here are my opinions. remember they are my opinions and you don't have to agree with them.

stock:
- throw's a little long. can be vague, but effort is light. nothing terribly wrong with it.

B&M:
- a real short shifter. i don't know why i ordered it because i have never felt a short shifter kit i've liked. i was just bored and everybody here seems to love it. i felt it was too short and effort was too high.

- people call it 'notchy'. if they mean initial effort into gear is high before it "gives" and gets into gear, then they are correct.

- feels better when tranny warms up. but i drove it for a week in the summer and temp never was below 60 degrees. it would still take 1/2 mile before it felt right.

- you destroy parts to install it. this sucks if you want to go back to stock.

- if you are driving car aggressively it feels great. if you use the car as a DD like i do, and you are half asleep and are driving in traffic most of the time, it sucks.

997 stock (not short) shifter:

- light effort, more precise than stock BUT

- the difference is very subtle and if i hadn't destroyed my stock one first, i wouldnt bother getting it. i have two 996's, so i did side by side real time comparos and i had 3 different "car guys" try both. they all said same thing. they could barely tell the difference.

SO in conclusion,
- if you want a short shifter, dont mess around and get the B&M, but make sure its what you want, cuz its not easy going back.
- 997 shifter is probably not worth the time and money to install.

also, if you are interested in either one. i got both to sell. i ordered one B&M and one 997 shifter (one for each of my 996's). as i hated the B&M i ordered another 997 shifter. now that i see the difference is so slight compared to stock, i will probably just leave the other 996 stock.

So, i got the B&M shifter for sale. and if you want I can sell it already installed in the shifter housing. that way you dont have to destroy your bushings and can go back to stock if you want.

The 997 shifter I have is for sale too. never installed. You guys can PM me offers.

 

Interesting. I will be doing the exact same comparo soon. I have the 996 and B&M both in housings and a 997 on the way. Personally, on my 2002 coupe I HATE the OEM 996,,,nothing positive except it is effortless...too easy. Agree somewhat on the B&M, but I'll take it over the OEM.

 

i come from an s2000 which is commonly accepted as the best manual shifter in zee wald.

the B&M makes the 996 a possibility for me. without it i seriously wouldn't own one just like i wouldn't have bought an E46 m3 sans uuc offering.

all shifters are notchy when cold wtf do you guys expect?

i love the defined, shorter shifts of the B&M. stock throws on german manual cars bite big time. the 997 ssk factory option finally harkened a change for the much mucho better.

 

Dunno if my 996 shifter was crapping out, but just did the 997 swap this weekend and it made a a big difference (eg: smoothness, tighter and better shift into second gear from first)

 

i had the same result. did precise measurements and saved 1" in front to back throw. shorter, tighter, smoother, and best of all, oem! i paid $150 and installed in an hour. easy diy. one of my best mods yet!

 

...as do I... I LOVED THAT gearbox, although I could see why some people would think it was "notchy". Very direct gearchanges. So Ben, you think the B&M is pretty close to that???

Has anyone tried the Evo SSK?

 

Yes you are entitled to your opinion.....we all have many of them....
but to say the B&M sux ----then are are being ignorant IMO.
Why....because you failed to adjust the cables correctly. If you had, you would find the notchy feeling is gone and each shift is precise and perfect....yes after the tranny gets warmer, especially in cold temps but at 60 there is no issue unless you did not install the shifter and adjust the cables correctly.
I have seen this same result from other owners that incorrectly installed without adjusting the cables
The stock 996 shifter is sloppy, non precise and as many will attest you can miss a shift easier...who cares if you have to break the stock plastic bushings...these are crap anyway and the design is terrible, again IMO.
It kills me everytime someone comes on here with the "I'm a expert on this or that"
Now my advice to you is to get someone who knows how to set one of these up correctly. You will be happier I promise

 

well, perhaps "sucks" was harsh. i guess i meant, when i'm sleepy and i'm in traffic, i dont enjoy it. i do think it sucks you cant easily go back to stock. the shifter itself is well made and the instructions are great.

i also never claimed to be an expert, i am just a regular guy who posted his experiences. like i said, these are just my opinions.

i actually did play with the cables in several different grooves to try to get rid of the notchiness. i did in fact, find the notchiness was decreased in the setting i ended up with.

as a non-expert, maybe i didnt get it right and maybe i should play with it more. but i think in the end, it just wasnt right for my DD.

like i said above, i loved it when i was driving aggressively. but all the other times i didnt enjoy it.

my weekend car on the other hand is notchy as hell, and won't go into 2nd if the tranny is even a little cold. you basically have to skip it entirely. and for that application, i dont mind it.

in my track car as well, i would probably love it.

as far as the 997 shifter goes, 1 inch shorter is 0.5 inch in either direction. i guess that doesnt seem like a big difference to me, but of course YMMV.

 

I've got the B&M on both my 996 and my 986. No "notchyness" on either car.

I think it's a great kit, are you sure you have it adjusted properly?

 

When I installed mine, I just marked the position of the old one and aligned it when installing the new. But "adjusted properly" brings up a good question - how do you adjust the shifters?

The only thing that I can see is that you have two cables and can move the connectors up or down. Can anyone comment on what would occur if you move the connector one way or another?

 

Yes, everyone has said "set it up properly" with no instructions or hints on how to do just that. Since the only adjustment is moving the cable so the shifter is more or less forward, a little HELP here shouldn't be so difficult!!!

 

Prior to removing the stock shifter, check the cable cable adjustment with the porsche tool. There is no adjustment tool out that can be used to adjust the B&M.

 

Well now, that sure doesn't help those who already have a "bad" shifting B&M in their car, now does it? And I DID mark and check my cables..they were in the right place. I put the Evoms shift link in, so that measurement means nothing.

 

i know that's sh!tty, i'm in the same boat. the only way (for us non-professional porsche mechanics) to adjust the cables is to put a stocker back in and adjust with the tool.

go figure............i searched and could never find a tool for the B&M......i would have thought B&M would have developed one by now.

??

 

ok, maybe I'm missing something - but what is this adjustment tool? Is it just to find center/neutral for the stock shifter?

Back to my original question - I have heard of people indicating that if you don't "align" it right - you will have poor results. From what I have seen - if you place the cable too high - it looks like it will give you a short 1,3 & 5 gears and a longer 2,4,6 gear (from neutral). Is this a correct assessment? Other than "position" of the stick - I can't see how any other adjustments would affect the shifter.