e90steve

Just got finished with the install of the standard 997 Shift kit in my 996. Pretty easy once you get the guts to take everything apart. The alignment tool is pretty useless, but with a DIY picture guide it took about 2 hours as advertised. Glad I didn't have to pay a porsche wrench to do it.

Overall Impressions:
It's OK. Not the "completely different experience" it's been sold as. The shifter itself is possibly a bit shorter, but can't really tell. The shifts are marginally more crisp vs the stock 996, but not huge difference. The throw is possibly a hair quicker. I got a new 997 shifter for free, so for me yes this was worth it, but I wouldn't drop $250 on the new kit personally. Maybe worth it if you find one used in good shape for around $100.

My 996 shifter didn't really bother me in the first place. Maybe a little notchy in 1st when cold so will see if that improves, but overall don't expect the world of this mod. It's worth it if you get a 997 shifter cheap, but if you really want a shorter throw I would skip it and go 997 SSK. I've driven a 997 with SSK and it is much different than stock 996 or 997. I don't think the 997 SSK is necessarily an improvement, but it is different. With the 997 SSK I had trouble anticipating the timing of the shorter throw, which threw my pedal action off. So 997 standard works better for me from that aspect.

Check another mod off the done list. Lol.

jllphan

cds72911

professorman

I am looking for this shifter as well. A friend who did this mod allowed me to feel his shifts, and it felt a lot better than mine. My friend got his for $70 and said that there was a bunch of them when he bought his for that, I am trying to find one around that price range, but I am having a hard time finding it at the price point that I want.

dporto

E90Steve's comments are right on target. I've had stock shifter, 997 ssk, B&M ssk, and now the Numeric Racing ssk & cables. All the changes were incremental (a little better each time with a little bigger change to the B&M from 997ssk) until I put the Numeric with the cables in - literally night and day. Pretty amazing really, albeit expensive ( I paid around $900).

e90steve

You can usually find them all over ebay used for about $100. Keep checking.

Heres one for $135 on ebay

e90steve

What about the numeric "Feels" different. If you could describe it, what would it be?

e90steve

Also out of curiosity, what do these gray rubber bands over the springs do? My 996 shifter did not have these, but the 997 shifter kit assembly did. Picture is not my car just for example.

shootermcgavin

having had a 987 cayman with factory ssk, i'd say hold off and get something like the numeric, i didn't find what i had to be particularly impressive.

cds72911

It is direct, positive, crisp, tight and a lot like a bolt action rifle action.

dan_189

I went from a sloppy 996 to standard 997 and thought it was fantastic - still think its a very worthy upgrade and great bang for buck.

Although now I'm chasing the next best thing which I guess is the numeric. The want for the next best thing never stops... Ugh

rockhouse66

I agree. I found the upgrade to be quite noticeable with respect to the shorter throw. The "feel" however, is unchanged. If you want a really mechanical click-click experience, I think you need to do something other than the 997 upgrade. Very happy I did the 997 upgrade on my car and not dying for something better.

dan_189

I'd have to hunt out a really good deal on the numeric as there are other mods that could take priority Although I do want one i'll stick with the 997 for now.

997 GT3 with metal bushings would be another option but essentially its just an upgraded version material wise - AFAIK the throw is the same unless you go 997 SSK. F1 ball bearing is an option but at the price you might as well move on the 997 shifter before hacking into it irreversibly.

dporto

^^This^^...

dporto

I don't think it gets any better than the Numeric - it's really that good, albeit expensive...