NP993

This morning I installed the short shift kit I bought from Sunset a couple of weeks ago. The instructions in the archives are great, although going into the project I thought everything was going to be more complex than it actually was. If you're going to do this, I suggest you print out a couple of the DIY threads, get your car up in the air, and start taking things apart. As soon as you see everything for yourself you'll realize how easy it is.

A couple of random thoughts:

1. The only part of the interior that needs to be removed is the shift ****.

2. I used a 19mm open-ended wrench to pop the rear shift rod cup off the shift lever ball, and a simple c-clamp to reinstall it. Piece of cake.

3. Get new bushings. The four you need cost two bucks total.

4. When you're in the reassembly phase, don't forget to pull the rubber boot back over the rear shift rod *before* you attach the rod. Ask me how I know.

5. After you've got everything back together, test out the shifter feel. Note that the shifter throw is shorter going into the 2-4-6 direction than in the 1-3-5. The new parts change the geometry slightly, and this problem can be remedied by popping the front shift rod cup off its ball, loosening the jam nut, and extending the length of the rod by exactly two turns. Now it'll be perfect.

6. I reproduced the feel of the RS shift rod in a very simple manner, and I don't understand why there has been so much discussion of this -- it takes five minutes. The reason why there's slop in the stock rod is not really because of the rubber cushion, but rather because there is open space intentionally designed into the coupler on either side of the rubber cushion (this will make perfect sense when you have it in your hands). What I did is insert washers on both sides of the rubber piece such that when I bolted the coupler back together, all the slop was taken out, and the rubber cushion, instead of acting as a flexible part of the coupler, was sandwiched tightly between both ends of the coupler assembly and now only serves as a vibration dampener. By adding four washers to the coupler, I'd estimate that conservatively I took 85 percent of the slop out of it. And there is NO vibration. Why anyone would pay $450 (or whatever it costs) for the factory RS piece is beyond me.

7. The feel of the shifter now is absolutely phenomenal. This is by far the best mod I've done to the car yet, and for well under a hundred bucks. The shift **** now sits about an inch higher than before, which ergonomically is a tremendous improvement. And the feel is simply perfect -- a mechanical click-click-click through the gears. The shifter feels just like the shifter in my friend's 997 GT3, only with slightly longer throws.

All told this was a few hours of work. It would have gone more quickly if I hadn't made a couple of boneheaded mistakes that cost me reassembly time. Having now experienced the before and after, I'll say that if you haven't done these mods, you're really missing out.

jimhsu

#7: the "short shift" sits an inch higher than before....is this right? Should it be lower?

Is the "short" part the throw or the shifter? I would think longer shifter also equals longer throw....I am clearly confused.

One more question: will this work on a 993 turbo?

NP993

Yes, this is right. Ergonomically it is far superior. Check out any NASCAR car -- the shift **** is a few inches away from the steering wheel. For track use, IMHO, the stock height of the 993 shifter is too low. The Porsche factory obviously thought so too.

The throw. All other things being equal, a longer shifter equals longer throws. But in this case all things aren't equal, and the shifter is both taller and provides for a shorter throw.

jimhsu

thanks! Taller shifter and shorter throw....would not have known that otherwise.

jdistefa

Noah,
Thx for your post. I already have the RS shifter, but am looking to fix the dreaded rod slop - so your comments were interesting. I may PM you when I get around to pulling the thing apart.

Rick Lee

Noah, why the hell didn't you tell me you were doing this? I really, really want to do this. How much were all the parts? I had a ball in my garage today, changing final drive and gearbox oil on the bike, overtorquing a wheel lug and having the torx bit break off and stick in the lug. Lots of fun. Tomorrow I chase down vacuum leaks in the 993.

NP993

RL, I just got back but am up in VT right now. Obviously I would have called you if I was in town!

The short shift kit was something like $60 from Sunset. The washers were a buck or two from Ace hardware (my local Ace has a phenomenal hardware selection). I'll be back in town in a week -- so order the kit on Monday (be sure to get the four new bushings) and we'll put it together next weekend. Doing it a second time, it'll take under two hours.

Bill Verburg

Good job, But you know the rules
"this thread is worthless w/o pictures"

Texas993

Good timing as I plan to attack this mod in the next couple of weeks.

Thanks for posting.

TheOtherEric

If I had this to do over again, I would have bought the Weltmeister (?) kit that comes with the spherical rod ends. A friend of mine lost shifting when a plastic bushing in the front "stabilizer" bar failed. A week later, the same thing happened to me. We had both installed the RS short shift parts, so I wonder if that process can be hard on those plastic bushings. The risk of failure isn't worth it when a far superior solution exists for very little more money.

NP993

Did you use new bushings? How exactly did they fail, and which ones? These bushings aren't like the ones I'm used to on the older 911's (the old ones are large and thick).

TheOtherEric

At the bottom of the shift rod, there's a ball. This ball sits in a plastic bushing on the "stabilizer bar", which runs forward. The front end of this bar has another plastic bushing mated to steel ball again. Either of these bushings can (and do) fail. Both the 964 and 993 use the same parts here.

You can only replace both bushings if you buy the entire new rod; around $130 IIRC. But why bother if you can get the weltmeister kit for just a bit more that has joints that'll never fail. Just my 2c.

NP993

Ah, those bushings. Did you guys grease everything up before pressing the assemblies back together? That kind of bushing is a fairly common item on cars. I wonder if it's a standard, or common, sized bushing?

Texas993

Thanks Noah for the advice.

I too my car to RUF today to have the RS shifter installed. I showed Bob your suggestion above and he liked it. So he added washers. So now you know that RUF agrees with you - or is just humoring their customer. Either way, this upgrade provides a huge improvemet. 1 hour labor at RUF and $75 in parts, not bad at all.

rol607

Guys,
When you go to reattach the lower tray, etc the new shifter is LONGER than the original thus needing more room.
My Porsche mechanic at the dealer is struggling with getting everything back together after the install.

Any advice would be much appreciated.