LP928

Hello, some background first: I'm 15 and this is my first car, I turn 16 in a few weeks. The 928 has always been my favorite Porsche, so when I saw a 1979 Euro 5-speed in beautiful condition for $3500 I decided to buy it. I was aware of the maintenance but figured I'd do everything I could myself which is what I've done so far. Lastly, I am a safe driver, and I appreciate the car for its engineering and not to race around everywhere.

I recently bought the Precision Shifter Ball cup from Carl Fausett since the current one is so worn out it is not even contacting the surface of the ball its fits over. Replacing it seems impossible however. Do I have to remove the torque tube to replace it or is it easy enough to just remove the heat shields and work on it from under the car? Also are there any hints on how to remove the bolts that hold the heat shields in, they seem to have some sort of clip/nut that is supposed to not spin but justs spins when you turn the bolt, I can't seem to fit channel locks behind them to hold it. Do I have to grind them off?

any info. is well appreciated,

Kyle

Stromius

Welcome Kyle! Congrats on your new shark! Wish I made my first car a 928.

There are a few threads on getting to the forward shift cup. Haven't done this myself but there are a few/many threads about removing the heat shield without having to remove the exhaust. Once it's off, it's tight in there.

Here's Carl's thread on what you bought: https://rennlist.com/forums/928-foru...-ball-cup.html

Tip from 928 Intl: http://www.928intl.com/tips/artcl_04.html

Search "shifter cup" on this forum

linderpat

Welcome aboard Kyle - you sound much older than your years! I can't help beyond what Stefan already pointed you too. A tip for the search though, since it's been changed somehow - when doing a search, put each word individually in quote marks, and seperate the words by an "and". For example:
search shifter cup as "shifter" and "cup". You'll get alot more results. Keep us posted and show us pictures of your car.

Mike Frye

Welcome Kyle and congratulations!

You sound like a fine young man and we don't believe that part where you said you don't want to 'race around everywhere' for one second. But that's OK, it's the same thing we tell our wives.

With this car, you either like them (alot) or just don't and as it says in the owner's manual, clearly you have very discriminating taste in automobiles. Choosing this as your first car, well, we all hope that will work out for you and good luck.

There have been a few 'youngins' on here over the past few years and you'll find that this place is nothing like high school. That is, we'll judge you by what you do and who you are, rather than what you look like or how old you are. I have an '85 5 speed and you can feel free to PM me for advice on things like this in the future if you don't want to send it out there for the whole group to hear (did that sound ghey?). If it's broken on your car it probably was on mine so I've either fixed it or figured out a workaround.

For the shifter ball cup:
Good choice on the one from Carl, his stuff is top notch and the design of that cup looks like it will last forever (as opposed to the stock one that's good for 20+ years, which probably seems like forever to you).
To do this job you can remove the heat shields and do it on the car (use jackstands or liftbars and try to shake the hell out of it before you go under it, if any of them move even a little bit, don't go under there).

If the (8mm?) heat shield bolts aren't coming out, the heat shields themselves may be rusting away in that spot or it may be the speed clip on the back. Not sure how you're going to be able to handle that, but the speed clip is not on the heat shield, it's on the bracket that is attached to the car.

Once the heat shield is out of the way, you'll be able to see what you're doing up there (barely). I worked mostly from the driver's side to replace mine when it went bad. I think Carl's may require a bit more manipulation than the stock one, but I'm 99% sure you can do it without having to drop the TT or anything.

Good luck with it and congrats again.

Landseer

I changed one and worked mainly on the drivers side of TT as Mike did.

In my case, the shifter rod actually came downwards and was reall accessible near the front. I think it was supposed to have a guide somewhere back on the shift rod, nearer the shifter itself, but not visible due to TT. If so, mine was clearly gone.

Anyway, there is a flat on the shifter rod for counterholding, and a nut on the end piece. It needed a lot of force, so much that the rod was deforming at the flat. I bought a cheap pipe wrench, just the right size to get in there and also used it to counter hold the rounder part of the shaft, plus used a long wrench on the nut and got it loose. Its a pain, just be patient, and I don't think there is an easier way.

You might be able to wedge/counter trap the heat shield speed nuts with a screwdriver of some sort. No textbook method here either, you just might not have a stock set-up, long nose vice grips or long needle nose pliers with slight angled end may help. Grinding is always a pain, but occasionally its necessary, hopefully not here.

LP928

Thanks for the help. I'm glad to hear that you don't think I have to take the Torque Tube off. Once I get the the heat shields away I'll see how it goes.

Lizard928

LP928,
I sent you a PM, check it out.

Marine Blue

Definitely do a search, I have also posted on this ball cup.

It is not easy to install but the result is amazing.

Welcome to shark ownership and good luck!

LP928

I've worked on the ball cup a little in the last few days, used a sawzall and grinder to get the 10mm bolts with speedclips off because they were just turning. I was wondering if I disconnect the shifter from the forward shift rod, would that allow the rod+ball cup to slide down and over so I can more easily remove the old ball cup?

Marine Blue

You will definitely need to disconnect the lower link at the shifter inside the car. When you do that you can easily remove the existing ball cup.

LP928

Great thanks!

WallyP

Kyle,

Be careful wrestling with the forward shift rod! There is a support bearing just forward of the shift lever, and you do not want to destroy it. If you push the foam insulation around the shift rod aside from inside the car you should be able to see the bearing. The actual bearing is a plastic ring around the shift rod.

Marine Blue

Very good advice. If that bearing goes you are going to have some major work on your hands.

SharkSkin

That bearing can be a bit of a pain to reach, a new one is not cheap and must be modified to work on the 79 since the correct part is NLA for early cars. Here is what it looks like:



You should also have some shift lever bushings on hand before you dig in -- they are very inexpensive, and they come apart just by looking at them. More info here, including my approach to installing Carl's excellent part. I had the torque tube out, but you may be able to use a variation of this approach.

Mike Frye

Kyle,

If I were you I wouldn't mess with anything inside the car if it's at all avoidable. I know what you're up against, I think I tried this job two or three times because I couldn't get a tool up in there or my hands up in there or see up in there and I just said 'Forget it' each time.

Finally I blocked out enough time and was in the right frame of mind (this was the key) to be patient and methodical and just keep trying things until I found one that worked.

You're not old enough to have a beer to take that edge off, but maybe if you try some Zen or something it will work. Repeat after me:*assumes lotus position* 'OOOMMMM' 'OOOOMMM'. Nahmay-O horenkay kyo, Nahmay-O horenkay kyo. Now you're ready.