Early 911 shifting vagueness.
11-29-2003, 07:03 PM
#1
Instructor
Thread Starter
Early 911 shifting vagueness.
I have a 70 911 equipped with a late model 915 transmission. I have some trouble with in-precise shifting, especially when up-shifting and down-shifting into third gear. I have spent a lot of time playing with the alignment adjustments, replaced the shifter coupling assembly (Stayed w/ Stock OEM Part) and replaced the transmission and engine mounts with Porsche Sport Mounts, and replaced the plastic cup bushing on the ball of the shift lever. The upgrades and re-adjustments have improved the situation but it is still too vague for me. I purposely stayed away from a factory short shift kit because it seemed to me all that you get from shortening the shifter is additional effort required to shift and less lever to provide feedback when shifting.
I have looked at some of the products that WEVO and FABCAR offer to resolve the provlems with vague shifting I've described but some of them, especially the Wevo internal "Shift Gate " are pretty pricey and require a lot of work to install.
Before I spend the money and start doing upgrades that require dropping the transmission, does any one have any other ideas that I may not have considered? Any one with first hand experience with any of either the Wevo or Fabcar Products? Look forward to your feed back, Thanks.
I have looked at some of the products that WEVO and FABCAR offer to resolve the provlems with vague shifting I've described but some of them, especially the Wevo internal "Shift Gate " are pretty pricey and require a lot of work to install.
Before I spend the money and start doing upgrades that require dropping the transmission, does any one have any other ideas that I may not have considered? Any one with first hand experience with any of either the Wevo or Fabcar Products? Look forward to your feed back, Thanks.
11-29-2003, 08:31 PM
#2
I'd like to hear what everyone else has to say, but I'll throw in my limited experience:
I too have a '70 with a later 915, this one equipped with the factory short shift kit by the PO. I simply couldn't drive the thing at the track- much too easy to blow the shifts, way too vague. After one on track experience I upgraded with the wevo shifter. This alone was a huge improvement, and even though it is very expensive I can only recommend it. My particular box was tired and in need of synchros, so it was still not "good enough", but it was certainly very drivable.
I recently had a part let go that screwed up my LSD, so I needed to take the box apart. While it's apart and getting "freshened" I've decided to go with both the internal gateshift and PSJ. I eventually found a number of threads about the gateshift, including one guy that claimed his gateshift equipped fresh 915 put a G50 to shame. I don't know about that, but I'll have my car back on the road before X-mass; if you can hold on that long I'll let you know. I'll add my voice to the list of people supporting the wevo shifter now, though. It clearly made the car much more fun for me to drive, and on that basis alone it was worth it to me.
I too have a '70 with a later 915, this one equipped with the factory short shift kit by the PO. I simply couldn't drive the thing at the track- much too easy to blow the shifts, way too vague. After one on track experience I upgraded with the wevo shifter. This alone was a huge improvement, and even though it is very expensive I can only recommend it. My particular box was tired and in need of synchros, so it was still not "good enough", but it was certainly very drivable.
I recently had a part let go that screwed up my LSD, so I needed to take the box apart. While it's apart and getting "freshened" I've decided to go with both the internal gateshift and PSJ. I eventually found a number of threads about the gateshift, including one guy that claimed his gateshift equipped fresh 915 put a G50 to shame. I don't know about that, but I'll have my car back on the road before X-mass; if you can hold on that long I'll let you know. I'll add my voice to the list of people supporting the wevo shifter now, though. It clearly made the car much more fun for me to drive, and on that basis alone it was worth it to me.
11-30-2003, 08:22 PM
#3
Instructor
Thread Starter
Your story sounds like I'm talking to myself the commonalities are so frequent. I have never driven a short shift kit that felt even as good as the standard shifter. I've done everything possible to the stock linkage. bushings, coupler, adjustments and Swepco Gear Oil. the results have been meager at best. I've missed too many 3rd gear shifts on the track to have any confidence in keeping my transmission intact without some drastic gesture. When I upgraded to the 915, I had my mechanic completely re-built the 915 with all new R&p, 1st-4th gear sets, slider, bushings, and synchros... way too much money in this box to risk it all on a sloppy shift. Did you make the internal upgrades yourself? how would you rate the difficulty of the installation of the Gate shift unit? I'm a decent home shop mechanic but I've never done a transmission and am a little hesitant to tackle the job personally without some competent feed back on the level of difficulty. Did you use the WEVO shift coupler in your upgrade? I noticed that even a brand new OEM Porsche coupler has a substantial ammount of movement in it.
11-30-2003, 09:00 PM
#4
I have not yet done the gateshift, so I don't know how difficult it is to do. I have heard, however, that it can be VERY tricky with the transmission in the car- enough so that I would not try that myself. The guys at wevo are good at it, but I’ve heard of at least one regular mechanic giving up after trying pretty hard. Given that the transmission is out and being rebuilt I'm going to have my mechanic put it in.
I did put the wevo shifter in, and that was very straightforward. I am going to use the wevo PSJ coupler as well.
In your position, with a fresh box, I would suggest you try the wevo shifter by itself first if possible. I have heard that the wevo PSJ gives only limited bang for the buck over a fresh factory coupler, and to tell you the truth there seemed to be very little play in the shift linkage in my car with just the shifter installed- I was quite surprised. I suspect I would have been pretty happy with it that way alone if the box was fresher. I’m doing the gateshift and PSJ party “because I’m in there”. In your situation I might try just the shifter alone to see if I could hold on until the transmission needs to come out.
On the other hand I’ve heard the wevo guys and some other say the gateshift is the “single biggest upgrade” to the 915, more significant than the shifter. Based on that I am expecting good things. I’ll let you know in a couple weeks.
I did put the wevo shifter in, and that was very straightforward. I am going to use the wevo PSJ coupler as well.
In your position, with a fresh box, I would suggest you try the wevo shifter by itself first if possible. I have heard that the wevo PSJ gives only limited bang for the buck over a fresh factory coupler, and to tell you the truth there seemed to be very little play in the shift linkage in my car with just the shifter installed- I was quite surprised. I suspect I would have been pretty happy with it that way alone if the box was fresher. I’m doing the gateshift and PSJ party “because I’m in there”. In your situation I might try just the shifter alone to see if I could hold on until the transmission needs to come out.
On the other hand I’ve heard the wevo guys and some other say the gateshift is the “single biggest upgrade” to the 915, more significant than the shifter. Based on that I am expecting good things. I’ll let you know in a couple weeks.
