Porsche Short Shifter Installed Today
 

My wife gave me a Porsche Short Shifter for my birthday. It arrived on Thursday and I installed it this afternoon. I really like the shorter throws and I also like the OEM smoothness of the shifter. As otrhers hace said, this is the way it should come from the factory.

I had installed a B&M short shifter on my '04 996 and, while I liked the shorter throws, I found it to be a little too mechanical and not quite as smooth as the OEM stock shifter.

Good to hear about the "OEM feel." I need to do this.

Back when I got my BMW E90 (1st stick shift in Atlanta BTW), they didn't really have after-market SSKs well-sorted. Bought one and my favorite indy shop had to do some fabrication to get the thing installed. The thing never felt better than "extremely notchy." Took three more years, but the linkage finally gave up the ghost and I had to limp to the shop in either 3rd or 4th gears only. Not fun sitting at a traffic light knowing I'll have to start off in 3rd.

Others have posted about it being a little tough going into first with a cold engine - what is your experience? Thanks.

How did the install go? time and difficulty?

What a nice wife Tim. We can both consider ourselves lucky in that department. It certainly helps with this obsession.

I have found it to be only slightly tougher initially.

The install went well and I followed these instructions 997.2 Center Console Removal DIY to remove the center console, which is from a GT3. There are a few very minor differences between the GT3 console and the Carrera/Carrera S console. The 997.2 console is quite different from the 996 console, mostly at the front end.

As for the time involved, I spent about 2 to 2.5 hours, but I took my time. I did have to remove the console a second time after it was about half way installed because I lost one of the spring clips which secures the "Passenger Air Bag Off" tab to the console. I ended up using one strip of electrical tape on the side of the missing spring clip to increase the thickness of the warning light housing so it would fit snugly into the center console.

Dave,

You are correct, on both counts.

Good to see you back here on the 997 Forum.

That's a lovely guesture from the wife. I had to buy my own and fitted it a couple of months ago. So pleased I did, the gear change has always been a bit tough on my car to get it into first and doesn't feel that much more difficult with the SSK. I love the shorter throw, wouldn't go back.

UPDATE: I forgot to add the measurements of the Porsche Short Shifter versus the stock shifter.

I took the measurements from the Trip Button to the center line (that goes side to side) on the shift knob. I measured the shifters in 3rd gear and 4 gear. Here are the results:

.......................................................[Stock Shifter..... Short Shifter
3rd Gear distance from Trip Button........ 4.125 inches........4.750 inches
4th Gear distance from Trip Button........ 9.000 inches........8.250 inches
Total "throw" distance from 3rd to 4th... 4.875 inches........3.500 inches

Total reduction in "throw" is 1.375 inches, which is a 28.2% reduction.

BTW, I absolutely LOVE the short shifter!

Glad you like it Tim....as you know, we like it too, though we are the primary distributors for the million-mile warranty, B&M Short Shifter for Porsche. The reductions are a bit more on the B&M so you get to about a 3" on 1st-2nd. Enjoy, drive safe, and get your arse to Charlotte.

:D

I keep reading about a little more difficulty getting into 1'st gear when cold. My '08 (not SS) goes into 1'st a little bit harder when cold, but the first to SECOND gear is pretty tough. Absolutely fine when warm. Anybody have this issue??

This is my favorite upgrade to the 997 so far.

Steven,

When my car/transmission is cold, going 1st to 2nd gear is more difficult. It was that way with the stock shifter, so it is not something that started after I installed the Short Shifter.

When cold, if I shift at lower RPMs like 2,500 to 3,000, I fee resistance when going into 2nd gear. I have found if I get to about 3,500 to 4,000 in 1st gear then shift into 2nd gear, the shift is much smoother.

I have an '07 C2S w/ factory-installed (when the car was new) SS, and yes, I can confirm that a 1-2 shift and a 2-1 shift is tough* (*not smooth, not to say "difficult") for the first ~5 minutes of driving in stop-and-go traffic in cold weather (I live in Washington DC). After the car is warmed up, however, it's fine.

I also have a hard time getting into first when it's cold outside. This seems to be getting worse as the car gets older.

2nd Gear
 

My 06 C2 was difficult to get into 2nd when cold, but smooth when warm as with yours. It would also find the 2nd gear syncro when cold or warm but only when short shifting (3k revs or so). Shift into 2nd at 4-7k, and it's smooth as silk. I had 2 factory reps drive the car, and they both said it was normal. That seemed strange, but ok. When looking for my current 08 C2S, I drove several 08 C2Ss and they all did the exact same thing, including the one I bought. So, to me, this is normal.

Andy

Thanks to all of the above posters.

All of my prior cars (with the exception of my wife's A4 Avant which is as smooth as silk at any temp) have been balky with the 1-2 shift while cold. As I do not rev my motor much past 2500 rpms for the first 1/2 mile in the morning (letting the motor warm a bit), I find it's a slow shift from 1 to 2 in the winter.

My comment was to point out that getting into first just aint that bad whether a short shift or stock, but the 1-2 which can be the balkiest (is this a word?) shift when cold.

Loved my short shifter in my old 996 - Tim's exuberance is making me think about putting it in my 997!

Do it.... DO it.... DO IT! :evilgrin:

Ok, so I had the same 1-2 issues for over a year... yesterday I took it in to a shop that had the shifter alignment tool, interestingly, the NEUTRAL position on mine was DEAD CENTER, while the tool pushed it out to the right by 0.25" or so.

Now, with this new alignment, I got BETTER 1-2 shifting for sure. BUT, getting into reverse sometimes harder and going into neutral is so far the right, it doesn't feel right somehow! :grr:

Love the short shifter. Thumbs up to your wife!

how tight is it?

I thought the move to 997 from 996 was a huge improvement as it was

I just had a B&M installed and got my car back on Saturday. I love it! Amazing difference. Only issue was my mechanic charged me two hours for the install. Not sure it should take that long.

Same here, my 08' Carrera S sometimes is difficult to fully engage in its 1st gear from dead start. In addition, engaging 2nd gear from very low speed, e.g., 5 mph, is also hard most of time. I wonder if a Porsche OEM short shifter may help in that regard? From a separate post, I learned that Porsche's Carrera and Carrera S are equipped with Japanese Aisin Seiki (Borg Warner) transmissions. They are actually made in Japan. Aisin uses steel synchromesh cones and 2nd gear in particular is known for troublesome. I am not sure the relevance of this info to Porsche short shifter. The last thing I want is investing on the Porsche short shifter but make no or minimal improvement to my gear shifting experience.

No, a short shifter will not help your issues with shifting to 1st or 2nd gear.

It should have come that way from Zuffenhausen.

When visiting Rennlist in 05 to educated on the 997 before I ordered I found that a great deal of the listers were either ordering the Short Shifter or installing it later. It gave me a chance to install it at the factory within my order.

When I drive a regular 997 without it I really notice the difference.