Shifter Bushings, Linkage
 

Hi guys,

My car has a short shifter installed when I bought it, but now I want to put the stock shifter back in. Does anyone know if the stock shifter would work with the bushings from the short shifter? If not, where can I buy stock bushings, as well as the the shifter linkage (the piece with the ball joint socket)?

Thanks

I can't help you with the bushing retrofit.

For the money though, the genuine 997 shifter is good value, +/- 15% shorter throw than standard and you just bolt it in - no splitting bearings or adjusting linkages needed.

I replaced my 986 shifter a couple of years ago - it was a great upgrade for the $$ outlay.

I believe you can put the stock shifter back in, and it will use the bushings from the short shifter kit. When you take out the stock shifter you have to destroy the plastic bushings to get it out, and they are replaced by a different replaceable style that come with the short shifter. If you don't like the short shifter then you can put the regular one back in. Check this 101 Projects article for more details:

Pelican Technical Article: Installing a Boxster Short Shift Kit (SSK) and Replacing Boxster Shift Bushings - 986 / 987

That's interesting...I find the stock shifter to be so long and undesirable, but my B&M short shift is perfect. Perhaps yours is not adjusted properly or to each their own.

Yeah, the throw on the stock seems like forever! I have a B&M in a box that I am itching to install...hopefully before AX season...

I never know the feeling of the stock shifter since my car came with the short shifter. But now the short shifter is falling apart. There seems to be washers missing, so there is just too much left right movement. Also, the roller bearings for the stick are falling out. I wonder if the those SSKs on Ebay would be free of these problems?

Can you take a picture? May be remedied by a trip to the hardware store. I could never imagine going back to OEM shifter. I even installed the 997 shifter and still thought it was too long. Different strokes for different folks!

I will when I take it apart this coming. I was thinking the same thing; the washers might be remedy-able, but the roller bearing might be hard.

The prior owner "may" have installed one of the Chinese knock-offs with cheap components. The real B&M is quality made and hopefully you can remedy the issues with simple hardware parts. Every time I drive any 9** car with the stock shifter, I can't get over how awful it feels in my hands (yes, the 997 is better, but still too long).

Is there a point where the shift throw is too short and can cause transmission issues ? Coming from air cooled 911's there is much debate about short shifters not allowing the synchro's in 901/915 transmissions the time they need to do their thing. I realize the 986 transmission is a modern design but am curious about the answer.

Have heard that controversy as well. I've had the short shifter for over a year now and no transmission issues. Keep in mind that Porsche offers a short shifter as a tequipment option too interestingly enough.

I took the shifter apart as promised. Here are some pics.
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1393383604.jpg
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1393383631.jpg
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1393383656.jpg
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1393383706.jpg
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1393383744.jpg

As you can see, there's a big gap between the stick and the blue piece, so the stick wiggles left-right a lot. Also, pieces of the roller bearing are gone. I think I need a new bearing and some washers to fix this. I was tempted to put the stock shifter back in, but seeing how long the lower part of the short shifter stick is, now I want to keep it and make it work. I think this bearing might work, the problem is how to press the old one out and press this new one in properly.

Two completely different designs, but the 915 trans is not designed to move directly between gears without a middle step; i.e. shift out of gear to neutral, pause and shift to next gear. Porsche gearboxes were not designed to "speed-shift" and this is true with the 986/996 boxes.

Back to the original post, there must be some movement due to incorrectly adjusted cables or poor shifting habits wearing the parts.