I recently put in a GRP short shifter. Three points to preface:
1. I had reservations at first because I wasn't sure how short the shift would be and if it would take away from the experience at all. Would I be making 1 cm shifts with my pinkie?
2. I was also lucky to have an Emira that came from factory without any issues getting into gears. Aside from some vagueness with neutral which sometimes made the whole gearbox feel vague, actually getting into gears wasn't a problem at all for me and I have yet to grind a gear at over 1,500 miles. By the way, there is a great post on this forum on how to make gearbox adjustments if you are having issues getting into gears.
3. I had my short shifter installed in default setting... longest throw.
Now, on to the post-installment experience:
1. I love it. There is no way I'm going back to stock on this. The throws feel excellent for me, the benefits of having a shorter shift but still retaining engagement. I highly recommend it to everyone with a V6M. I think the shifts actually feel better than stock even when I'm not pushing hard and just rolling around town. I can't stress this enough. Go to the GRP site and get it. I'm not being paid for this.
2. The gearbox retains its mechanical and quality feel 100%.
3. With respect to vagueness. I personally feel that the experience has improved but I'm not sure if it's due to muscle memory or the short shifter itself. I will say that both the vagueness of neutral and vagueness when shifting has definitely improved for me. I'm no longer wondering whether or not I'm in neutral and the occasional missed gear has gone away. That being said, it is still a weak spot for this gearbox. I think the reason is that the neutral position is a bit small and cramped (vertically) while the mechanical feel requires some effort to move the shifter. So, it's like the feeling of resistance when beginning a shift followed by a really cramped and small neutral position which can blur engagement into the desired next gear. Does this make sense? I think this is what it was for me. So, when shifting fast and pushing hard.. the vagueness factor does increase. However, I think this can be mostly solved with brain and muscle memory. The more you drive it, the better it gets.
My 2 cents.
Let me also add that my previous car was a FL5 Civic Type R which I mostly adored. That gearbox is often considered one of the best in the business and yeah it felt great. As a comparison to the Emira gearbox, I personally felt it was slightly less mechanical... just a tad softer but with zero vagueness. I would give it a 9.5/10 and the Emira gearbox 8.5/10.
