coupler & shifter adjustment

[bfranklin]

I've been perusing all of the info on Pelican regarding the shift coupler bushings housed in the tunnel in front of the rear seats and how to properly align the shifter, and which way to rotate the coupler (clockwise when looking to the front of the car), but where is the coupler supposed to sit as far as front/rear movement of the coupler? I figure if one would get this wrong, then you might not be able to engage the top or bottom row of gears depending on which way it was off? Any advice on how to set this properly before i tighten everything down?

Brad

[Early_S_Man]

I don't know if the Pelican article mentions it or not, but you should have marked the longitudinal position of the coupler body on the shift rod with an indelible marker before you took it off!

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Warren Hall
1973 911S Targa
1992 Dodge Dakota 5.2 4X4 parts hauler

[stormcrow]

Brad,

What you need to do is make sure your transmission is in the neuteral position. Next slide the coupling over the shaft and set your shift gear lever to verticle position and temporary lock it down

After that, engage the clutch and shift to see how it works. You may you may need to make a minor adjustment to have it shift equally in each gear.

Steve

[bfranklin]

Oh ok, so the general consensus is that I sorta doomed myself

fantastic! I guess i'll just try to move the coupler forward and back until i feel like its centered in 'neutral' then adjust from there. Thanks for the support though

Brad

[Roland Kunz]

Hello

The messurement is done by the position from the shift lever in one forward gears. Enough space to avoid hitting the knee bar/ashtray with your knuckles.

Grüsse

[Blizzard]

You have not "doomed yourself". The basic fore and aft position is set by placing the shifter in a vertical position when the transmission is in neutral and rotating the shift levet to the left stop (tie it to the steering wheel) while rotating the coupler the opposite way. It is very easy to pull the transmission rod to get into neutral.


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Paul
1984 911 Targa
1986 911 Coupe

[CamB]

BLizzard describes the procedure in the Haynes manual - I did this a week or so ago for the 901 transmission (it is opposite though) and it worked perfectly. TRansmission in neutral, put gear lever as far left as possible (where 1st/2nd are) and where you thing neutral should be (fore/aft adjustment). Then rotate the coupler all the way to the right side of the car, and tighten it - see how it goes...

Bascially the hard part is understanding if the gear lever moves left the coupler rotates right. Gear lever forward, coupler back...

So that method sets the left and right movement. Roland describes what I had a little trouble with - if you set the fore/aft wrongly you will hit your hand on the knee pad or the seat. This even easier to adjust. Just redo the above with the gear stick in a better fore/aft position.

Cam

[This message has been edited by CamB (edited 08-28-2001).]

[lsolon]

I did the same thing you did. It took me a while to get right but now it has never shifted better. Just need new motor mounts now and shifting will be great-still have stock mounts from 72 on mine.

[stormcrow]

When I had my engine and trans out, I didn't know what gear it was in when I put everything back together.

When the trans shaft is pulled forward, it can only go into 1st or 3rd gear. From that point, you can slide it towards the rear until it disengages - this is the neuteral position. If you slide it furthe back, it goes into either 2nd or 4th.

If you rotate the trans shaft to the left when you start, you will go into 1st gear, if you rotate it to the right, you will go into 3rd gear.

You need to have a starting point when you start. If it's in 1st gear, set your shift lever to the left forward, etc. Once you get to this point, then you can work from there to get the shift lever in the right position. Not a real hard thing to do.

Steve

[bfranklin]

Thanks for all the great advice guys, I'm going to give it a try this evening. Tried to bang the pin out of my old one and cracked the cast aluminum coupler housing, so hopefully my new one will come in today. BTW my old coupler bushings weren't there anymore, they had *disintegrated* and it was a bare pin flopping around in the coupler housing. Its a wonder I didn't have more problems than I did. If I did a downshift from 5th to 4th, i had to drag the shifter all the way over to the left and then back to the right to move the actual coupler enough to drop it into 4th. If I didn't do that, the pin would just move a little within the aluminum coupler housing and the coupler wouldn't actually move - the result? I touched reverse from 5th a couple of times (ouch). I think she's ok though

Brad

[old_skul]

Ooooo, that reminds me. I replaced the bushings in my coupler, and "Oh What A Feeling". I managed to find a friend with a bench vise (I know, I'll buy one if I ever get a job again), and I tapped the pin out with a steel rod. Worked great.

The OEM bushings actually have an oval-shaped hole for the pin:

__
(__)

The Pelican replacements don't have that extra play, and they're perfectly circular. This results in a little more vibration being transferred up the linkage to the shifter - but the payoff is that you wind up with a *very* crisp shifter compared to the OEM bushings. I can't recommend them highly enough.

One last thing: Don't be afraid to move 2nd gear back towards the seat some. A lot of folks say you should adjust the shifter so that 2nd gear stays well away from the seat, etc., but I moved mine back so I have a finger's width of clearance. The result? 1st, 3rd, and 5th are now not so much of a reach anymore, and 2nd and 4th feel fine after a getting-used-to period.

Replacing all those bushings makes a big, big difference in the feel of the 915. I strongly recommend it.

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Mark Szabo
1986 911 Targa 3.2
1987 Escort 5-speed 1.9 RIP
The Porsche Owners Gallery

[bfranklin]

Aftermath: It's done! Got the new coupler with bushings and pin, but not the piece that the pin runs through - so I still had to work the old pin out doh! Almost got it out one direction, wouldn't budge, found out my caveman-esque techniques managed to slightly mushroom the head of the old pin on one side, so I took much care and worked it out the other way (there is alot to be said for having the right tools to do this - a big vice on a bench would have been nice). After all that though, getting the shifter aligned properly with the new coupler was a piece of cake. Results? I actually have gears now, instead of a vague guess. I can shift much faster now, that much closer to getting my car prepped for AutoX this fall or next year.

One more question, didn't fix a 1st to 2nd balk I've been having and I'd like to get some feedback. Shifting from 1st to 2nd 'catches' sometimes, doesn't go into gear, doesn't grind. If you do it tenderly and hold it into 2nd, it doesn't grind or fall into gear, telling me its not a syncro problem. Sometimes you just have to move it up a little and try again. Had this problem when I first got the car and I have the feeling that its not an alignment problem (1st gear goes in beautifully and 2nd goes in beautifully too when it doesnt catch). Any ideas on what could be causing this? Shifter fork alignment? Is there a way to adjust this guide fork on the 915 without having to disassemble it?

Thanks,

Brad

[Joeaksa]

Brad,

What type of fluid are you running in the gearbox? If you do not have Swepco 201 in the box now, its time!

I put the swepco in my 915 box and it made a big difference in my shifting. You might try it on yours and see if it helps.

Joe