Finished my new shifter design. My main goal was to get rid of the sloppy feel of the shifter caused by the backlash in the cables.
Shorter cables with less turns did the trick. I feel it is as good as the stock Subaru shifter.
I used parts from an MR2 shifter with 7' Teleflex xtreme cables. The mechanism is below the top of the tunnel, so a flat plate will cover it up. Picture and video below.
Bob