+ 1 of what 968 guy says. Shortening the lever doesn't really shorten your shift throw. I shortened the shift lever (I thought it was really to long) and use the Weltmeister type short shifter at the tranny end. Just make sure that any welds on the short shifter are good. Also do the teflon insert on the shift lever. really tightend every thing up and the shifts are nice and crisp.

 

I agree with the above, but if you look at the Deutch Nine kit you will see that they will supply the actual shift lever in 3 different lengths from 1/2 inch to 3.7 inches taller than stock. The LR unit also has an adjustable height function.
This is what you see on in- car videos from sedan and sports car racers and WRC rally cars, although they are all running sequential gearboxes. It makes sense to me to have the shift lever taller rather than shorter, because you don't have to move your hand far from the wheel to change gear, and if you can keep your hand movements in roughlu the same plane as the steering wheel it will be a much faster change, once you get used to it.
This is all race tech, but I think the ideal real world shifter would be a bit taller than stock but with about half the throw between gears. I guess I'll keep looking.
My 2 cents.

 

XSChop is that a short shift linkage?

 

Yeah, but crappy (loose) quality. I have 1/2" Chromoly-Teflon heim and heim spacers on the way and will mod the factory linkage. I will have 33% reduction in lateral and forward throw when it's done.

 

This mod wasn't as easy, but well worth it. The Ebay short shifter is a POS and was already loose after only about 800 miles. I made my own short shifter back in the day using the factory linkage rod and a 15mm Male heim....Well 15mm heims don't friggin exist anymore, so a 1/2" Teflon-chromoly will do, just fine, I just had to machine the factory rod down to a 0.5" interface and got rid of that nasty rusted factory snapring at the same time. If you want to do the mod yourself, you need to machine it down exactly 39.25mm to fit the heim and heim spacers with NO play after the lateral rod is welded on.....
Way easier to install.....




.....30% reduction is perfect with my shortened shifter ****. Absolutely ZERO slop and much smoother with the Teflon heim joint.... I guess the Scnell shifter comes preasembled with slop LOL :P

Also the Schnell SS was drilled crooked at the trans shaft :shock: I used 4140 billet steel for the trans shaft coupler and thicker gauge steel for the lateral throw arm....
And if you mod your own, don't go above 35% on the long lateral throw arm or you'll hit the gas tank if you have a solid or semi-solid trans mount installed....FYI

Moral to the story....Avoid the product on the left....even the 80mm dimension on the Ebay shifter is off by 11mm.....The mic doesn't lie.....

 

xschop, thanks for the detailed post. I was JUST about to click 'buyit now' on one of the evilbay kits. ugh.

Could you do me a huge favor and label the critical dimensions on your custom block and plates, just like the picture of the OEM one?

 

Hmm. I've had my Schnell shifter in for 3 years, no issues. Go figure.

 

It's in my build thread on hybrids.... What pisses me off the most is the 11mm dimension problem that has the shift **** setting angled aftwards. The slop will only get worse with the Ebay shifter as the bearing is loose from the get go...

http://944hybrids.forumotion.com/t55...ight=nailed+it

 

XSChop you should sell your linkage.

 

I will paint the spare one I just built and sell it. I've got other "goodies" that I'm working on for the beast... The squat under torque will get fixed next.

 

I would get in line for a shifter.

 

Me too!

 

Novice welder question. After you machined the rod and fitted the heim joint and spacers how did you prevent heat damage to the heim joint when you welded it up?

 

Half-dip method is what I would normally do on something adjacent that I didn't want to heat up. But PTFE has an MP of 625* F and it is such a short weld and even has to transfer heat down the rod then thru the spherical. I could hold the outer joint by hand right after the weld tho....good point.
I've got plenty of hard shifting on mine and ZERO problems.

 

I'm selling the spare one, same Teflon lined spherical and 30% throw reduction lateral and forward. I designed the heim joint threading on the steel block to make it rebuildable even. Just screw in and lock-tite the heim........First $175 takes it and that'll include USPS Priority shipping anywhere in the (US-48 ONLY)....Just PM