915 stock lockout is a 5th-reverse pawl that is engaged when you select 5th gear. As you pull the lever out of 5th gear, the shifter rides along the tip of the pawl and pivots it downward, basically creating a fence that blocks you from going straight down into reverse.

Otherwise there's no other shifters or add-ons that prevent you from going into the wrong gear. The typical "money shift" locations are:

1st gear from 2nd: You make a full throttle redline fast shift from 2nd, intent on 3rd, and don't move it over enough, instead selecting 1st.

2nd gear from 3rd: Same scenario as above, but you're making the fast shift from 3rd, intent on hitting 4th, and you accidentally grab 2nd.

3rd gear from 4th: Same deal again, going from 4th intent on grabbing 5th and you don't move over enough, getting 3rd instead. Did that myself last year but caught it.

agreed, that is why I asked what bob was refering to when he said
"get a shifter that has a lockout detent for fifth gear"

as I see it the stock 915 shifter already has the "spring loaded" 5-R galley - i am currently building my own 1-2 galley spring "lock out" so my shifter stays inthe 3-4 plane

The stock shifter lock and the WEVO lock are a World apart. WEVO also has 1st and 2nd spring loaded. The normal forward and back plane is 3/N/4.

Porsche 911...
These cars are TOUGH. Detroit hasn't prepared you for what Porsche offers.
If you don't over rev the engine, if you change the oil on a reasonable schedule, if you shift it correctly, and if you do reasonable maintenance, you can get a couple hundred thousand miles out of these cars with out a blink. That means years of driving with very regular trips to redline and use that would destroy pretty much every car that was competition to this one.

Yes, a missed shift is something to avoid but I've downshifted into 3rd at 5200+ just to get into the powerband. You go over 6500 and then start asking questions!
- Smoke/clutch smell... That is something to avoid. A clutch has a life. You wear it down and then it needs to be replaced. One smelly episode isn't much. Just avoid it. in the future. If you do that regularly you will need to replace it in a year. You treat it nicely and it will last at least another decade.

Getting the theme? These cars are tough!

My G50 is fine - it passed Draco's 2nd gear 0-to-redline test with flying colors (though I only took it up to 5300 rpms and slowed down). Bullet is a tough SOB

Regarding the bent valves issue (I'm sure that's fine too), how do i know if the valves have been bent?

Bent valves....engine runs like crap.