Eastep

If your like me, and hate the cheap stock rubber shift **** on your 924/944, and find it impossibly difficult to source a nice aftermarket shift **** that will A. fit & B. look nice, then this might be an option for you.
NOTE:
VW offered different types of shift ***** in different materials. The **** used for this DIY is the wooden version found in most GTi models

Difficulty level=2


Materials needed:
MK4 (99.5-2005) VW shift ****
Electric power drill with sanding/grinding stone bits
Large flat head screw driver
Rubber mallet or hammer
1hr-1.5 hrs time

First step:
Remove the shift pattern emblem from the shift **** (mine didnt have one)

2nd:
Using a mallet/hammer and large flat head screw driver as a punch , remove the plastic center
NOTE: this step may have to be modified/substituted if a non wooden model **** **** is used



3rd:
Once the plastic center is punched the "lip" inside the shift **** is now visible
The ID of the **** is not yet ready to accept the 924/944 shifter and must be routed out to match.

4th:
Using a drill with sanding/grinding stones, route the "lip" evenly throughout the **** to the appropriate diameter needed to accept the shifter.
Trial fitting and re sanding are a must for exact fitment TAKE YOUR TIME



lastly: Install and enjoy



NOTE: I wanted my shift **** to set a little higher then the stock one does. While sanding/routing the center of the ****, I chose to route only the first inner 1/3 of the **** to the exact diameter needed, allowing the **** to set higher on the shifter.

Eastep

:/ guess no one likes this one eh? Oh-well, I love the way it feels driving it has a real sports car throw to it and much more precise gear selection, People TRY THIS MOD!!!!

DarylJ

If you like it great. But "real sports car throw" is the opposite of what you just did. Many here have cut down their shifter as well as put on short shift kits to make their throw shorter/faster.

Adding length to it just made the throw longer. I already have a pickup truck to drive around......I want my sports car to be a sports car.

carlege

I dont get it.... you made it longer?

Eastep

yes i made it longer. the reach is better for me, i double clutch my shifts, and with the longer throw, Im not shifting faster then the syncros, thus improving my shift times and provides smoother and more accurate gear selection and transition. (okay maybe not so much improving shift times, but defiantly transition/accuracy)

this setup is only temporary until i can cut down a mk2 shifter and adapt it to the stock 924 shift lever, giving me the height i like and allowing me to use my crested 930 ball shift ****

RedRose

Not sure I like the color with the interior... I'd do a black stain on it, if I did this, but I don't have the woodworking skills :P

DarylJ

[QUOTE=Eastep;6628776]i double clutch my shifts, and with the longer throw, Im not shifting faster then the syncros,/QUOTE]

I don't get it.....you're double clutching you shifts.....(for whatever reason) how do the syncros matter? If you need to double clutch regularly, you have something seriously wrong with your transaxle, and no amount of shifter length is going to fix it.

The only time I double clutch a shift on (any passenger car) is when I'm going down 2 gears (like from 3rd to 1st to pull into my driveway) and occasionally just to get into first for the same type of reason.

Eastep

^^ that maybe so, who knows? when i change gears, its like driving my old 70's Fiat. If i just shift normally/normal speed I can feel it nick the gears as they engage. Almost as if Im engaging the gear just a fraction of a second before the trans is really ready(weak syncro). Theres no grinding or anything of that nature, and I dont have to do it in higher RPM. I spend most of my time tooling around town, so this mod is helping me and its more ergonomically fitting for my reach and driving style

carlege

different strokes for different folks, eastep if it works for you then great.

DarylJ

Yeah...that's NOT right at all. Shifter length isn't what I'm talking about at all...if you like a high sifter with a long throw, go for it. But you shouldn't have to worry about what you're describing.

I drained some nasty old gear lube out of my transaxle and put in some Swepco and all of that, including lots of gear noise, instantly went away.

Eastep

I was thinking of changing the fluid. Im sure youve felt this in an old car at one point or another. when changing gears, you can actually feel the metal to metal contact when the gears mesh. Im thinking either trans fluid, or throwout bearing. possibly weak syncro (or all the above) .....maybe thats just how Porsches are?? still new to the scene ya kno

DarylJ

Not a throwout bearing....that's not even in the right place.

Syncro, yes. They are weak by now, but putting some good quality gear lube in there ought to take care of it unless they are totally gone (assuming the gear lube that's in there now is old/cruddy).

No, 944s are not supposed to shift like '70s Brti-Boxes full of Lucas electronics (although sometimes I wonder if Bosch didn't hire some Lucas engineers along the way). That's why I brought it up....I don't want you to search for solutions to symptoms when you could be looking for solutions to the actual problem. Unless that's the kind of thing you like to do, of course

Every time I see one of your posts I'm hungry for real BBQ. I might need to get back down to Greenville or at least KDH soon.

ParkerFya

Since when did 944s have a cheap stock rubber shifters?

DarylJ

I believe they're plastic, with cheap rubber vibration dampers. Which reminds me, Jason at Paragon dug up one of the two of them for me, and I need to put that in to see if it stops the damn buzzing at specific RPM/load.

Eastep

good question. I drive a 924S. assume the shift ***** were the same. I just know, mine was crap ugly and didnt even seat onto the shift lever well :/


BBQ eh? yeah it is about that time stop by and we can fire up the grill. Ive got cold beer in the fridge .....hope you like Blue Moon