I think alot off 88-00 owners can use them
VERY VERY true. Google it, Can only find aluminum bushings for 7th gen plus Civics.
Those are the bushings inside the cable ends, but 88-00 doesn't have cables. IMO poly on the tranny-side of the stabilizer is more than enough.
I've also noticed some slop is from the shift forks - worn or bent. Some trannies are just junk.
Another reason I've seen is when some retard didn't use all the proper parts & metric bolt for the lever-to-linkage below. My EG went from sloppy as Mike's ex-wife to tight as a virgin just by swapping from a stock shifter+SAE bolt (4, 5, 15, 28 were all missing) to a skank2 using ebay sealed bearings. The only play now is in the worn universal joint.
Forgot to add picccc
Buk, are you missing #10 or what? All the shifters I've pulled apart had no slop between the lever's ball, that plastic bushing, or the linkage "cradle" it bolts into. I could imagine putting tape around #10, so the bushing presses on the ball a bit, but not using tape between the ball & bushing.