Wanted to give a full update on the Full Metal Bushings and the installation. Overall, I definitely recommend doing it if your shifter is sloppy. Mine started to give out 2 months ago and it was so frustrating. I have shifted into the wrong gear probably 10 times in the past month. Not to mention the moments where I clutched in and shifted into gear and had to second guess and then re-shift just to make sure, all while riding my clutch for several seconds in traffic. Very frustrating. If you can relate to this, I recommend doing the upgrade.
Now, skill level involved…Honestly, this repair isn’t as much about skill as it is having the right tools and taking the time beforehand to understand how the parts operate and what the fitment looks like. I was able to do this repair with some $55 ramps from Harbor Freight, a jack, and 2 jack stands (make sure you have the pinch weld braces). That's about all you need as far as tools. The rest is your hands and brain, unless the bushings are too wide for your car, in which case, you might need a file. I recommend you do a lot of research about replacing shifters and look at pictures of camaro transmissions to understand where everything is located. I’d watch this video around the 9:00 minute mark (
).
Once you have the car lifted, feel around until you can find it. Sometimes your left hand works better, sometimes your right. I’m a medium sized guy, and I was just able to get my left hand in on the left side and touch my right hand on the right side just barely. Locate stuff and get familiar with it. Stick a phone with a flashlight on and record a video up there to help you visualize it. You don’t have to have a car lift and you don't have to take off the transmission brace if you get familiar. You will be essentially working blind though so familiarity is key.
Make sure you let the car cool for like 2 hours. The transmission gets hot and its a pain when you’re working to get poked by pieces or touch hot parts that cause you to flinch. The C-clips aren't super hard to get off if you can spin them around enough to get the right angle. I just used my fingers. Be careful not to drop them up there. I wasted 45 minutes trying to find one. After I found it, my hands looked like I had fought a cat. Also lost one of the new bushings and that took about 15 mins to find. Once you get them off, you can start the install. The shifter is pretty flexible and can be pulled down into the left cavity where your arm was to remove it. That's the easiest way to get the new bushings in. If they fit over the transmission rod like that, great! If not, measure them with a caliper and compare to the old ones. My old measured at 10.99 mm and the new were at 11.42 mm. I had to file them down for over an hour to like 10.85 mm to get them to work. Try shifting the rod and the shifter and manipulating it to get it to fit snug. I had a hard time getting the pin back in place. I got it through driver side of shifter and eventually the rod, but it was so hard to get through the passenger side. Had to get someone to gently move the shifter in the car around until itd slide through. Don't forget to lube the pin. From FMB: “For lubrication, bushings do well with dialectic grease, graphite petrolatum, most anti-seize mixtures, or even standard “shop grease.” If you have it around you can even use a dry silicone lubricant. No WD40 and do not recommend regular engine oil.” Put the c-clamps back on and you should be good to go. Fixes it so well. It does rattle a little bit but that's fine for me because mine rattled before with the OEM bushings. So much for Vibration/Roughness Chevy…But the ride is much better. It instantly makes your car feel so much newer.
Also, I’d like to thank FMB for their help. USPS lost my package and they went through the process of contacting them and helping them get it delivered. Only issue I had was the new bushings were a little too thick. I think that if they based their dimension off of OEM, it might not work because if the material in the original can compress at all, you might be able to get that dimension to work, but the aluminum won't compress at all so you have to file it down if it doesn’t fit. I could be totally wrong on that though, its just a thought. Still want to thank the guy (Mellowjive) that took the time and energy to come up with FMB because otherwise I’d be stuck with a shitty shifter as I’m not paying Chevy thousands to fix it.