A friend of mine has a 2002 carrera with a short shift kit. He drove my car, and loved it by the way, but said that a short shift kit would make a big difference in performance.

Any thoughts? What about Best Bang for Buck, B & M, Schnell, . . .?

 

I don't think they make that big of a difference, just more comfortable. I have the schnell one and its nice, like some people say its a little notchy but I'm sure that can be worked out. I've heard stories about the linkage coming undone. I've had mine for 5 years and have had no such problem.

 

I've been thinking of going to one as well. This should be an interesting thread.

 

Schnell here as well and I really like it. When I bought the car the shifter was the worst part, very sloppy, long and vague. Turned out it was the linkage coming loose at the transmission. Tightening it properly made big difference and then replacing the stock linkage with the short shifter made another big difference. Now it's one of my favorite parts of the car.

The throws are very short and deliberate, feels like the proverbial rifle bolt

 

How often do you miss shifts?

 

Honestly, never. Just had it at the track on Sunday, instructing with the BMW CCA, and never missed a beat.

The gates are very well defined, just shorter throws requiring a firmer push than stock to slide home.

The only small issue I've had is that my 2nd gear synchros are a little tired and the short shifter has the potential to exacerbate the problem because you can get there before the synchros are ready when it's cold. If one is a heavy handed shifter then it's probably not the right answer but if you like lots of mechanical feedback and shift properly it's great. I can literally go between third & fourth using just my pinkie using a brief pause in the neutral gate to let the revs and the gearbox internals catch up to each other.

 

Cool. Thanks.

 

schnell here too, along with the SFR short stick--I like the combo

 

I have the schnell linkage, it's alright. Nothing to write home about. It really comes down to if you like a shorter or longer throw. I ended up lengthening my shift lever and now I really like the throw.

 

schnell here. OK. I wore out the rod end on mine after 80k miles. the "new" one had bead blast media in the ball. It functions fine but I dont like the quality. I had a hard time finding other shifters out there.

 

i have a Powerhaus short shifter. The bolt came out once and i was stranded. Fixed it and now it's great. no complaints.

 

I had to use a puller to get the old linkage off.

 

I am relatively handy with tools, how hard is it to install the schnell kit?

 

DIY - I just pulled the stock **** and used a cutting wheel to take down the mounting post and put on the new Momo shift ****/boot.

Shift throw was reduced a lot. True, this is not a "real short shift" kit but cost 0$ and 15 min work.

 

It's a pretty simple install, just a few bolts to remove the old linkage from the tranny and then bolt it back up. Like most work on this car, space is at something of a premium, other than that no big deal.