[Mig]

Hello.

I did the clutch on my 1999 Boxster along with a few other jobs (IMS bearing, RMS, new flywheel, slave cylinder, AOS, rear struts, spark plug tubes, front motor mount). Everything works well except I can't get into 1st gear - regardless if the engine is on or off.

I tried figuring out what the problem could be by having someone in the car go through the gears (engine off) while I looked at the transmission end of the cables to see what was going on.

I was able to get the transmission into first gear if I pushed up, with a fair amount of force, on the top of the connecting rod (98642493106). Pushing up on the connecting rod allowed the shaft to rotate the little bit that was needed to get into gear. This got me thinking that one of the cables needed adjustment since the rod was not moving far enough.

I took off the centre console and adjusted the side-to-side cable to make it longer. No joy. Still could't get into 1st gear. I tried shortening it too in case my thinking was backwards. Still no luck.

I went back and had another look at the transmission end of the cables. Even with the cable lengthened, there was no further movement of the connecting rod because the rod was hitting the stop and couldn't move further up.

It looks like the connecting rod is simply too short and needs to be lengthened. The factory rod has no adjustment, but the replacement rod does. I'm ready to buy the part and see how it works, but I've got a week to wait until it shows up.

There is one final option I am considering - repositioning the clamp on the transmission shaft. Is it possible that the clamp's position was altered in the process of removing and reinstalling the gearbox? I don't know. Anyone ever take this clamps off? Is it splined?

Has anyone ever had this problem before? I've searched everywhere and nothing turned up. This has me wondering if I've missed something.

Thanks.