We've been working on Erica's car lately (the WRX), and one thing I've noticed about that car: the shift linkage feels like a race car's, after installing the short shifter and polyurethane shifter bushings. The Evo shifter, on the other hand, feels a bit vague, especially when you compare it to the unbelievably crisp steering and suspension. So, when I came across a good deal on EvolutionM for a set of new Buschur Racing 6-speed shift cable end bushings, I snapped them up.
My set didn't come with instructions, but it's really no different than any other car. Locate the shift linkage (in the case of the Evo 6-speed, the cable ends are actually mounted at the rear of the transmission, next to the firewall in an east-west arrangement, as opposed to the DSM transmission, where they're mounted up front and north-south), remove the retaining clips and cotter pins, muscle out the old bushings (in my case, the small one actually stuck to the shaft off the transmission, while the large one required a fair bit of convincing to eject itself from the cable end), grease up the new bushings (both the shaft and the outside, so it can slide freely around in the cable end), slide them into place, muscle on the new retaining circlips and cotter pin, and you're done. Take the strut tower bar off to give your hands a bit more working room, and remove the battery too if you find that to keep getting in your way (I did it without removing the battery, but wish I had).
Result? A slightly more crisp feel to the shifter, but it's still vague. Next up will be replacing the bushings where the shifter itself mounts to the floorpan (the bushings are even identical to the ones in the Eclipse and Laser), which I suspect will do exactly what it did on the DSMs: get rid of that slightly "mushy" feel, and let me feel what's actually going on in the transmission rather than hiding errors I might make behind a bunch of rubber.
While messing around with all of this, I made another discovery: the prior owner replaced the lower intercooler pipe with an aftermarket one. It definitely looks like an AMS pipe, but I'll need to look a bit closer to tell for sure.
Coming soon: I picked up an AMS 3" downpipe off of EvolutionM the other day (to go with the catback that came on the car), so now I need to either fork over $100 to AMS for a test pipe, or find someone who can sell me a couple of 3-bolt flanges that match up with the AMS flanges, and make my own. (I'm leaning toward the latter, especially, since I can probably work a nice resonator into the mix while I'm doing it).