Short Shift Kit Advice?

[roadracer311]

Today I un-installed my $60 ebay short shifter and installed my 987 short shifter (the shorter of the two 987 shifters).

The new shifter is definitely nicer. It shifts much smoother than the ebay shifter. It also has a lot less play to it. Even when my ebay shifter was in gear it still had about an inch of side to side play. The new shifter had less than half that much play when in gear.

Since the 987 short shifter is around $350 I can't say it's a better bang-for-the-buck upgrade than buying the ebay shifter. But if you've got $350 burning a hole in your pocket and you want the best possible shift feel... I think this is it.

[dmcutter]

I was all set to buy the 9x7 short shifter but I changed my mind and spent the money on another pistol (one o' them there hi cap jobs you can't get in CA). Truth to tell, I like my 6 spd just fine. I once read a Boxster review that described the shifter as having the precision of a rifle bolt, and I think it feels very much like that. If I rush it sometimes 3rd is a little hard to find, but on balance I couldn't justify spending $350 for the shifter.

[Christeon]

I bought a cheap clone off ebay and replaced the pivot Bolt with a shoulder bolt that made the center portion tight and smooth the rest was good.

[Blue-S]

Add another satisfied customer for the 9x7 short shifter. The shifting is very direct and smooth, with a reasonable increase in effort. It's the way the car should have left the factory!

My stock 65K mile shifter had some play in the crossover (left-right) portion of the shifter itself, due to wear in the plastic parts. That is probably a key reason why the short-shift kits that just replace the lever itself do not reduce play in the system: they re-use the shifter base and the white plastic rectangular crossover lever with its link.

It was my first time removing a console from a Boxster, but I had the job done in less than 2 hours, including time spent cleaning the console and repairing one of the shifter cable tabs. I marked the cables where they entered the adjustment sleeves, instead of removing the sockets from the end of the levers. This way, I could keep the new parts on the shifter instead of re-using the worn pieces from the old shifter. Actually, the shifter was nearly new: I bought the 9x7 short shifter as a used piece from an ad on the Pelican Parts message board for only $200 shipped!