danhawkins

Thanks again for all your help. Finally got the car to the garage and the tensioner had failed as you suspected. Been sorted now and it's running well.

New problem is that the Gearstick has suddenly become loose, sort of swinging from left to right on changes across the box. As long as I hold it stright it goes in and out of gear ok. It really seems like one problem gets fixed and another can't wait to show itself. Anyway, should be able to get to the bottom of this one myself with any luck. Hopefully it will last until next week, cos I'm off to Le Mans and in the meantime have a few jobs to get done on my old RS Rep. Two weeks after we're moving house, then a month later i get married!

Cheers, Dan.

Ed Hughes

Glad to hear you found the issue. Congrats on the Wedding!

This sounds like a rear shift coupler alignment issue (or it wasn't tightened), or the bushings decided to fail right now. A simple fix when you get into it.

theiceman

yeah sounds like those bushings fell right out .. while your in there there are about 3 or 4 bushings you can replace easily in one go since you will be inspecting anyway .

2 in the coupler
1 donut shaped one that the shift rod goes through and the bracket fastens to the back of the front shift housing
1 socket that the ball from the shifter goes in .

Should take about 2 hours to do them all and they are readily available at any porsche parts source, you mech probably even has them.

danhawkins

Excellent, thanks. I will have a look tonight and see if the coupler is just loose. If it's completely gone i will order the set as mentioned.

Cheers, Dan.

danhawkins

Well that was odd... Before taking out the centre console I shone a torch in to see exactly where the stick was rotating, just in case it made less sense once apart. I was amazed to find that the problem was simply due to the gearstick becoming unbonded - see image http://yfrog.com/a602062009002j

I cannot think what would have caused this, as I am pretty careful with the controls. My parner was driving it at the weekend and she's very gentle, so I don't think it was forced. She does love driving it though, so who knows what kind of monster she turns into when I'm not there!

Anyway, a helping of epoxy and a 36 hour cure later seems to have fixed it.

Cheers, Dan.

theiceman

wow .... i would be ordering a new shifter . There may be lots available used even from guys who have upgraded to short shift..

Ed Hughes

Upgraded? That's a matter of subjective opinion.

danhawkins

Yeah, I guess relying on glue is not that sensible.. It will have to do for a couple of months tho..

I had always assumed that a short shirter would be a good thing? What are the negatives in your opinion, Ed?

Ed Hughes

There really is nothing to be gained, in many opinions. In fact, with the added force required to move the shorter throw lever, and weakness in the trans can be made weak quicker with the added force.

A well sorted 915 trans, with good bushings, and adjusted correctly, is fine.

rusnak

It looks like someone used a hacksaw to cut that shifter lever. I would definitely want a different shift lever. The original factory lever was a single piece lever. I would use the factory lever. Whether that means changing the entire shifter, or fitting only a replacement lever, I do not know.

If you can find a used lever, or a used shifter, that is the way to go. If you absolutely must fix your current lever, see if a local welder can weld it back together. You will need to take the shifter out, which would mean taking both seats out and the center console first. Don't worry, it's a half hour job, maximum. I cannont speak to the short shifter that you have. I have two Wevo shifter, and they are both nice. I would consider the Wevo billet shifter an upgrade over factory.

Here is the factory shifter, and shift lever:

theiceman

to me it was an upgrade cause my regular shifter kept hiting the seat when I went into second ... guess that's what I get for being verically challenged .. that's it , I am putting the wood blocks back on my feet. You have any idea how hard it was to make those for offset pedals ?

Ed Hughes

Maybe that's the diff.....my seat sits all the way back, and then some (past stock).

rusnak

The SCs had a longer shift throw than most of the 3.2 Carreras. At some point (85-86 maybe?) Porsche modified the shift rod, and shortened the throw. This was also done on 911s that came with Sport seats. The reason is that the shifter would scrape the right side of the bottom cushion on the driver's seat on the Sport seats. The updated shifter components can be ordered as a "factory short shifter" and installed on earlier SCs.

theiceman

Makes sense .. the kit said it would reduce throw 20% on mine and on Carreras 10%