the porsche tool is a plastic bracket the clips over the gear linkage and lever, locking it in place in neutral. if cables are improperly adjusted, it will be unable to fit so adjustment is made until it does, or cables removed, gear level locked and then slack added or removed until they fit acurately. i think its about $20

ive no doubt that many love their SSK kits but for me, a company making such a product, especially one that requires breakage of OEM parts to install and which by nature is a part that does require adjustment and yet doesnt make a tool for owners to then adjust really requires some criticism.
ive seen porsche and others on here lambasted for far less.

 

The Porsche short shifter is still the best (not the upgrade the $500 one). I bought mine for $200 used. Sweet!

 

I'd really have to agree this boils down to personal preferance, however having seat car in NUMEROUS different models, my favorite always falls back to the B&M ssk. I like the 'tight' feeling and the click-into-gear sensation it gives. The OEM throw in unbearable and the Porsche Short Throw is a good solution too if you don't mind the extra $$. However, if all three options were put in front of me free of charge, B&M with the Evo Billet linkage everytime for me!

 

Dante, That is all the tool does, with your car in neutral, the tool puts the correct neutral on the shifter. As for the adjustment, you pretty much almost hit it on the head, but here is how it works. Because the lower part of the shifter swings in an arc (which they all do of course), it is the ANGLE that the shift link has relative to the cable, that determines the smoothness, or notchiness, depending how you look at it. The closer the shifter is to 90 degrees when it is snicking into gear the harder and notchier it will feel. Naturally, you are robbing peter to pay paul, as the more you give in 1,3,5 the more you take from 2,4,6. Right now my 2,4,6 is much easier than my 1,3,5, so I know I have to adjust my cable link shorter, so I have a larger angle (and more throw, less effort) for the odds, but at the expense of some from the evens. It doesn't take much..and THATis what I wanted some input on, like "Mine is perfect if I have X degrees from the verical while in 3rd gear". Does this make sense to anyone??

 

Yes, this makes perfect sense. Thanks for the detailed reply - it looks like I may need to a minor adjustment this weekend for my 1,3,5 gears are a bit shorter.

Thanks again

 

Please PM me with what you need for the 997 shifter if it is still available. Thanks, jeff

 

you guys realize that B&M make the Porsche factory short shifter, that sells for $500 from a Porsche dealer right?

 

I really ned to get one of these the long throw is starting to get old.

 

100% improvement over my "slop Box" stock shifter. It was like hunting for gears before the change. It is now direct and gone is the vague feel. No disappointments here. +B&M -Stock

 

just bought the b&m and Evo linkage.... Ahhhh now the install

 

Just did some careful measurements of shift lever movement to cable linear movement between the 996 & 997 assmblies. 5 cm (1/2 forward & 1/2 back) yield 2.1 cm cable movement on the 996 vs 2.7 on the 997. Roughly a 25% shortening, so it IS a real improvement. All they did was relocate the pivot point about a 1/2 a cm higher, The actual machining of the shift lever is different, the subcarrier is much beefier, with a totally different mounting for the L-R link pin. The housing is almost identical, except for a new reinforcement underneath...looks like it wouldn't do anything different, but who knows. Even out of the car the two assemblies feel a bit different in their solidness of link movement. I'll do another comparison when I switch out my B&M/Evoms link combo for the 997.

 

i put 997 shifter in my wife's 996 without telling her.

we'll see if she notices.

i have 997 shifter in my 996. seems ok.

anyways, i still have a B&M shifter for sale (which i used for 1 week and is basically as new).

I'll include the stock assembly, so it's an even easier swap, and you can go back to stock if you dont like it. you wont have to destroy your stock parts. It's basically as easy to install as the 997 shifter.

I'll sell it for $225 plus shipping. I can do paypal.

PM me if anybody wants it.

 

Just put the 997 in mine after the b&M as well. I also used the Evoms link. Definitely shorter and better than the 996, but significantly longert han the B&M. SOmething right in between would be perfect, but I'll drive the 997 for a while and see. I couldn't stand the 996 at all, and this one is not bad at all, just not GREAT!

 

Don't believe that you are correct here. They may have a part in the retro kit but the Porsche Sport shifter is an entire shifter unit with the plastic frame. The "upgrade" short shifter uses the original plastic frame. The main difference in the two is that the expensive one moves the fulcrum (pivot) point of the shifter up higher than the top of the frame - an entire different feel than the B&M or the Porsche retro kit.

 

My B&M feels fantastic and this is coming from an exS2000 owner