997 Shifter on sale at Suncoast.

[blue2000s]

Originally Posted by AWay

Same, $169.99. I think regularly it's $180 thought it says on their site.

How did you like the upgrade? I also have an 03 S and think my stock shifter is quite poor. The shifts aren't smooth, sometimes they're clunky and I feel the gates could be better defined. Hoping the 997 shifter would remedy the situation.

There might be one of a few things going on with your shifter.

1. Shift action becomes more difficult when the front motor mount deteriorates due to cable routing.

2. The 2nd gear syncro on our transmissions has a tenancy to wear out. The gears will tend to grind a little going into second, especially cold, or will even pop out in extreme cases.

3. The bushings in the shift lever wear out, making the shift action "sloppy". The new shifter will fix this.

The shorter shift mechanism of the 987/997 does not make shifts smoother or less notchy than the 986/996 mechanism if both mechanisms are in good shape. The 987/997 mechanism shortens the shift and actually increases the actuation force a bit, but not to levels that most of us would find objectionable.

[turbo23dog]

I ordered one this morning.

[AWay]

Originally Posted by blue2000s

There might be one of a few things going on with your shifter.

1. Shift action becomes more difficult when the front motor mount deteriorates due to cable routing.

2. The 2nd gear syncro on our transmissions has a tenancy to wear out. The gears will tend to grind a little going into second, especially cold, or will even pop out in extreme cases.

3. The bushings in the shift lever wear out, making the shift action "sloppy". The new shifter will fix this.

Nice info regarding the motor mount. I wasn't aware of that. It definitely feels "grindy" going into 2nd and oddly enough 2nd gear has popped out twice now... This isn't sounding good for me. Are either of those two items easily replaceable? The motor mount sounds it, but the synchro does not.

Oh and I ordered the 997 shifter just now as well.

[blue2000s]

Originally Posted by AWay

Nice info regarding the motor mount. I wasn't aware of that. It definitely feels "grindy" going into 2nd and oddly enough 2nd gear has popped out twice now... This isn't sounding good for me. Are either of those two items easily replaceable? The motor mount sounds it, but the synchro does not.

Oh and I ordered the 997 shifter just now as well.

Motor mount is a pretty simple job, especially if you have ramps and a jack.

Syncros, as you guessed, is not a small job. Porsche used to replace transmissions, they now rebuild, I think. there are other companies that now rebuild our transmissions too. You can get different gear ratios and they probably upgrade the syncros too.

http://www.****************************************.com/ShowItem/208345%20Porsche%20Boxster%20Rebuilt%20Transmissio n.aspx

http://www.motormeister.com/suz/trans/clutch_trans.htm

Hopefully the new shifter takes care of your issue.

[clickman]

I've always been more interested in the 9x7 SHORT shifter - tighter and shorter yet not too stiff.

Previously the best price I could find was about $450, but I see Suncoast are now offering it for $290. Financial issues at the moment (i.e. no job) prevent me from going for it, otherwise I'd have one of those on order.

[navair]

Another vote cast- I put a 9X7 shifter in my '02 S this weekend (about a 4 hour job with the B&M generic instructions), and I love it! Nice upgrade, not too stiff. I chose wisely (was thinking about a $$ 9X& Porsche short shifter).

[23109VC]

I also put this in my car...the $169 987 shifter...(NOT the $350 987 short shifter)

my car has 75k miles. overalll, the shift action was reduced to the point that I coudl clearly tell it was shorter and better - and since the whole assembly was new, it felt tighter and more precise than my 10 year old part with 75k miles and who knows how many thousands of shifts....

it is NOT what I would call a "short" shifter - but it's "shorter" than what I had, and for $169, a great bang for the buck mod. I'll bet the $350 feels a lot shorter, but - but for the money, the regular one is just fine.

relatively easy DIY with the B&M instructions. set aside half a day or more to do it. i was anal and put the little bolts into bags, labeled them, laid them out all overt the garage floor, etc..to make sure everything went back in the exact hole it came out of, etc.....

one suggestion - if you ever think yo umight do a painted center console, buy it when you do the shifter, as yo uhave to pull that out at the same time - you coudl do two mods in one day.

[kouks]

I too just purchased the 997 standard shifter from Porsche in Australia. I paid $340 from Porsche dealer in AUS as it would have cost me $180US to ship the part from USA.

I did the engine mount last weekend, what a difference that made! Doing the shifter this weekend, can't wait bring it on!