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I saw this short shift kit mentioned in another thread on RL, so I sent an inquiry to Shark Motorsport since they didn't have any images on the website. Price is 193 Euro and 22 Euro shipping to USA. If anyone knows anything about this kit, I'd love some feedback.
Adjustable short shift / shifters are available - I have one in my track car. You can choose how short you want the throw and IMHO, changing the shifter is easier that installing the piece shown here. Can't remember where I purchased it - it may even be an old NOS D1R piece that I picked up along the journey. Just my 2 cents - I hope this helps
I contacted shark Motorsport 3-4 yrs ago to buy one. They were very easy to talk to. But much like now, the exchange rate and cost to ship to NZ plus import taxes killed the deal for me.
No experience, but that last picture looks like something is installed incorrectly.
For the rectangular bit that holds the two shafts together, shouldn't it be flipped around, so that the securing screw is mating to the flat area on the rod that leads into the transmission?
Anyway, thanks for the heads up on this. It's another item where I assumed that the 944 parts would fit, though I should have known better, since it's a different transmission altogether from what came before.
For the rectangular bit that holds the two shafts together, shouldn't it be flipped around, so that the securing screw is mating to the flat area on the rod that leads into the transmission?
That's installed correctly. The securing bolt has a cone-shaped end that fits into the shaft, much like the shift rod to shifter mechanism on a 944. As you can see, the 968 is different where the shift rod attaches to the "shifter mechanism" as the attachment to the shifter mechanism is threaded instead of the cone style bolt used on the 944.
Hi Tom. I'd willing to in with you on a group buy to possibly save some shipping.
Best
Mikey
I'm not sure how this would be less expensive unless the cost of the shifters was reduced. If all units were shipped to one US address, they would still need to be distributed to the individual buyers.
I received some info on the reduction in throw: ~ 30% lateral and 45% longitudinal. If you replace only the gearshift lever with an adjustable version that won't change the lateral throw and the reduction in longitudinal might only be about 10%.
True, changing the shifter won’t make this amount of change, but I also don’t feel the need for the shift to be that short on my street car. 45% (almost 50) reduction? So move the shifter from 1st to neutral and imagine that being the entire length of throw from 1st to 2nd. How quickly do you need to find that next gear?? I would not want a throw that short.
As to my track car, I don’t want my gate (lateral movement) to be too close. When you are heel/toe-ing down from 5 to 4 to 3 in less than 2 seconds, I don’t want to accidentally find 2nd or 1st at that RPM because the gate is so close that I missed. It’s an easy way to see connecting rods without removing the oil pan. It’s just my 2 cents guys. Something shorter may work for you just fine.
True, changing the shifter won’t make this amount of change, but I also don’t feel the need for the shift to be that short on my street car. 45% (almost 50) reduction? So move the shifter from 1st to neutral and imagine that being the entire length of throw from 1st to 2nd. How quickly do you need to find that next gear?? I would not want a throw that short.
As to my track car, I don’t want my gate (lateral movement) to be too close. When you are heel/toe-ing down from 5 to 4 to 3 in less than 2 seconds, I don’t want to accidentally find 2nd or 1st at that RPM because the gate is so close that I missed. It’s an easy way to see connecting rods without removing the oil pan. It’s just my 2 cents guys. Something shorter may work for you just fine.
Cliff
FWIW, I retrofitted a 6MT 01E trans to my 2003 A4. I believe the gear end of the 01E is the same as the 968 trans. When the 01E was installed, I also installed an ECS Tuning short shift kit. I really like how the combo works. The throws are reasonably short longitudinally, but I don't think that kit changed the lateral movement since going from 4th to 5th has quite a bit of side movement. I understand your concern with shortening the lateral movement, but I've not found the lateral reduction in my S2 to be an issue, and in fact, like the reduced lateral throw.