Short shifter

[Mark Todorovich]

John Copela has a short shifter advertised in Classifieds. Ha anyone had any experiance with it . My 52 is getting real close to driving it. I remember back in the day I slammed my nuckles into the dash getting into 3rd.
mark

[Martin Benade]

Probably that can be corrected with some adjusting at the rear. Or even a small amount at the front by loosening the shifter plate and making sure it is slid rearward as much as possible.

[Paul Jorgensen]

Hi Mark
I purchased one for my 54 Pre A, i was told to remove the shifter (gear lever) from the rod it is connected to and fit it between the shifter and rod.
I could not see how it could be connected so put it all back together. I did move the shifter plate back but that did not do much, I will try adjusting the linkage at the rear and see what that does.
Does anyone know if the short
shifter block is correct for a 54 car.

[Vic Skirmants]

Probably that can be corrected with some adjusting at the rear. Or even a small amount at the front by loosening the shifter plate and making sure it is slid rearward as much as possible.

I don't know how you can get any fore-aft adjustment at the rear with the monkey-motion set-up.

[Martin Bruechle]

Hey Vic, any way to use Willhoit short shift kit or something in a 53 ? I'm putting in a VW pro street trans with the Rancho nose cone in my 53 with a hopped up 912 motor.
Keeping my split case rebuilt by Jaques and 2 piece motor on the shelf. Thanks Martin.

[Vic Skirmants]

Not real familiar with the Willhoit kit, but I think it is only for the 1960-65 cars.

[Donald Zingg]

John Copela has a short shifter advertised in Classifieds. Ha anyone had any experiance with it . My 52 is getting real close to driving it. I remember back in the day I slammed my nuckles into the dash getting into 3rd.
mark

Mark

The short shifter modi was designed to fit the gear shift lever in cars equipped with a 519 transmission. Adding that extension piece will provide slightly shorter travel measured at the shift lever knob. The end of the shift rod (set lower in the tunnel) tends to scrape against the floor pan when shifting into reverse - - - and the shift rod will contact only the lower half of the reverse light switch causing uneven wear on the Bakelite push button.
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[James Davies]

Also adding here that you probably don't want to add a short shift kit to an early 519. The long throw of the shift knob means you can only shift the thing so fast, which is a feature, not a bug, for Porsche's first foray into full-synchro transmission design. A short throw means you're probably shifting too fast for the design of the synchros. Thoughts?

The throw of the gear shift knob on the VW crash box used on Porsches through Sep 1952 was much shorter, though Porsche offered a 2-inch extension piece (which I believe all Hoffman cars had) that made it an even slightly longer throw, but also more ergonomic for drivers.