know if it's true or not that this is the ultimate short shifter. But it sure is a short shift! It's not really much stiffer or notchier feeling than the H-Fit by itself, and the effort feels about the same as the Mugen feels by itself. Certainly more of each than stock, but nothing outrageous. Pushing past the spring tension to reach the 5th - reverse gate is a bit of a chore but I believe I'll get used to it.

I also tried the combined kits with a Circuit Hero shift lever extender. Shifts were feather-light, like stock, but unlike stock setup there was a little notchiness. I have a JDM console so it was nice to have the lever way up there within easy reach, but the throw length went up and I decided to try the setup without it for a while. So right now I'm running the combined short shifters with a stock knob and no extender.

How about some shift throw numbers! Here's how I did it. Shift throw was measured from neutral to any gear (they were all pretty equal on any given setup), at the top of the lever with no shift knob attached. The numbers are not meant to be exact but rather to give you an idea of the differences among the setups.

• Mugen: 1-5/8 inches
• H-Fit: 1-5/8 inches
• Mugen + H-Fit: 1-1/8 inches
• Mugen + H-Fit + Circuit Hero: 2 inches

If anyone has stock shift throw numbers please let me know and I'll add them.

Now some pictures. First of all if you are going to try this yourself you should know that the only trick is the judicious use of a ball peen hammer, without which the bottom of the assembly will hit the bodywork directly behind the assembly when you try to engage 1st, 3rd and 5th:




Now here are some shots comparing the Mugen and stock shift assemblies. First of all I did not include any shots of the plastic housing because as far as I can see they are absolutely identical. The entire difference is in the lever itself. Compared to stock, the Mugen is shorter on top by about 3/4 inch, and longer on bottom by about 3/8 inch.

Top of stock lever:


Top of Mugen lever:


Bottom of stock lever:


Bottom of Mugen lever:

 

got pics with the extender?

 

Sorry for the quality, cameraphone. Remember, these are pictures of the Mugen short shifter + Circuit Hero Extender.

 

where did you get the extender? I think I want it

 

yah, our car's shafts are too short. i like my knob another 1" higher...
even today my aftermarket knob sits about 15mm above stock height
yet it's too short for me.

the knob is never at the ideal location when it comes time to shift.

after driving my other cars i need to search for the knob sometimes
when im driving the FitS. the 5MT is tricky enough (other cars are 6MT).

 

yeah my JDM armrest gets in the way and it's kinda funny how I have to reposition my arm every shift. My gf was like "that seems like a pain in the ass" lol I can live with it but I'd like to make it 1 to 2" higher

 

I've been using the extender for the past two days and I have to say that so far this is my favorite setup. With the JDM console it is really, really nice to be able to rest my elbow on top of the console and have the shift knob be right there. With the short-short setup the throws are not bad at all, and the effort is extra light like the stock setup.

Ideally it would be just a wee bit shorter, maybe an inch or two lower than it is right now. and I may try to shorten the Circuit Hero extender at some point in the future. But for now I'm digging it.

The Circuit Hero piece isn't hard to find at all. circuit///hero: rare goods for competition spirits.
The price is a little ridiculous but, eh.

 

thanks yo!

 

So you're saying that you had to bang in the sheet metal on the rear of the shifter assembly? how much? Hard to tell from the photo, doesn't look like much. I'm picking up a new Fit next week and this is the first thing I want to do to it.

 

I did this on an '08, not an '09, so I can't tell you if they have the same issue or not. (In fact I can't tell you whether they even have the same shifter assembly.)

I hammered the sheet metal back directly behind where the shift mechanism hits it in the picture, to create enough clearance. You're right, it isn't much; 1/2" should be enough. Remember to do it across a wide enough area to account for all three gears, 1-3-5.

 

I'm pretty sure its the same shifter assembley, i'll have to look when I get it in a few days.

 

I'm gonna attempt this over the weekend, I'll let everybody know when i'm done if it works for the 09.

 

Ya know, if you look at the size difference between the h-fit hard mounts and the stock mounts on the shifter assembly the hard mounts are clearly thicker, which means that the whole assembly sits up a little higher. Right? Should'nt that make it fit better, meaning that there should be more space between the shifter and the sheetmetal on the body? Has anyone who just installed the Mugen short shifter without the hard mounts had any clearance issues?

 

I just bought the circuit hero extender. I can't wait to try it with my Mugen SS!

 

I haven't heard of anyone complaining about clearance problems with a stock Mugen setup. I added the H-Fit extender onto the Mugen lever, which is why I had clearance issues.

Another way to possibly resolve the clearance problem when combining the Mugen + H-Fit would be to use thicker spacers under the mounts, and longer mounting bolts. The Skunk2 extender comes with thicker spacers than and longer bolts; that's where I got the idea. But a little hammer work does a fine job too.

 

Oh I get it now, you have the h-fit extender piece. I'm just gonna do the mugen ss with the h-fit hard mounts. I shouldn't have any problems then.

 

just installed the circuit hero extender,I LOVE IT!

 

For anybody interested the shift assembly on the GE is the same as the GD, did my Mugen SS H-Fit hard mount install over the weekend. love it

 

^^^^ Great information! I think there is thread around here somewhere regarding parts that are transferable between the models...

 

Hello All,
Just did my Mugen + H-Fit short shifter combo on my 09 Fit and if feels great, everything is in about a 2 in. square. Yes putting spacers under the assembly will fix the clearance problem, I just used the bushings from the stock shifter and bought some longer bolts. Thanks wdb for the write up and for the idea to get a Short-Short Shifter!