Bringing this old thread back to give a recent update on fresh purchase and install. Hope my explanation helps. I didn't take photos because there were already plenty of photos in the guide.
Bought this one from Chinese store EpartsGoGo;
1998 2003 Porche 911 996 Turbo AWD Chrome Blue Short Shifter | eBay
Followed this install guide;
http://www.oz951.com/public/emmypics/shortshiftkit67.pdf
First thing I noticed was bend in shifter was the opposite of the stock shifter. That would really put the shifter at a weird angle toward the driver vs. the stock shifter so I unbolted it and switched it to the same direction. That was a bit of a PITA because it used a double threaded shoulder bolt and it was hard to figure out how to get it out. One nut would come off but then the entire assembly would just spin. In the end, I relocked that nut down and was able to break the other side free.
Apart it was apparent they didn't bother to lube the internal roller bearing inside the shift arm so I did that as well as lubed the felt/paper bushings. Swabbed it all down with white silicone bicycle grease.
I didn't need to take it as far apart as the guide. I had already taken the ashtray out in preparation for an ashtray delete (mine had a broken door.) Just unbolted the console, removed the front faceplate and unbolted the shifter frame from the floor and tilted it over to access the snap on cables. I didn't detach the cables from the frame or move the adjusters. I just detached the cables at the shifter.
I used a small chisel to break off the snap fittings for the old shifter pivots. That worked a lot better than trying to cut them with a utility knife. They were pretty hard and brittle on my 16 year old car.
There is a little pop out pin for the left/right cable that went flying when I removed it. Luckily it stayed in the car and didn't go shooting off into space! Took me 10 minutes to find the black pin lying in a corner of the carpeting.
One swivel pin is longer than the other, on the new shifter. You need to install that one into the bore first, than there is enough room to pass the shorter pin into place.
The bottom end (that attaches to the fore/aft cable) is longer than the original shifter. Mine had the green plate in the shifter bracket and the new lower location caused the cable end adjuster to hang up on the bracket. This detached the cable. I removed the green bracket (extra parts!) and there was just enough clearance to not cause interference.
Used a vise grip pliers to hold the adjustable swivel barrels when tightening the nuts...otherwise they would spin in the plastic shifter bracket.
Couldn't get the console back in because the front freeplay adjuster thread in the adjustable swivel barrel on the new shifter was too long and interfered with the console. Took a hacksaw and knocked a half inch off it and then there was enough clearance.
The entire job took maybe two hours and that was only because I went slow and had to fix the Chinese shifter along the way.
The shifter feels much "tighter." Efforts are considerably higher, but it doesn't have that rubbery long throw truck shifter feel. IMHO, it is a HUGE improvement.
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