ironspider

I just bought an 85 911 targa...the shifter appears to be designed for magilla gorilla. my arms are not that short! It is reaally out of the way. What can i do? I am 5'10, so iw oudl say average height, yet i feel like i have to sit lean in so far, my bosy is almost bent over the steering wheel. Do germans have really long arms or soemthing yeees....HEeeeelp

R22tech

Your car has a factory short shift kit in it which shortens the throws a little. I'm not sure I understand exactly what your problem is. Is the shifter too LOW, and you have to reach down and forward to shift? Or is the shifter too HIGH that you are having to reach to the ash tray to shift into 3rd? There is some adjuctment that can be made- if you could post a picture of your car in 2nd gear and in 3rd gear with your seat positioned exactly as you would be driving it- I could help you. Take the picture from the back seat looking at the shifter.

Bill Gregory

You can install the factory short shifter kit, however, it will not give you as much benefit as you would get on the pre-83 915's. There was a tweak to the linkage in 1984 that picked up maybe half the benefit the factory short shift kit had for the pre-83's. You could also go to a racing shifter, which is pricey and may or may not get you what you want - see <a href="http://www.smart-racing.com." target="_blank">www.smart-racing.com.</a>

ron mcatee

You also need to make sure the previous owner(s) didn't cut part of it off. I've seen that happen twice, hence the term "short shifter". Hope that is not the case as it will surely have to be replaced. Folks do a lot of dumb stuff from time-to-time.

Spider911
88 Carrera

911pcars

Because of the design of the shifter housing (5th and rev lockout), there really is only one correct adjustment that satisfies every gear. Thus, very little fore/aft range available. Many try to bring the shift lever closer for 2nd/4th/Rev by adjusting the effective length of the shift tube at the shift coupler, but this only compromises gear engagment in the other gear positions.

IMO, you can heat and bend the shift lever to bring it closer to you and/or use a slightly taller shift ****. A more radical approach would be to mount the entire shift housing towards the rear. You would also have to shorten the shift tube in the tunnel a like amount.

Sherwood Lee
<a href="http://members.rennlist.org/911pcars" target="_blank">http://members.rennlist.org/911pcars</a>
<a href="http://www.seinesystems.com" target="_blank">www.seinesystems.com</a>

nate

I had the same experience when I bought my 85 in May. Having come from a 95 Integra (probably one of the quickest, smoothest shifting transmissions I've ever driven), the 911 shifter took a lot of getting used to. The best thing you can do to is move your seat forward and drive the car. At my first DE, the instructor had me move my seat what I thought was too far forward. Turns out I was sitting too far back because moving the seat forward really helped in both cornering and shifting.

Congrats on the new car!