short shift kits, yes/no?

[Boxstard]

Originally Posted by dghii

Coming from a 914, anything might feel ok!

My first test drive in a Boxster was a really nice, low mile '99 back in 2004. My previous cars had been a Miata, a '99 Z3. I loved the Boxster except the shifting felt so sloppy and vague I thought that there was something wrong. It stuck with me and I later found, through reading and driving other Boxsters, that my experience was the norm.

When I finally bought my car in 2008, I enjoyed everything about the car and got use to the shifter. A few years ago, my boys bought me a short shifter for Christmas . After install, I was amazed at the difference and how much 'newer' my car felt.

Heck of an upgrade!

It's all relative, heck it also has 2 more cylinders with almost twice as much power, AC and automatic top, so what really to complain???

Other manual cars that I owned are 73 Beatle (with Scat short shifter), 74 Volvo (with a weird overdrive switch on the shifter), 80's VW Fox and 91 Saab, nothing fancy... By far my 914 with tail shifter tranny is the worst of all that trained me well to live with any shifters and lowered my standard... but it made me feel skillful operating that funky mechanical device!

[square-root]

I just had a B&M 45135 installed on my '00 Boxster S—first reaction: WOW, this is how it was meant to be driven!

[jaykay]

I have a B+M for sale....already mounted. It should still be in the for sale section.

[BRAN]

I'm gonna get the Factory short shifter kit on Thursday...my P-service guy had to dig deep into the system to find one...lol

Can check mark that one on my to-do list

[That986]

987 shifter and knob in mine, far better than stock.

[fridsten]

Damn! Now you guys got me looking for a 9X7 shifter... :P

[JayG]

The 9x7 shifter is a little shorter than the stock 9x6 shifter and works well

[Ciao]

Originally Posted by BRAN

I'm gonna get the Factory short shifter kit on Thursday...my P-service guy had to dig deep into the system to find one...lol

Can check mark that one on my to-do list

Interesting. I did not know there was such a thing. Where can you get a "factory short shifter kit"? I'm thinking going factory as much as possible leaves less collateral damage in terms of post-functional performance

[jakeru]

When someone says "factory short shifter" in the context of a 986 Boxster there are actually at least four different parts they may be referring to.

The picture shows three of them:


1. On left we have the standard 9x7 shift console, a factory Porsche part which reduces the front-to-back and side-to-side throws by about 15% vs the 986 shifter. Note the black plastic middle piece, and steel part that bolts to the side. (This is white plastic on the 9x6 shift console.)

2. At middle in the picture, we have the 997GT3.2 factory shift console (not Tequipment or aftermarket). It has the same geometry (and throw reduction) as the standard 9x7 console, but replaces the "rubbery" feeling, (and prone enough to wear that by about 100k miles, they will almost certainly be "shot") hard plastic+polyurethane bushings with tighter, and longer-lasting solid metal bushings. You won't be able to shift in a straight line diagonally across gates anymore like you can do with the more rubbery plastic+polyurethane bushings, so it feels different.

3. At right in the picture above, we have one of two different "genuine Porsche aftermarket" Tequipment short shifter kits which Porsche has sold aftermarket as replacement "upgrade" part. Note the blue plastic piece, substituting for the black plastic piece of the 9x7 shift console. This provides the exact same side-to-side throw as the 9x7 shifter, but reduces the front-to-rear throw significantly more than the 9x7. It has the same plastic and polyurethane bushings as the factory 9x6 console and standard 9x7 console.

Supposedly Porsche offered at least one other Tequipment aftermarket short shift kit, and the one linked to below seems to be what most inexpensive, generic aftermarket "short shifters" are attempting to copy:
Porsche Short Shifter - PelicanParts.com.

This has more aggressive throw reduction than the 9x7 console, although I'm sure exactly how it compares to the blue plastic tequipment version. I think both of the aftermarket Tequipment consoles are the most aggressive in front-rear throw reduction than any factory (non-aftermarket) options.

Hope the info helps. Best of luck!

[That986]

Originally Posted by fridsten

Damn! Now you guys got me looking for a 9X7 shifter... :P

Probably the best mod i've done to my car. Far more positive action, just feels like it should.

[BRAN]

The "factory kits" the P-service guy found were:

997 424 983 00 ( for > MY04 / 987 upwards) -- Tequipment I think
and 000 044 700 26 -- I will see what they finally installed in mine

[BRAN]

Originally Posted by BRAN

The "factory kits" the P-service guy found were:

997 424 983 00 ( for > MY04 / 987 upwards) -- Tequipment I think
and 000 044 700 26 -- I will see what they finally installed in mine

HALLELUJAH...what a difference!
This was money well invested. So precise, so short, so fast, ... snapping into gears...just wow.
Lets the stock shifter appear like from a 1972 VW Beetle

[Ben006]

Factory Porsche short shifter! Nice!

Just to let you guys know, I'm back in the game!

I have plenty of shifter that will be ready before next weekend, no pre-order this time


Ben