Lizard928

I would just look at your foam piece sitting on the TT, and measure the foam lip on the passenger side of the opening. The measurement wants to be uncompressed.

Then get a couple pieces of metal that are that thickness. Clamp them to the lip inside the car, but sticking down into the tunnel. Put the bolts all the way through the bar and rest it up against these bars. Then center this bar on the opening. Mark the bolt holes on the body, and drill the holes out.
Really simple.

KenRudd

I think the problem may be that Ado911 does not have the shifter bracket in hand to use as a template. Is that the case? If so, I can see why he is worried about the hole spacing- no way to correctly mark the location for holes without using it as a template...

Lizard928

Ah that would make much more sense!

Ad0911

And all of it is true! I just wantbto prep the car for this installation. Begore actually installing it, I want to know how the shifting is before buying the new shifter. No point in piling up new parts long before I need them. And there are so many things to do before this one appears on top of the list.

jbrob007

All, I had an interesting development the other day... My lizard shifter was a little tough to shift (it got better with practice) but still felt VERY notchy and hard to get into gear at times. After adjusting it numerous times I attributed the not-so-good shifting to worn synchronizers. Well in what I thought was an unrelated issue, I changed out the motor mounts to the Volvo type and the shifting got easier/smoother. Might have something to do with the position of the torque tube & transmission once the engine was raised back up to the proper height... just a guess on my part... but it is shifting very well - go figure

KenRudd

Related to Joel's findings: I decided my shift **** was little farther forward than I liked, so to make it sit a little farther back, I loosened the clamp back at the coupler enough to slide the rod forward about 1/2 cm. and then tightened it. Not much really, and that put the shifter in a more comfortable position, as expected. What was unexpected was that the shifting became noticeably easier. The slight change in geometry had a very positive effect.

F451

Ken that is very interesting. I'm very tall so have to recline the seat a lot to fit in my S4 making the reach to the shifter an uncomfortable stretch.

Hmm...I was considering getting Colin's shifter anyway, but the ability to move the shifter back in the car, even if it was just 1/2" closer to me, would be huge. I will have to research this further. Thanks. -Ed

KenRudd

I would guess the shift lever is about 2:1, meaning for every cm you move the connecting rod forward, the top of the shift lever comes back 2 cm. This is a wild guess, as I am sitting at my desk, it may be anywhere from 1:1 to 3:1. Colin could tell you for sure. In any case, to _some_ extent, you can move the **** back and forth to suite your arm length and seating position. However, you clearly have only a limited range, and the geometry does seem to affect the shifting force required, at least in my experience.

Lizard928

Sitting the lever vertically will always result in the least amount of force due to the force lever. This is even true for factory shifters.

The ratio is 2.01:1 give or take a tiny bit.

Vilhuer

Factory shifter setup instruction is 2-3 degrees towards rear and 2-3 degrees towards driver. I think its fairly good quide on where to set aftermarket versions also. At least initially to see how it feels.

F451

More good info, thanks guys.

the flyin' scotsman

If your ever out this way Colin perhaps you could demonstrate the install live......I'll take the pics