The Coupler Whisperer

[ivangene]

Well.....

its official

and I shot a pic of my ugly mug to prove it...two Tim's (tirwin and timchar) coined the name, and with some help from our resident shirt expert Ken (kwc98) ....we made the whole thing come together.

I am going to try and consolidate some of my pics and info onto this thread. It should be fun and hopefully informational.

The problem:
Sloppy shifter, gears not fully engaging or disengaging, sticking in 5th gear, and nearly going into the wrong gear due to free play of shifter as a result of excess travel allowed by the shift coupler.

The research:
Stumped by the factory replacement parts design and soft material, and frustrated at poorly made injection molded parts that remove all movement from the coupler. I asked several shop owners and long time air cooled owners what they thought about a more precise fitting part here. I learned that some of them had made their own parts many years earlier out of various materials to improve this coupling with success. Encouraged I searched out a material I thought would be the best for this application.

Material:
DelrinŽ acetal resin is a material that bridges the gap between metals and ordinary plastics with a unique combination of creep resistance, strength, stiffness, hardness, dimensional stability, toughness, fatigue resistance, solvent and fuel resistance, abrasion resistance, low wear and low friction.

Solution:
I originally made myself some bushings on an old lathe and a Dremel. Happy with the results I began to tell friends about them. They started asking me if I would make them a some. The responses to the bushings I made them and the changes it made to their car has been incredible.

Now, my coupler bushings are made on a CNC machines. Parts are held to very precise tolerances that have been developed by me over the last year or so. The close fit of the parts make the couple free to move, yet allow for virtually no "play" resulting in a precise movement that translates to a smooth shifting car.



how to get them:

other sources for solutions:
similar on pelicanparts.com (no personal data of these items)
Wevo from pelicanparts.com (excellent)
Stomski from pelicanparts.com (heard great things)


related threads started by others:
Christmas came early :D Derlin Shift Coupler ala Ed M
Eds shift coupler
Eds coupler/ bushings installed-fiance hijacks car


the "how to" video



(looks Photoshop but I assure you its a real T-shirt)

[mlfox]

Ed M..

You da' man!

Regards,
mlfox

[tirwin]

Hahaha... Awesome!

[DRACO A5OG]

I thought it was going to be God of Coupler

or Dr Coupler!

Congrats Ed!!!

[ivangene]

LOL Jim!
keepin it real

The Tim's kept calling me that and I just HAD TO!

all in good fun of course...

[timchar]

Ed, that's too damn funny....its kinda my thing, to give nicknames... Love the shirt... Tim

[ivangene]

I was cracking up about that name and like I said....just had to do it...

Thanks for all of your support !

[80-911SC]

Hey Ed, great new icon also .. love it ..

Got mine in the mail today .. I'll swap it this weekend and get the core on the way ...

I'll keep in touch also ....

Steve

[wildcat077]

Ed,

What's going to happen when you start inventing parts for the G50 guys ???
You'll have to change your name to the G50 Guru or something ... lol

Cheers
Phil

[rusnak]

it should say: "Here, pull my coupler" beneath the logo

[ivangene]

lets keep it P.G.


laughing

[DRACO A5OG]

To help keep this on the tech section:

[ivangene]

Thanks Jim, I added some content up top, will continue to do so as I find it

[timmy2]

LOL, You guys are killin me...

[timchar]

When I got my coupler from the "coupler whisperer" a few months back, made a BIG difference. Getting her into first is so easy now also downshifting from 5-4 became easier as well. When I sent my coupler back to him, he said it wasn't in too bad of shape. (They were stock busings). Point being, the characteristic and design is FAR SUPERIOR than stock. Absolutely the best 45 bucks ever spent on my 86 coupe. Thanks CW, Tim

[80-911SC]

As I stated in the previous thread about Tim's car ..His would shift and drove well prior to the coupler whisperer but it didn't like to go into first and it had some slop ... My car shifted like a VW ... I had to play with it to get first gear but the rest seemed ok ...

Friday I received my Ed's rebuilt coupler about an hour ago I removed my coupler which by the build stamp on the part was built in 79 making it presumably the original coupler ... the bushing had a lot of slop and even had a crack through the original bushing ... About a ten to fifteen minute swap out (could have been 5-10 but took pictures) and fired it up and took it for a spin ...

Now my car shifts like a proper PORSCHE should .. all gears positively "lock" in and the feel of the shifter is amazing ... Tim had come by to do the transformation with me and he took the wheel and was also shocked by the change ... In my opinion this is the best upgrade/rebuild that I have done to this car .. not even figuring in that the cost is relativity low(less than a tank of fuel) and the time involved (an email, a Paypal, walking to the mailbox twice and 10 minutes) it is truly a shock to feel such a difference with that minimal amount of effort ...

Any one getting ready to do this .. do it and also feel free to contact me if you have a question about how simple this really is ... Ed explains it very well and I am just offering to give a hand on questions about install and adjusting it .. as any other Pelican would ...

Steve

I have spent much more time and money on other projects that do not compare with the noticeable difference that this little project did ....

[timchar]

After driving steves car, I'm even more amazed at the effortless shifting. I've never driven a g50 but can't imagine it shifting any better than this. The CW tames another unruly transmission. Tim

[Walt Fricke]

What interests me is why did Porsche make the coupler bushings oval and a bit loose, instead of round and a bit tight?

VWs were this way (oval), and so were the 356s (same bushing as the 911). So it is easy to see how they just carried things over from the 356 to the 911.

But why oval to start with? Did the inertia of the plastic knob on top of the shift lever cause the car to pop out of the rear (at the shift tower) gears under heavy braking? Was it a vibration isolation thing? Something else? I suspect this is one of those mysteries which will remain mysterious.

I've run tight round bushings for 20 years. Made my own. Never a problem. And, as those here testify, a great improvement in shifting precision.

[Ken911]

Doctor coupler good title sounds like a sex therapist or a good name for a porn star lol.

[ivangene]

Originally Posted by Walt Fricke

I've run tight round bushings for 20 years. Made my own. Never a problem. And, as those here testify, a great improvement in shifting precision.

Walt,
Your experience regarding round holes is very reassuring - I appreciate your input and perspective.

Thank You !