Happy with the short shifter

[porsche986spyder]

Originally Posted by Peer

porsche986spyder wrote:
> That's not the correct way to make a short shifter. [...]
> That's the wrong way to get a short shifter.


Oh jeez -- I'm glad I'm not your son. Besides, it's puzzling that you own a Porsche since they seem to do most everything the "wrong way", including their own short-shifter ;^)

In any case, my shifter is now about 2" shorter -- slightly shorter than the palm of my hand -- just the way I want it, (it feels so good to be wrong ;^)

-- peer

Oh jeez -- Sorry for being wrong. I was just always told NOT to cut them in order to make a short shifter. Seems kind of a cheap and crapy way to do it. I'm not the only person that thinks this. It may just depend on the type of car. Most people I have talked to about this laugh when they hear that someone cut their shifter in order to MAKE a short shifter. Just like cutting your stock springs to make your car lower instead of buying good quality ones that are MADE corectly. You don't have to agree, but just tell your local machanic what you did and see if they don't laugh at you.

[Peer]

Porsche986spyder wrote:
> You don't have to agree, but just tell your local machanic
> what you did and see if they don't laugh at you.


I guess most mechanics would also hate so hear that some of us work on our own cars.

-- peer

[porsche986spyder]

The reasons why NOT to cut your stock shifter to MAKE a short shifter. I did some research and found this information.

It's still not a short THROW shifter. When you cut the top down, thats the only distance that is decrease. You still have the shifter that's under the shift point to contend with. When you just cut the top, you end up using more force when you shift. Your fulgrum point doesn't change and you need more leverage to shift. The B&M and Schnell shifter made are true short throw shifters. The shaft was cut down by 3" AS WELL AS changing the fulgrum point to make it a 1:1 shift ratio. Hope this helps.

[blue2000s]

Originally Posted by porsche986spyder

The reasons why NOT to cut your stock shifter to MAKE a short shifter. I did some research and found this information.

It's still not a short THROW shifter. When you cut the top down, thats the only distance that is decrease. You still have the shifter that's under the shift point to contend with. When you just cut the top, you end up using more force when you shift. Your fulgrum point doesn't change and you need more leverage to shift. The B&M and Schnell shifter made are true short throw shifters. The shaft was cut down by 3" AS WELL AS changing the fulgrum point to make it a 1:1 shift ratio. Hope this helps.

When you cut down the knob side, you do reduce the shift distance, but not the shift angle.

The force you apply is proportional to the proportion of the distances on both ends of the fulcrum so whether you increase the rod side or decrease the knob side, as long as it's the same ratio, there will be the same force required to make the shift. The aftermarket shifters decrease the knob side AND increase the rod side, so they require more force than just cutting the knob side down. They also decrease the throw more.

[CJ_Boxster]

......everyone shut up about shifters already!!!! jk
God i can really go for some lunch truck tacos---

[blue2000s]

There's absolutely no problem with cutting the knob side of the shifter short to shorten the throws. It actually does reduce the throw length of the shifter.

It does, however, move the shifter further from the steering wheel and closer to the center armrest, which can bother some folks. It forces you to use a non-OEM shifter, which could bother some folks. And it doesn't get you the same precision feeling of lengthening the rod side of the lever. There is also a counterweight added to the short shifter, which helps to reduce the notchiness in the shorter shifts.

I use a Momo short anatomic shifter on my Rx-7, which shortened the shift throw somewhat and really feels nice, but in the case of the Boxster, I like the position and design of the shifter as it is and decided this route, which I am very happy with.