Acuity Instrument's Short Shifter

[UCF120]

Sorry to revive a semi old thread, but can anyone that has gone from the Acuity Stage 2 kit to the full Acuity shifter chime in and advise if it’s worth the upgrade?

I see a couple posts from people who did this and say it’s a slight improvement but don’t really mention if it’s worth the extra money. Is the feel changed significantly? Is gate spacing and throw distance a significant difference over the stage?

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[timestamped]

Sorry to revive a semi old thread, but can anyone that has gone from the Acuity Stage 2 kit to the full Acuity shifter chime in and advise if it’s worth the upgrade?

I see a couple posts from people who did this and say it’s a slight improvement but don’t really mention if it’s worth the extra money. Is the feel changed significantly? Is gate spacing and throw distance a significant difference over the stage?

I have the stage 2 minus the shorter throws adapter, but haven’t installed shifter cable bushings yet. Helped a friend install the full shifter into his FL5, also without doing shifter cable bushings, and the initial difference is quite significant in terms of notchiness, but it may be smoother after break-in. Of course there is much greater adjustability, especially coupled with the variable height, i.e. you can set it very short and tightly-gated, but with a higher knob placement that offsets the increase in effort / gate spacing while maintaining the bolt-action feel.

 

[jcfishel]

Just finished installing tonight. I'm curious if anyone has dialed in some settings that remain relatively close to "stock" as a good baseline to start with. I plan to retain the stock shift knob and boot.

Acuity manual suggests the following:

LHD FL5 Mount position = B or C
Gate = 1
Throw = 1
Height = 3

 

[UCF120]

I have the stage 2 minus the shorter throws adapter, but haven’t installed shifter cable bushings yet. Helped a friend install the full shifter into his FL5, also without doing shifter cable bushings, and the initial difference is quite significant in terms of notchiness, but it may be smoother after break-in. Of course there is much greater adjustability, especially coupled with the variable height, i.e. you can set it very short and tightly-gated, but with a higher knob placement that offsets the increase in effort / gate spacing while maintaining the bolt-action feel.

so that bolt action feel you’re talking about is what I’m looking for. I’ve had the stage 2 kit for a while now and while it did shorten the throws a bit and tighten the gating a bit, I don’t feel like it was anything dramatic over stock and definitely does not feel bolt action like an s2000.
Would you say the full acuity kit changes that and makes the shifts feel S2000 like?

 

[whtciv2k]

Mine was still working this morning. My main issue was the wireless key recognition.

After two days of driving with the stock gate positions and the height set at 1.5 I'll say that I'll probably play with the shifter settings a little bit. The shifter feels great when on the limit, but it's really tight, especially 2-3 when just chugging around town.

i know exactly what you mean. When going from 2 to 3 pull the shifter toward you and then go up. Instead of pushing out and up.

 

[timestamped]

so that bolt action feel you’re talking about is what I’m looking for. I’ve had the stage 2 kit for a while now and while it did shorten the throws a bit and tighten the gating a bit, I don’t feel like it was anything dramatic over stock and definitely does not feel bolt action like an s2000.
Would you say the full acuity kit changes that and makes the shifts feel S2000 like?

I have not driven an S2000, but it’s definitely more of a step in that direction. The stage 2 is subtle, even more so for me without the shorter throws. I like the buttery smoothness with just a hint more engagement in contrast with my FoST short shifter which has a lot more kathunk. If stage 2 is like +10%, I would say the full shifter is more like +50%. Someone said they found the hybrid racing more notchy/racing than the Acuity shifter, you might want to look at that, but I really like the Acuity full shifter.

 

[B16B]

I have this Acuity shifter along with their shifter cable bushings and its probably one of the best mods on my car. The shifter cable bushing helped fill in that 15% that was needed to make it feel perfect. For those that are in doubt about the shifter cable bushing, it makes a difference. It took away that notchy feeling when going into gear. I was able to swap them out without removing the battery or charge pipe. I have my gate set on 1.5 and throw set on 2 which makes it slightly shorter than OEM.

 

[jcfishel]

I've done a little more research and wanted to share. For me, It is important to be able to dial in a "stock" experience first, then start modifying from there.

Documentation indicates 75MM of total range of adjustment (-25mm to +50mm from stock). That looks correct.

Ideally I would have liked to see Acuity mark this setting on the shifter rod, but no biggie.

Still trying to understand the gating and throw. The documentation doesn't quite make sense to me. I'm going to reach out to Acuity with my observations and see what they say.

 

[Superhatch]

Still trying to understand the gating and throw. The documentation doesn't quite make sense to me. I'm going to reach out to Acuity with my observations and see what they say.

For me it was just adjust in the driveway, drive around the block, do some full throttle shifts, come back, make a small adjustment, try again, repeat.

I think even if they had better descriptions you wouldn't ever get it right out of the box and you would need to adjust the two main settings to get the feel right for what you are looking for.

But now that I typed that a few default settings for OEM, OEM+, Bolt action, etc would be a really good idea.

 

[jcfishel]

I feel like all the information is there to be able to figure this out, but the math just isn't adding up to me. This is stated on the box:

Gear Throw:
Position "1" = +20%
Position "5" = -50%
Stock should be somewhere between 2 & 3.

Gate Spacing:
Position "1" = -35%
Position "3" = +50%
Stock should be somewhere between 1 & 2.


Then there is this tip in the Install instructions which seems to contradict the statement on the box.

I know I've spent way to much time obsessing over this. I just want to know stock setting so I can test things out. I'll send Acuity a note and see if they can shed some light on this.

 

[jcfishel]

Still waiting for a response back from Acuity, but from what I've been able to work out, the claims made on the box MUST factor in some combination of height/throw/gate settings which is not very clearly stated.

Furthermore, the addendum statement in the install guide seems to indicate that there is no combination of throw/gate/height that will 100% match the stock setting. This is understandable.

Still very happy with the product. No complaints from me.

 

[jcfishel]

I received the following response from Acuity. I think this is a perfectly reasonable explanation for everything. Sharing here to help others.

Hey Justin,

Thanks so much for reaching out to us about this. So your thinking is partially correct. The main part you're missing is the knob height. The knob height greatly affects the throw/gate spacing reductions. So, in order to have the gear throw 50% shorter than stock, the gear throw adjustment needs to be at "5" and the knob height needs to be at "1." And the opposite is also true. In order to be 20% longer than stock, the gear throw adjustment needs to be at position "1" and the knob height needs to be position "5." Does that make sense?

For simplicity sake, we are giving that total full range that is possible to achieve with the shifter. The settings are completely preference, so that helpful tip is telling you want to start with for mild reductions since those adjustments are not easy to access with the center console in, but the height is. Does that make sense?

As for the upper rod engraving, this rod is used on different shifters we produce, so it would not be same across all shifters. Also, the sport and Si have a slightly higher knob height than the Type R and ITS, so that is another caveat. I thought it was written in the install guide which position is closest to stock height, but I am not seeing it so I will make sure that gets added. If you have a sport or an Si, stock knob height is slightly above position 2, and the Type R and ITS are position 2.

So when you have the knob height closest to the stock, and your gate/throw adjustments at 1, that will be a very mild reduction compared to the stock throw/gate spacing.

I hope this clears up any confusion for you. Please let me know if you have any other questions and I would be happy to help. Thanks!
Todd Baker
ACUiTY Instruments

 

[neilisnext]

Just installed this shifter after grabbing it on the Black Friday sale.

I haven't seen many reviews leaning towards the neutral side so I thought I'd chime in.

I found the difference to be more tame than I expected but I think that's mainly because of the shift knob + collar I'm running. I'm running a 40mm Battlecraft knob + the Seeker shift boot collar. On the stock shifter, once I changed the collar I noticed things got much notchier.

Fast forward to installing the shifter yesterday, the difference isn't largely noticeable to me other than it being more difficult to shift since it's new. I figure I may need to do the bushing upgrade as well to fully get the experience but if you're running a relatively thin/small knob already without much dampening on stock, you may not feel as big of a difference like myself.

Also even when adjusting the gate spacing, 3 & 5 feel too close. I have to adjust it a bit more.

I do think it's still worth it if you're looking for adjustability though

 

[PNEUMA]

On the stock shifter, once I changed the collar I noticed things got much notchier.

Would you explain to me how the shift boot collar affects the gear change feel please?
I’m old and senile so please be clear.

 

[Nikw91]

Are most of you running Hybrid Detent Springs with the Acuity Shifter?

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