"Fools rush in" they say.

Maybe I'm a fool?

Together with my Wrench, I tried to install the OEM RS Short Shift lever and rod on my Carrera 4 yesterday.

Everything went well, easy peasy, until we had to make the required "dimple" in the panel that covers the transmission tunnel.

Dimple? Dimple my backside!!! It's a bloody crater!!

After much blow-torching and hammering, we gave up and decided to cut out a hole to accommodate the RS gear lever.

We will now make a tear-drop-shaped cover, and solder it over the hole in the panel.

When seeing that the ground clearance of the car is reduced by 2 cm, right in the middle of the car, pretty much spot in the middle between the rear and front axles, I am getting worried about hitting speed bumps, going over rough country tracks, etc.

As my car has the factory OEM lowered sport suspension, it is already quite low.

Maybe I should re-install the normal lever, and stick with the RS Rod?

That should take care of the slop in the gear shift, while maintaining the ground clearance.

And I would have to live with the normal throw of the lever.

What do you think?

 

jenskleis, I think you can install the RS shifter w/o dimpling the tunnel. You can rotate the oem shift tube bearing sleeve (2 required # 26 in the pet diagram) 180 degrees, this moves the slider (#2&3 in the PET diagram) and new RS shifter about 3/4" higher than oem. I cut about 3/4" of the top of the new RS shifter which lowers the **** to the right placement.

Good luck!

Bob-

 

^^Problem solved!

 

Just turn it 180 degrees as other have said. I had the same issue and once we turned it everything fit perfectly.

Mike

 

No,no,no....
A C4 is different. The guide "pipe" (#27) is not movable. it is in the torque tube. That is a picture of a C2 not C4 shift assy. That is why you have to dimple the tunnel cover.

 

Look for a B&M short shifter. It is a different design and I believe will work with the c4.

I pulled one out of my car to install the rs and had to flip the guide tube. (Sold it though)

Pete

 

Mister Fister D would know. As mine was a C2.

Mike

 

Here is a pic of the guide pipe inside the torque tube.
You can use the RS SS lever, but you do need to modify the tunnel cover.

 

oops...my bad....better get the sawzall out

Thanks for setting me straight Darin

 

By the way Darin ... your car is really really nice example ...
looks pristine !!

I havent washed my car .... in 6 months . .... (i dont use it much either ..)

 

Thanks for the feed-back everybody!

I guess I will have to make the dimple, give it a try and see how the car clears the speed bumps.

Have a great Independence Weekend!!!

 

An oval hole of ~115mm wide and 50mm long is required to clear a SSK on a C4(S) ....... there is more lateral movement than longitudinal, especially on the right side of the tunnel cover as the lever is slapped hard left ( above) to select reverse.

The pics are of my "development" cover, one a bit rough as it was recovered from a wrecked chassis .... but it worked so well, I left it on the car.

Regards a cover, I hammered one out of lighter gauge metal, and set it in place with 4 sheet metal screws: aluminized tape sealed the joints.
At -ROW Sport lowered height, I've only crunched the cover once ...... and that was due to an extreme situation unlikely to ever be repeated. The point being is that as it was screwed on, the repair was easy.

 

Brilliant idea Garth!

Thanks a lot!

I think I will go the same way as you