A.J. Merrifield

Last week when I was in CA I picked up a billet Short Shift Kit for my 997.1 Carrera S from Darin Fister over at F-D Motorsports. It's basically a knockoff of the B&M, and really a nice piece at a (REALLY) nice price.

I decided to install it last night, after doing a ton of research online, I thought I had it down as far as how to do it. I read a number of pages that showed how to do in the install without completely taking apart the console, just removing the front portion of it. Here's my advice on that, DON'T DO IT THAT WAY.

I'd planned on taking photos through the whole thing, but to be quite honest, I got so frustrated and ticked off I gave up on photographing it. So, to whit, here are my lessons learned and suggestions that I'd like to pass along to anyone looking to do the install, so hopefully you can avoid ending up :

1. Get yourself a trim removal kit. I got mine from USP Motorsports, and am very happy with it. It will save you a lot of headaches, pain, and broken clips.

2. Get some painters tape, and as you remove each trim piece, tape the screw next to the hole it came from. It will save you huge headaches later on when it comes time to reassemble things, you won't have to try to figure out which screw goes where.

3. Be VERY careful when pulling forward on the side trim on both sides of the center console. There are very sharp metal pieces that will shred your knuckles if you're not careful and cognizant of this. Side note: be sure to have Band-Aids readily available.

4. When you're pulling out the lower storage box on the center console push a trim removal tool into the top, there's a plastic bit (that you can't see) on it up top that needs to be leveraged down, or it will catch your panel that has the spoiler/PSM/Sport buttons and will pop the faceplate off and spew the guts of it all over your interior if you don't do this. Don't ask me how I learned this.

5. Contrary to a lot of instructions, don't JUST pull up on the shift ****, make sure you turn the plastic lock on it first (you can see it below the **** when you lift up the shift boot), it will come off pretty easily after that.

6. DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT attempt to install a short shift kit without removing the entire rear center console (from the shift boot through the storage area). There are a number of guides out there that say you can install it without doing so, but you'll waste more time than you'll save. I'm kicking myself for not just doing so in the first place. I probably spent an hour and a half trying to shoehorn stuff into a tiny little hole before I got too frustrated and gave up and just removed the whole console. Once I spent 5 minutes (literally, it only took five additional minutes) to remove the rear center console it only took me another 5-10 minutes to complete the installation. Definitely kicking myself for not doing that from the get-go.

7. Most instructions tell you to use needle nosed pliers to turn the original bushing as you use a utility knife to cut off each of the tabs. I had the best look actually using the needle nose pliers to just snap off each tab, it was quicker and easier than using the utility knife. I also found it easier to turn the original bushing by taking a screwdriver and placing it on the tabs on the outside edge and tapping it with the palm of my hand to get it to rotate. It sounds confusing, but you'll see what I'm talking about when you try it.

8. Do not be afraid to do this. It's actually a lot easier than it seems, especially once you remove the whole console. If you do that, there's no reason it should take over an hour, in my opinion. Driving the car now, the shifter now feels like a beautiful, well-oiled bolt action rifle, rather than some old piece of vague farm equipment. Definitely worth every penny.

Hope this helps some of y'all out there!

P0rsch3F113

Excellent, thanks for this!

Rocco07

Removing the center console was a pain. But after it was removed, the replacement of the linkage was a breeze. I can't imagine performing this surgery with the console in place.

A.J. Merrifield

LOL Boy, they really have the filter working overtime... I just realized it filtered the word "k n o b"...

iammulva

Good info - I'm glad I didn't find the instructions to do it with the console in place when I did mine. I'm like you - woulda probably tried the "shortcut" method.

Eric - Plug Guy

The B&M guidelines are superb...as is the product.

We offer it for those who may be interested. Hope yours is ok now....but yes, always remove console.

http://bmracing.com/wp-bnmcont/uploads/45135.pdf

stefang

#2! I think I spent an hour tracking down a wayward screw.

Additional note for people with cabs & Bose - remove the subwoofer bracket, so the console can slide forward.

A.J. Merrifield

+1 for the B&M shifter and for their guidelines. Since the shifter I used is a B&M clone, I used their instructions and it worked perfectly.

Oh, and I hear this place "BumperPlugs.com" (who happens to be a site sponsor) has great prices on the B&M shifter and pretty awesome customer service, too...

997_Toronto

How's the cost / reliability / performance compared to the B&M kit?

cvtbenhogan

" . . . 7. Most instructions tell you to use needle nosed pliers to turn the original bushing as you use a utility knife to cut off each of the tabs. I had the best look actually using the needle nose pliers to just snap off each tab, it was quicker and easier than using the utility knife. I also found it easier to turn the original bushing by taking a screwdriver and placing it on the tabs on the outside edge and tapping it with the palm of my hand to get it to rotate. It sounds confusing, but you'll see what I'm talking about when you try it. . . "

I used a one sided razor blade and tapping it with a small wrench.

A.J. Merrifield

I can't speak for the reliability yet (only had it in a few days), but cost is 1/2 that of the B&M and performance seems to be identical (considering it's a total clone, that's not surprising) to my friend's B&M SSK.

USMC_DS1

AJ, we can compare to my B&M when I get back in town this upcoming week. Good job on the install.

997_Toronto

Can u pls PM me with Darin's details, I'm interested in getting this kit for my 2007 Carrera. Thanks.

A.J. Merrifield

Got together with USMC_DS1 today, and we got a chance to back-to-back compare my car's SSK with his B&M SSK. Long story short, we both liked elements of the other shift kit, but are happy with both.

Side note, I got my Dectane rear LEDs in today. LOVE LOVE LOVE love 'em. Totally changes the look of the car, really updates it, especially in conjunction with the LED DRLs. I think I just might have USMC_DS1 talked into getting 'em, too. Also, learned something: I was staring at them tonight thinking "What the hell is wrong with them? Why is the left one so much brighter??" As USMC_DS1 and I stared at them, talking about how to let Dectane know there was a problem and trying to figure out what was causing it (we both agreed it was probably a resister going bad), I had a thought and checked, and yup, sure enough, I had the rear fog warning light on. DOH. LOL Once I turned off that, everything was hunky-dory. LOVE them.

997_Toronto

Can you turn the rear fog warning light on and off? Is that option only in certain models?