Rep Power: 511

So, a DIY guide for this is fairly dependent on what kinda spring you get. That'll, for the most part, help determine how long to make that sleeve. I will advise that, if you take this on, you have to have some sort of machinist mindset. The parts list I have listed below are for my setup. If you decide to take another path, this will, at the very least, serve as a reference guide of how to make sure it operates appropriately.

Here's the research/design phase thread. Kinda abbreviated, since I did a lot of research, then posted a thread about it. That thread started as a DIY guide, then I made this one and turned that into a research thread

Also, please forgive the wall of text.

Estimated time(s):

• Design: Depends on you. Fine tuning my assembly took a few months. Lots of it was waiting on parts to arrive, researching different parts. Yeah, took months.
• Fabrication: Less than an hour's worth of work.
• Installation: 15-20 minutes

How it do:
● Removal of requisite panels (sorry, no pics yet -- this guide should help you visualize it all)

1. Remove the two "boomerang" pieces on the left and right of the center console. They're held in with.. 4(?) clips. Use a pry tool or a thin flat head screwdriver under one far edge and pry upwards to release one clip. I'd recommend starting from the back. The 3 back clips are at more of a downward angle and the top ones are more of a horizontal angle. Set those aside.
2. You'll see 2 screws exposed on the top/back of the next panel. Remove those screws and pull upwards on the shifter trim panel. The first time you pop those loose, it'll be hard. Gently pry with a good amount of force. Disconnect the 3 electrical connectors (brake hold, parking brake, & eco button) and set that trim aside.
3. Use this guide to remove the CVT shift ****
4. There are 4 clips holding on the shift indicator panel (console cover, as it's called in the above guide). They're not easy to pop off, but there is a trick I found, but it's easier said than done on the front two. You see those orange clips holding it down on the back 2 clips? Push horizonatlly on the back of them while pulling upward. They'll pop right off. You can try and find an angle on the front two. I ended up losing one clip and breaking the hole it mounts into, so mine is held in by 3 clips now. lol. Lift that bad boy up and out, but don't forget to disconnect the electrical connection first.
5. Congrats, you should now be staring at a bare shift lever.
   

● Fab of the sleeve

1. Take your tube and cut it down to 60-70mm length. If you aim for the 70mm length, you run the risk of the bottom of the tube catching the forward part of the shifter assembly, but literally nothing filing on the backside (forward end with reference to the car) can't fix. It'll kinda prevent you from shifting into park.
2. Insert the Raceseng adapter into the tube to make sure it fits. Pray it's kinda snug. Remove the adapter and place alongside the tube. Line the top of the tube higher than the bottom set of set screw holes and mark the centerline of the set screw holes. You're going to be drilling holes there (if you hadn't figured that out yet), so make sure you have clearance above the hole you're about to drill so you're not ripping the edge of the tube. I set these adapter mounting holes approximately 6mm down from the edge of the tube. Take that one point and make another mark 180° from this hole. Basically marking the other endpoint of the diameter of the tube, 6mm (or so) down.
3. On the opposite end of the tube, make a similar marking. Again, I used 6mm from this mark to the end of the tube. Make another mark 0.7"/17.8mm above that. this mark doesn't have to be super accurate.
4. Now, the marks from step 2, you're going to be drilling straight through both walls of the tube with a 1/4" drill bit. The drill bit going through should be riding an imaginary diameter line perpendicular to the tube. These two holes should line up with the lower 2 setscrew holes on the **** adapter. This side will be referred to as the top of the tube
5. Drill out the 2 marks from step 3 with a 1/4" drill bit. You're gonna end up "milling" the space between the drilled holes to create an oval channel. The elongated set screw from the shaft collar will be sliding up and down in this channel, so make sure it allows that to happen. If you make the channel too wide, you'll end up with excess rotational play in the completed assembly. Try and keep this channel as tight as possible with respect to the set screw OD, but still allowing it to move within that channel. What this accomplishes is limiting up and down movement of the assembly. Upward movement limitation -- the bottom of the channel -- is more important than downward, since that's what's gonna prevent your shift **** from launching into space.
   

● Installation (or dry fitting on your dummy shaft):
If you went the route where you can test your assembly out (which I recommend, anyways), these steps will help. It'll also help you visualize how you're going to install this piece on your car.
Here are all the the pieces of the shift assembly, sans shift ****, with an aforementioned dummy shaft:

1. Insert the shaft collar inside the bottom of the tube and loosely thread the setscrew through the channel and into the shaft collar. Ensure the set screw does not protrude past the ID of the shaft collar just yet.
2. Slide that assembly onto the shift lever shaft
   
3. Install the shift **** (not pictured) onto the adapter and slide that assembly onto the shaft and indie the tube. Install at least one of the adapter mounting screws. Washers are used here because I have not cut these screws down yet.
   
4. At this point, the shift **** should be resting on the center shaft. Use the **** to barely depress the center shaft/button. Try and limit that button depression to 3mm at most. Ensure the shaft collar is at its bottom-most position, and tighten that set screw. You can adjust this later as installation of the shift boot may shift the contact point a bit. Note: if you made yours like mine and the channel lines up vertically with the adapter mounting holes, make sure the setscrew faces fore-aft on the car. If anything, you'll want to make sure the adapter mounting holes face fore-aft, otherwise you'll have troubles shifting. You can use Loctite on the setscrew for extra reassurance that it's not going to slip on you, but I've not had it vibrate itself loose. Jan 2024 update: that setscrew never failed or vibrated loose over the 4 years I've had this installed so far without using Loctite. I made sure that thing was reasonably tight during installation. Basically tight as you can get it without fear of stripping that set screw out. That said, make sure that long set screw is of quality materials. It's the one thing that makes this entire thing functional so yeah, crank that bitch down.
5. Remove the screw you installed, remove the adapter, and insert the spring inside the shaft.
   
6. Slide the adapter/**** assembly back onto the shaft and screw it down. You will likely have to shift into D or L/S to install the forward screw.
7. Test operation by pushing down on the **** and shifting back and forth. Things to look for:
   1. Ensure you cannot shift out of park without depressing the ****.
      1. When shifting out of park while fully depressing the shift ****, see if you can feel anything catching when pulling the lever backwards. If you do feel something catching, it's almost certainly the front-facing bottom edge of the tube. I'd recommend filing away at the forward-facing bottom edge of the tube, being careful not to mess with the side with the oval slot. You can realistically file away as much material as you want, but for safety's sake, I'd ensure the front/bottom of the tube is still below the top of the shaft collar with the whole assembly at rest. Something like this:
   2. Ensure you cannot shift into reverse, park, L or S without depressing the ****.
   3. Ensure you can take out the key while in park. If you cannot, you have to adjust the shaft collar upwards as the button is being depressed too far.
   4. Spring resistance. If it's too light for your liking, find a stiffer spring. Too stiff, lighter spring. This Goldilocks spring is gonna be the most fun to find.
8. With everything tested properly, it's time to put your center console back together. Hold the shift adapter assembly at the adapter mounting screws and remove the ****.
9. Grab the shift position panel/boot assembly and snip the zip-tie holding the OEM boot to the shift ring. Toss that chrome plastic sucker.. somewhere.
10. Invert the boot, and install over the shift adapter. The opening of the boot is going to be larger than the OD of the adapter, so you'll have to get creative to make it look pretty. Once you get that figured out, zip tie it snugly.
11. Reinstall the shift position panel and tuck the boot nicely.
12. Hold the adapter at the mounting screws and screw down your shift ****.
13. Test operation once again per Step 7. This time, you'll want to check one more thing. When in S/L, the center shaft will be lower than the contact point of the **** (by about ¼"/6.35 mm). Make sure it's not too wobbly, unless you really don't care. That's why the spring is part of the adapter assembly.
14. If everything is good to go, reinstall all the panels.
15. Sit back and revel in all your hard work. lol

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Some notes here:

1. I decided on the Raceseng **** because the way the shift lever sits, the inner "button" shaft will be well inside the ****. I wanted to keep it at close to stock height as possible, or lower, and it looks like I accomplished just that.
   
2. If you go for a standard **** with an M10x1.5 thread pitch like every other Honda MT **** on the face of the earth, the base of the **** will sit, at it's lowest point, right around the top of the inner button shaft

 
Rep Power: 511

2024 update: the carbon fiber tube finally gave way at the very bottom of the oval hole that the shaft collar set screw traveled within. It still worked, but popped out of place all the time. I swapped it for a 25mm ID aluminum tube I snagged off of amazon:
25mm is a hair tight (I had to use a rubber mallet to get the the raceseng adapter into the tube), so I'd opt for