Shifter Improvement Suggestions Wanted

[Sandy G]

I have a nice 2000 Boxster S with 45,000 miles and everything works great! The main thing I want to improve is the shifting. It works fine, but there are a couple of issues I’d like to address:

1. When the engine is cold, the first shift into 2nd gear is a little balky. No grinding, just kinda stiff going from 1st into 2nd. After it warms up, it shifts ok into any gear. My solution is to start the engine and then row thru the gears before I drive away, and then my first shifts while driving feel better.
2. Overall, the shifting feels “thick,” both when cold and fully warmed up. There’s a fair amount of slop in the shifter, too. One time I drove another 986, probably with an aftermarket shifter, that felt great – nice and snappy and tight – so I know mine could be a lot better.

Here are the options that come to mind:

• Use an alignment tool to adjust the shift cables. Cheap, just time consuming.
• Clean and regrease the shifter while I’m in there. What lubricant should I use?
• Replace the shifter with a new one of the same type, or a short shifter, or from a different model Porsche.
• Replace the cables. Living in a condo, I’m pretty limited on work I can do without taking it into the shop, so this would be a little pricey.
• Drain and replace the transaxle fluid. This would also need to be done in the shop.

Any thoughts? I prefer to keep it close to stock and I don’t want to spend a whole lot on a minor issue. Thanks in advance for any comments or suggestions!

[A 986 S]

First off, I think that any Boxster will be a bit reluctant to shift until the transmission warms up. It's just the nature of the beast. Your solution to address this seems to be right on.

My Boxster didn't shift as well as I'd like when I bought it. Installing one of Ben's short shifters made a big improvement. Shifts now feel shorter and more precise. The exact shifter that I installed doesn't appear to be available any more but this - https://www.uniwerksdesign.com/product/bens-porsche-996-986-short-shifter/ - appears to be his current version. Installing the new shifter really wasn't that difficult, you can see how I did it here - https://rx19jones.wixsite.com/projectboxster/projectboxster2

I changed the transaxle fluid in my car as part of its routine maintenance and didn't notice that it made any difference in the way it shifted. It's possible that changing the fluid would improve the way your car shifts but frankly, I'd be surprised.

Good luck getting your Boxster to shift the way you'd like. Do let us know what you decide to do.