Drove the weirdest 911 ever today

[stv951]

I have owned drove and experienced many Porsches till today from 356s to 991. In fact ,more than 1000 cars have turned wheels for me till today. The strangest Porsche was the one i saw yesterday though.

I found a 911 with a 930 wide body convertible converted from a targa with a 964 3.6 engine installed.
Ok so far till the dealer told me that the car had a very rare dogleg gearbox installed. Only to find that it was a 6 speed gearbox with 1st down....left and third, and fifth left to 1st. Reverse is on the right side of...1st. It seems to be a 993 6speed gearbox with gear positions as a mirror image turned 180 degrees. How did they do that ?

Here is the gear pattern

6 4 2
5 3 1 R


Any ideas ?

[redstack]

English right hand drive box/

[Fly911]

I believe if you use a 915 or 930 shifting mechanism on any G50 gear box (the 993 is a G50/21), the gear pattern will be mirrored or oposite. Who in their right mind would do such a thing? The obvious fix is to install a Hargett G50 shifter (no affiliation). I have a Hargett shifer on my (1987) Carrera, and I wonder why Porsche didn't design this frm day one... The shifter is WAY better than the original!

[christiandk]

Originally Posted by redstack

English right hand drive box/

Check out the brains on red!

I would never have thought of that.

[WEST COAST 02]

Shift pattern doesn't change between Right and left hand drive, but good guess

[tirwin]

Shift pattern doesn't change between Right and left hand drive, but good guess

I was gonna say I learned something new because every rental car I've had in the UK and Ireland has the same shift pattern as a left hand drive!

[redstack]

umm that / was supposed to be a ?
It was just a WAG.

Funny but I don't remember all those years ago when I had a car in Japan, if the shift pattern was the same when I got back to my stateside car.

So in the UK the shift is far left and up for first? The same as a left hand drive? That must be unsettling for those who go back and forth to the continent. I mean that and the fact that cars are coming at you from the wrong way.

[wayner]

Originally Posted by stv951

Here is the gear pattern

6 4 2
5 3 1 R


Any ideas ?

Was the car maimed in an accident and repaired by a shop that didn't understand that the end with the engine is the back of the car?

[totle]

Was the gearbox flipped up-side down?
But if so, 1st would still be up!!

[tirwin]

umm that / was supposed to be a ?

It was just a WAG.



Funny but I don't remember all those years ago when I had a car in Japan, if the shift pattern was the same when I got back to my stateside car.



So in the UK the shift is far left and up for first? The same as a left hand drive? That must be unsettling for those who go back and forth to the continent. I mean that and the fact that cars are coming at you from the wrong way.

Yep, up and to the left is 1st on a RHD. At least the ones I've driven. It is odd at first, but the brain is really remarkable at how it quickly adapts.

Turn into the left left from the left lane is the hard part. My pulse actually went up the first time I did it. It's like there's a little part of your brain that's screaming "No! No! No! Danger!"

Of course the best part is when you come back and you're driving a bunch of your friends around and you casually pull up to a light to make a left turn and say something like "you know I just got back from the UK and a couple of times I've caught myself accidentally turning into oncoming traffic because I was so used to driving on the left" just to screw with them.

Back to the OP's gearbox. It sounds as if they reversed the shift linkage somehow. I've seen a 915 mounted backwards to 2 kit cars.

I'm totally guessing of course...

[docrodg]

My problem coming back from Ireland was getting in passenger seat and no steering wheel there...it felt wrong. While there no problems on streets but driveways made me have to think.

Sounds like someone cobbled together a shifter for a 6speed.

[Guardsred911]

I had a '69 Land Rover Series 2A, original from UK, Right hand drive, and it still had 1st gear in the upper left, straight down to 2nd, upper right was 3rd, etc...

[irobertson]

Look at the shifter. If the fulcrum and link to the shift rod were reversed, as in fulcrum at the bottom and linkage above that point, would that not reverse the entire shift pattern?

[tirwin]

If memory serves, the linkage on my SC is such that when the shifter is on the driver side (1-2 plane), the coupling is actually rotated to the passenger side. If the gearbox as installed in this car is the opposite of that, that would account for the unusual shift pattern.

Or I've been drinking again.

[Uncle]

Umm guys. They don't change gearbox layouts for RHD/LHD.

[tirwin]

Are you certain the gearbox is from a 993?

[IslandHopper]

Originally Posted by Fly911

I believe if you use a 915 or 930 shifting mechanism on any G50 gear box (the 993 is a G50/21), the gear pattern will be mirrored or oposite. Who in their right mind would do such a thing? The obvious fix is to install a Hargett G50 shifter (no affiliation). I have a Hargett shifer on my (1987) Carrera, and I wonder why Porsche didn't design this frm day one... The shifter is WAY better than the original!

like he said...I think... or the CORRECT one is installed backwards. I can think of NO good reason to do this on purpose of course, and you are asking for a subconscious fast shift to the WRONG gear and kaboom. In fact, thats about the stupidest thing I can think of doing to a sports car. "Rare dog leg transmission" indeed, I am the general sales manager at a luxury dealership and I cringe when I hear about people who make up this BS at dealerships

But the right-hand drive gearbox idea was pretty good, that WOULD be cool if it was mirrored like the rest of the car lol

[M.D. Holloway]

My Son has Dyslexia, sounds like the pefect fit!

[Uncle]

No it would not be cool at all lol. I live in a RHD nation. I have 3 cars,2 of the are RHD and my Porsche is LHD. I've got enough to remember with the 911 changing gears with my right hand and reverse is below 5th. The BMW is changing gears with my left hand and reverse is left and up beside 1st. The Nissan 4x4 is change gear with left and reverse is right and under 5th...