robot808

Listen to Colin. The coupler itself is fine, and putting in the new bushings is way, once you have the coupler in your hand. The work is all in installing the coupler back in the car. There is really no point in buying the whole unit.

hinchcliffe

Of course the original lasted 25 years.....

Think I'll order both a new one and bushings to do then when I change out its quicker. Worth the money to me.

Courtshark

Yes the original "lasted" that long, but the difference in feel with the new bushings eviscerates that point. That and a Short shifter...

Dave928S

Here's another pic of the exploded assembly with the two types of bushings .... you really don't need to get a new coupler because they're easy to pull apart once they're out.

I've put delrin bushes in both my 82 and the GTS and all the other coupler bits were fine.

All you have to do to get it apart is press the pin (3) out of the coupler body (4), remove front shaft (2), remove the bushes and replace with delrin, put the front shaft (2) back in place, then press pin (3) back into place ... easy!

The only other thing you might need to replace is the grub screw if you damage it getting it out. The bushes and grub screw are cheap ... save the balance of the $75 you would have spent to do something else on the car.

Rob Edwards

Given the right size 2-ear gear puller, there's enough room on a 5-speed (with stock exhaust) to push the coupler pin out, and then push the old bushings to the midline of the car, then press in the delrin bushings with your fingers (or channellocks), then press the coupler pin back in. This way you don't need to risk stripping the grub screw if it's tight, nor messing up your shifter alignment (assuming that it's aligned to your liking already)

Discussed here:

https://rennlist.com/forums/928-foru...ge-access.html

The 'play' in your transmission shift rod is another story- not sure what is the deal with that, given how the inner shift rod is located in the tranny case.

Mike Frye

All of you proponents of the delrin 'round hole' bushings are ignoring one point that Jim Bailey used to make about these assemblies. There was originally an oblong hole or 'slot' for a reason. It's the same reason that a track car can get by with 1" ground clearance and solid motor mounts. Most of us drive on the road in the real world and most of us don't want to have to replace every part on the car every year or two so there are bushings and tolerances built in to extend the life of the parts and insulate the ones that need a little bit of clearance.

Removing the 'slop' from your shift coupler may make it feel more firm and it will have less play but at what cost? Now every flick of the shifter is translated directly into the transmission and every wiggle is going to apply force DIRECTLY to it without any intermediate softening or cushion. This will very likely cause premature wear to the transmission. (at least in Jim Bs opinion, and his is good enough for me)

For me, the $75-$100 stock part along with the peace of mind that comes with it feels just fine. If all of the other bushings in the shift assembly (forward ball cup, release arm ball cup, shifter bushings) are new, the shifting is plenty firm and accurate without eliminating any of the features designed to protect the transmission internals.

YMMV

Dave928S

Mike ... I think it's more about individual preference when it comes to how firm and positive shift action you want. I prefer the delrin bushings because I hate shifters with a lot of play as much as I hate vague steering. The stock shifter setup to me, even in good factory condition, feels like I'm stirring a bowl of porridge.

I don't think you can assume that just because Porsche did something a certain way that it 'must' be for a specific reason. There are plenty of gearboxes around with selector mechanisms without as much play as Porsche .. and in fact many with a shift lever direct coupled to a shift rod .. which don't destroy the internals. So I don't agree that the oval hole is necessarily there for that reason. An equally plausible reason could be that it has this play to 'allow' the shift rod to 'find' the detent and click into gear, even if the driver is holding the shift lever with an iron grip, which might otherwise prevent the shaft finding the detent, and the gear the correct position. Maybe it was made that way to suit wealthy owners who are not too capable or mechanically in tune with what they're driving .. and would be a bit more forgiving of the ham fisted gear changing, of someone who had no idea what the lever was even connected to.

I prefer to feel every movement and resistance, and guide the shifter into position with a loose sometimes open hand, and let the shifter 'find it's own way' into gear, and I find that any play just makes it harder to get a more exact seamless gear change.

We all know that Porsche made quite a few design stuff ups along the way with the 928, the grandaddy of them all being crankcase breathing, which got worse and worse as they tried to fix the problem. Maybe the engineers who 'designed' that system, the PSD where you can't service it easily in the wheel well, the internal fuel pump hose made of cheese, the baby porridge wheel well liners, the brilliantly ridiculous location of the auto transmission reservoir, and a few other 'out to lunch' design ideas ... also designed the shifter mechanism ....... and perhaps we can improve it like we do quite a few other things.

That's the way I see it ...

Courtshark

You left out the "infamous blue hose." Super genius design there. Don't get me wrong, though! Porsche engineers are incredible; awesome 99 times out of a 100!; but not infallible. They also built these cars with some "give" in them in various places, like the shifter assembly, shocks, and ride height, to make them more of a GT cruiser than an Autobahn shredder. Same reason they didn't coax every last HP out of the motor and used redundant mufflers.

hinchcliffe

OK, so who has the best short shifter package? Maybe I'll just goo all out on this.......

Lizard928

That would be the one I designed, contact ROG100

depami

What ever became of this one?

https://rennlist.com/forums/928-foru...er-design.html

hinchcliffe

so I'm a jackass andf started a new thread with the updates, whoops.

Search: Update with video - So it wasn't the shift coupler?????