I love manual transmission cars but I can't stand sloppy shifters. I'll say that the condition of the shifter on my 944 S2 was pretty decent but it could be better. I got the short shifter, shift linkage and shifter from Only944 and focused on getting the shifter installed today.
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| OEM shifter left, Only944 shifter right |
Earlier generation 944s had more rubber in the shifter but it seems the 944 S2 has more solid pieces so that probably contributed to the better feel. However, the way it's designed still allowed for some lateral play. The instructions were super clear. Only a circlip and two 13mm bolts hold the shifter in place. I then put it in a vice so I could pry off the plastic ball cup at the bottom using two flat head screwdrivers. Since it's been colder recently, I heated the ball a little bit before attempting this and it came out smoothly without cracking. I then transferred the ball cup and shifter base plate to the new shifter.
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| Getting ready to remove the ball cup from the stock shifter |
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| Ball cup removed |
I installed the new shifter and transferred over the rubber pieces that secure the shift knob and boot in place, lubracated the bearings and tightened everything. Unfortunately, the alignment was a off so the shifter would hit the metal oval ring when I tried to go into 1st and 2nd gear so further adjustment was needed. I had to jack the car up, remove the left rear wheel, loose then bolt going to the shift linkage (13mm and 17mm bolt/nut), re-center the shifter, then tighten it all back again. This was annoying since I have a muffler heat shield preventing me from getting a clear view of the bolt I needed to loosen but after a few tries I was able to get a wrench and socket in there.
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| Shifter installed and aligned |
Overall, this feels so much better. Every gear shift feels nice and tight. I can't wait to get the short shifter installed since that's really going to get this more to my liking.
