Andre Hedrick

Has anyone ever snapped the front shifter linkage on a manual before?

This is the picture after removal and setting up to weld it back together.

AO

Easy does it there, Arnold!

Nope, that's a new one.

James Bailey

Yes I did that on the old very brown 1980 last year at Willow Springs could not get it welded up at the track lost out on two track days. But drove it home by putting the jack handle on the shifter and using two hands to shift (pattern is backwards ) it is about 100 miles MarK A. gave me a good tested unit to replace it. Kibort also has broken one as I recall.

IcemanG17

Kibort broke his too....I want to say he welded it up, then broke it again...but this time he welded in a screw tap.....then screwed it back together AND welded it?

Mike Frye

Classic!!! I love this.

DR

Yep, seen it before. In this case it was caused by a mechanic taking a short cut and trying to use the early style shift linkage when installing a late style (85-up) tranny.

You would think after it broke and had to be rewelded in the first few days that there might be an issue. Unfortunately they keep using it this way and it caused some "shifting" parts inside the tranny. We had to open it up and fix it. GRRRR.

You can see the results of doing this in the pic below, the lower shift rod is the "abused" early shift rod. If you look close you can see where it was welded at the same place. This was welded ON the car from the inside...SCARY!

Andre Hedrick

So DR,

I need the shift linkage from an 88 also ?

DR

Oh, you have upgraded your tranny to the late style? If so, YES you must use the later shift linkage. If this is the case be CAREFUL with your shifting until you change it. The early linkage overdrives the internal shift rods and will force the shift forks out of alignment inside the tranny. This will cause issues such as the tranny popping out of gear on it's own etc.

If you already have it all together I figured out a way to remove and reinstall the linkages with everything still on the 928. No dropping tranny, t-tube etc. It's a knuckle skinner, but not too bad.

DR

Here is one example of what can happen due to the overdriving of the shift linkage. It is very subtle and took a while to figure out what was wrong. The tranny was consistantly popping out of 4th by itself.

Look in the pic and notice the yellow line pointing to the dark area on the shaft by the shift fork indicating where it had been forced from it's original location. That was all it took to cause the problem.

Andre Hedrick

I had the rear tube cut and welded to shorten it and change the geometry to make it behave, does that work? I also have the short shifter too.

DR

IIRC, the front one is the bigger problem. It is longer and it tries to "shorten" itself by bending and breaking at the weld as seen in the pics.

BTW, be sure not to "mix" short shifters with the wrong linkage, i.e. early short shifter with late linkage and vice versa. It exaggerates the issue.

Lizard928

Dave,

Could you expand alittle on this subject?

Is this just because of how shoft of a throw you are left with? Or what exactly is wrong that causes this?

DR

Hi Colin,

About the best way I can explain it is don't mix early and late trannies, linkages, and shifters. :-)

Here is a pic that gives a little clue to the difference in the front early and late linkage. Note the yellow lines (not very precise but you should get the idea) depicting the length differences even after the lower early one has tried to bend itself shorter.

VT928

Andre

Let me add my name to the list of those who have suffered this failure. I ordered a replacemant part rather than rewelding it. Installation was a PIA, bet we did it without dropping the Torque Tube. Took me days to cleanup afterwards.

Paul Mammorella 1980 Euro S Red/Blk Lea

Andre Hedrick

My mechanic has welded it and put build up wedges to strength it, will get photos of the work and post. In the mean time who has a set of shift linkage for an 88s4 for sale?