Drift King at the helm

Did you know that the Drift King (Keiichi Tsuchiya) has been the Executive Advisor for the ARTA NSX Team in the Japan Super GT series since he retired from racing himself?

(picture taken in 2007)

Honda Fit (2009) GE8 Shift Knob Assembly

This is how you remove the shift knob on the automatic Honda Fit.

You might want to engage the parking brake and shift the lever to "L" or the lowest position. It will help with the next steps (take obvious precautions: shut off the engine, don't do this while the car is on a slope, have functional parking brakes, etc. etc.)

1. Remove the shift knob cover. It is held in place by fragile plastic tabs, so take extra care in this step. You will need a flat screw driver. Wedge the tip of the screwdriver carefully from an upper angle. (It would help prevent scratches if you wrap the tip of the driver with vinyl tape first).









2. Once the tabs are unhinged from the assembly, the cover should come off easily.

3. Unscrew the top and bottom (2) screws using the plus-shaped screwdriver.










 

 

4. The shift knob can then be completely removed from the shifter.

Why would we want to remove the shift knob? (A) It will enable you to modify the shift position lighting by using high-intensity LEDs; (B) you can paint the shift cover to a different color of your choice (I did mine red, will be in a later post); (C) you can replace the shift knob with other aftermarket knobs.

We all love JDM

So hopefully, you found this blog because you have a passion for the Japanese Hondas. I will be talking mainly about the Honda available in Japan and some interesting do-it-yourself projects that you may be able to apply to your own Honda vehicles in the U.S.