thank god!!!!! I have the schnell siting in my trunk still and can't decide to put it on or not.....okay, how is the shifting cause the normal shifter is rough into first when it gets really cold. How does it feel?

i've got one in my 986 and i love it. it feels a bit notchy at first; the throw is a LOT shorter than you think. give yourself some time to get used to it and i believe you will be hooked. the stock throw is SOOOO long.

I just talked to Brandywine. It is $250 and is actually a B&M. He said that Porsche sources them to make it for them but it is the same thing you can buy elsewhere. They do back it up with "Porsche warranty" whatever that means. They also said three hours installation. I bit on the high side...

I bought the ebay kit. The aluminum is nicely machined and anodized. The shift shaft appears to be well made with a roller bearing in the hinge for smooth operation. Also the hardware is quality material.

I was a bit dissapointed with the plastics that they used for the bushings though. It appears to be a nylon. I had some teflon bushings made to replace both the cup bushings and the washers that ride between the shaft and aluminum housing. It should help to reduce friction in the linkage and improve effort and feel.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y37...r/HPIM0520.jpg

The teflon bushing is on the left, the stock on the right.

Shifter
 

I miss the nice smooooooth flow with the oem shifter however the shifter is nice, shifting is shorter and faster and somewhat smooth but not creamy smooth, its a sport shifter so it will be a little different anyway I am happy. I did the install myself just make sure you adjust the cables once you install the shifter, also do a test drive before you re install all of the components, trust me it will save you tons of time. And NO, whoever charges 3 hrs for labor is CRAZY, the install is super easy and I am no professional mechanic. Patience and time will do the trick.

I take it you bought the $55/60 Ebay clone.

What kind of place do you go to to get teflon bushings made and where do you find the teflon stock?

Yup, the cheap-o parts.

I'd check with a freelance machine shop to get teflon parts made. They can often find material for you.

I installed the shifter tonight. As was stated above, it's not a hard job at all. My biggestproblem was getting the stock bushings off the housing. There was a lot of plastic flying around!

It feels great. I'm really happy with the shift action. It's still not as nice as the unit in the Miata, but I'm happy with it.

I'm a little worried about the ball-in-slot that replaces the ball-in-socket-in-slot used for side to side motion. The ball can wear a groove into the slot over time. Porsche's design is more robust. I guess only time will tell.

Hi,

I suspect that the Bushing is Delrin, and not Nylon. It would most likely prove to be more wear-proof than the softer Teflon one over time...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

The yellow tint is the giveaway. It's the natural color of nylon. Delrin's white when not colored.

Teflon is typically used for bushing applications like this. It's the perfect application. Although Delrin would also be a good material here as you correctly state that it's wear restance is higher, it's friction coefficient is about 2.5 times that of teflon.

My buddy Ken made me some replacement "stock-like" shifter bushings on his lathe using some delrin stock. I had been using the stock shifter with the B+M bushings, but I wanted to sell the B+M (piece of notchy-shifting garbage that it was). They work awesome!

This looks interesting. Anyone tried or seen it? Anyone ever seen any installation instructions?

http://www.bmracing.com/index.php?id=products&sid=4&cat=3&subcat=15&pid=31 7

I have no experience but one of the local 996 owners has the unit that bolts to the transmission linkage.

Great picture. That explains exacly how it works. It's adjusting the throw of the linkage at the inlet to the transmission instead of at the shifter. I've never seen that type of short-shifter before.

On that particlular car it doesn't look like the new bracket is installed, just the lever.