Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

Take a look at only 944.com kyles short shift reduces throw by 30% side by side and front to rear.

They also sell a bush kit that eliminates slop at the front.

I have fitted the short shifter and tie bar and it has been a great upgrade at a very reasonable price.


Regards

Mark

Thanks all for your replies and links.
I'm just used to a shorter throw is all its probably normal for a Porsche 944 but I'm just spoiled with a very short shift.

It's the sloppiness I want to sort for sure and figured a short shifter would fix that.

But on looking today it's fairly obvious the issue.
Below click the video. It's about 3 inches of side to side travel. In gear!



Gonna try a brass bush fix I've seen as its the cheapest and easiest I've seen so far.
Requires drilling the shaft but that will make it cylindrical again too.
Other option is someone used a door hinge pin and brass bushes either side of the shaft.
Requires the original worn pin off the shifter grinding off.

The gear shift sloppiness is usual on the 944. Mine was also pretty bad. I sorted mine in three parts: I reduced the gear shaft height by about one inch. Removed the lateral welded pin and replaced it with a shamfered bolt (no drilling required), spring washer and nyloc nut. The rear end is the Only944 short shift - easy to fit and a huge difference...



Pic is the DIY stubby gear shift - makes for a nice set-up...

Dave
CT

Or grind the weld off the pin and knock it out, weld in a bolt with the correct dia with a nyloc nut and washers to adjust the side play. You can wrap ali shim off a drinks can around the pin as a short term fix.

The 'short shift' is a bit on a misnomer - it just makes every gear change a lot more solid with confidence, without the bagginess of mistaking another gear and blowing your gearbox up...

Dave
CT

This is not a bad idea the Ali can as shim stock.

When everyone says about a bolt, won't the thread on the bolt in the hole make wear even worse? Or do I need to find a bolt with no thread most of the wAy up like a cv bolt. Issue being there is finding one where it's exactly the same length of the shift rod cylinder.

Gonna pick up some brass tube from a hobby store tomorrow. 4quid for 12".
Just need a 7/16 drill to fit it.

But may just try and wrap it with a strip of coke can for now.

Where did you cut the shifter ? Do you have pics of this? Or just literally saw off the top?
Do you happen to know the size of bolt required here? I guess if I had a shifter with a good pin I'd measure that.

Perhaps the end of the pin where the other side of the circlip shouldn't be worn. It's not in the shaft at all.

http://www.ehadesign.com/~dsmith/shift-fix.htm

This looks like the bolt fix. 10mm bolt. I can use the brass tube over this also to be a sacrificial bushing.

People have said to do the brass tube bushing to a brand new shifter anyway. But I'm so cheap I don't wanna buy a new one. A piece of brass tube 12" long is £4.
A bolt will be pennies and welding is free.
And to buy a 7/16" drill bit is about £2.

I'll have a go and post results.
But like suggested I may jam some coke can in there for now to de-slop it before I have all the other bits.

Hi Rabbit -

The modifications re the pics that you have posted are correct, that is what I basically did with mine. It must be noted that you NOT overtighten the shank bolt, as it must have forward rotation play ever slightly against the shift linkage. I used one nyloc nut/washer with a couple of drops of blue loctite, just to be sure.

As regards the gear shaft itself, this was done with an angle grinder in situ. Loads of cloth material to catch the sparks. The gear shift (ie the knob assembly) is untouched and fits over the shortened metal shaft. You will need to secure this however by at least one bolt/nyloc to make the shaft secure and some bulking material to make it feasible.

Dave
CT

Hi Rabbit -

Only one pic of the lowered gear shift mod. Lower pin shows the nyloc nut against the shank bolt...


Dave