Smooth as silk

Smooth as silk. 

My shifting is seamless again. What a relief. 

I've always loved everything about car. In fact, when a friend asked me for some "objective" criticism of it, all I could muscle out was a few vague comments on "oh.. the seats are a bit stiff after long rides..." and such. Hardly objective. My friend ended up buying her own Si within a week. She loves it, too. 

But there's always been one, pardon the expression in light of my recent injury, Achilles' heel. As a factory defect, the 3rd gear synchro in the otherwise amazingly tight and accurate 6-speed gearbox tend to catch, especially at slower speeds in cold weather. At times it would not engage, and if I'm careless (as I've been initially), the gear would "pop back out", sending my gearbox into a split-second grind, sending a shiver up my spine. I did that a few times occasionally, and since then I've been quite apprehensive about shifting into 3rd gear. I would keep my force on the stick nice and form, feel the click, then release the clutch, hoping that it would not pop out. Every shift became a slight scare, and a relief when it engaged successfully. It greatly impacted my shifting time, and deterred (however mildly) my driving excitement. 

My friend Lawrence, thought his ventures on online civic blogs, came up with a Honda bulletin promising a fix. It required a complete transmission strip down (not far off from the emotional context I would expect from being asked to physically strip down myself). They promised to replace the 3rd gear synchro, a fix that should rectify the problem. Worried, I brought my car in for the "tranny transplant". 

So far so good. 

The 3rd gear now seems smooth again, as it swishes into the slot nicely upon soft pressure. There's even a nice soft sound when it engages, and I think I can feel confident again. It's still early in my testing, but I'm hopeful that the problem would disappear. It's a lovely little gearbox, the Honda 6-speed on the FG2. An amazing little box it is. 

Click. Smiles. Click. Smiles. Click. Still smiles.