1974 with a side shifter trans and am rebuilding

I have a 1974 with a side shifter trans and am rebuilding the shift shaft. Your article says to use lithium grease in the rear ball cup bushing but nothing about what to use on the firewall and shift rod brass bushings. What do you recommend? Also, does anyone make replacements for the firewall shift rod rubber bellows and the aft shift rod rubber bellows and cover? Thanks for your help. Your tech info is always very useful and appreciated.

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[Nick at Pelican Parts]

I am not 100% sure what to use there.

I opened a post in our forums. A Pelican community member may be able to answer your question.

Give our parts specialists a call at 1-888-280-7799 and they can help figure out which part or repair kit you need.



- Nick

[The cap'n]

Personally, I prefer the silicone grease available in the plumbing department of your local hardware emporium. Less negative effect on the plastic bushings, I think.

The Cap'n

[Cairo94507]

If the cap'n says it you can take it to the bank.

[TheCabinetmaker]

A dry lubricate like PTFE (Teflon) has the advantage of not attracting dirt as grease does. If you have brass bushings, they could be of an oil lite bronze, which is already impregnated with lubricant. I know some folks sell aftermarket metal bushings to replace factory plastic bushings. in that case select a lube to will be compatible with the lube that was put in the oil lite bronze, if indeed that is what you have.

Nylon is pretty resistant to many automotive chemicals, never seen one on a 914 showing signs of chemical degradation Lithium grease should be fine (short of the dirt attraction aspect, but a good sealing rubber boot should be used.. nylon has excellent petroleum and gasoline resistance.)

[TheCabinetmaker]

Originally Posted by Cairo94507

If the cap'n says it you can take it to the bank.

I don't think so, I have heard some funky advice from same before.

[The cap'n]

After observing literally hundreds of shattered shift linkage ball cups and bushings that had been lubricated with the automotive grease at hand, I decided to change to plumber's grease (which is specified for faucet seals made of rubber and various plastic type components). I suppose we'll have to wait another 10-15 years to see if I did the right thing. What can it hurt? The stuff is cheap and could be the answer to what I see as a problem with what has been used for over half a century on Porsche shift linkage.

The Cap'n

[TheCabinetmaker]

Originally Posted by The cap'n

After observing literally hundreds of shattered shift linkage ball cups and bushings that had been lubricated with the automotive grease at hand, I decided to change to plumber's grease (which is specified for faucet seals made of rubber and various plastic type components). I suppose we'll have to wait another 10-15 years to see if I did the right thing. What can it hurt? The stuff is cheap and could be the answer to what I see as a problem with what has been used for over half a century on Porsche shift linkage.

The Cap'n

And we still await an answer to how jump starting a car with a dead battery will harm the alternator as you have claimed. Maybe back to the Bosch factory training?????

[The cap'n]

Would a picture of the label that accompanies each and every new and rebuilt alternator from Bosch satisfy you? After all, Bosch designed and produced the alternator, and it's reasonable to guess they might just know what they're talking about. The warning also applies to placing an undue load on the alternator, as happens when you jump start a car with a dead battery, then proceed to drive it.

[John Rogers]

Over the years I found that no lube on the bushings was the best way to go since the grease, lube, etc picked up a lot of dirt and the underside would never get cleaned. If it did get degreased then how to get the grease back in? So on our (a 1974 street and a 1973 race car) bushings I replaced them every two years except for the sealed aircraft u-joint that replaced the center connector.

[The cap'n]

Works for me, and your reasons are sound. I don't think I'd replace the bushings every 2 years, and I know most folks wouldn't do that at 5 times the interval ...

The Cap'n

[John Rogers]

You are correct and in some cases people NEVER replace the bushings. They are the ones that ***** when their transmission doesn't shift right!? If a 914 is used in stop and go traffic (LA or other cities) or auto-x events then the sitting with a hot engine and all that how air will mess things up.

This also includes the shift cable revering pulley as I have see those actually melt at auto-x events in San Diego. That is why Jim Patrick makes one from a very high heat type of fiber filled "stuff"! He also has bushing for high heat or at least he used to?

[TheCabinetmaker]

Originally Posted by The cap'n

Would a picture of the label that accompanies each and every new and rebuilt alternator from Bosch satisfy you? After all, Bosch designed and produced the alternator, and it's reasonable to guess they might just know what they're talking about. The warning also applies to placing an undue load on the alternator, as happens when you jump start a car with a dead battery, then proceed to drive it.

No... that label wont satisfy me, all you're Bosch training still couldn't help you explain why you should not jump start a dead battery with another car, you cant explain why because jumping a dead battery is not harmful to the alternator of either car. If it were there would be millions of failures every year, but there are not!

Last time you gave the reason that the high charging current would harm the brushes, of course you should know that in an alternator, the brushes don't carry the charging current, only the field current.


Think it through, the alternator when jump starting a car has a good charged battery hooked up to it. When you hook up the dead battery from the stranded car to the good battery, the alternator see a good battery and an additional load from the dead battery. That is why this warning does NOT apply to jump starting a car. if you knew about how an alternator works you would understand that the alternator needs the battery to supply the field current to allow the alternator to produce current. it gets that power from the good battery

when jump starting you do NOT disconnect the good battery from the good car, you simply add the load of the dead battery to the good battery.

You have confused installing an alternator to a dead battery with jump starting a car.

For a man with Bosch training you sure got it wrong.

You were wrong then and wrong now. you were a real jerk about it then, calling people stupid or idiots for doubting you. when questioned why, you went off on how dare someone question you with all your Bosch training, yet you could not explain why jump starting a car is bad to do. Then when pressed for an answer you showed your lack of understanding of what the function of the brushes are.

That label has nothing to do with jump starting a dead car with a good one. Your simply confused, which is really sad considering all your training you brag about

[The cap'n]

Fine. You do it your way, charging a dead battery with the alternator after a jump start, and I'll do it my way, with a battery charger. Folks can listen to you, folks can listen to me, and each person will have to accept responsibility for his/her own actions. Read what you find here on Google: "Using an alternator to charge a dead battery" and see what you get.

The Cap'n

[TheCabinetmaker]

Originally Posted by The cap'n

Fine. You do it your way, charging a dead battery with the alternator after a jump start, and I'll do it my way, with a battery charger. Folks can listen to you, folks can listen to me, and each person will have to accept responsibility for his/her own actions. Read what you find here on Google: "Using an alternator to charge a dead battery" and see what you get.

The Cap'n

Of course you can also Google instruction on how to jump start a dead battery. you can also refer to instruction that come with Jumper cables. They wouldn't be selling jumper cables and people would not be successfully jump starting cars if this procedure was failing the alternators.

When you jump start a car, both alternators are seeing a good battery, as a good battery is jumped in parallel with the dead one.

You are very confused as to what is going on electrically in this situation. Your prior comments about the charging current going thru the field brushes shows your lack of understanding on how an alternator works, despite all your boasting about your Bosch training, which appears to be limited to misunderstanding what a simple tag states. The tag don't say you cant jump start a car. when you jump start a car a good battery is hooked up to the alternator and that provides the power to the field coil via the field brushes to get the alternator to produce power.

wrong then, wrong now, no understanding of what is going on.

Ps good luck plugging in you battery charger on a dark night in an abandoned parking lot when you have a dead battery cause you left the lights on when parked. All I will need is someone to come by with a running car and I will use the jumper cables that I have in my trunk. I'll jump start my car and be on my way while you hunt around for an outlet and long extension cord. good luck!!!!

[The cap'n]

I have no idea why you have chosen this discussion on shift linkage repair to vent your anger over something I said or did regarding a completely different subject sometime in the distant past, but you sound like a bitter and vindictive person who needs to get a life. What you say I said sounds like a gross misunderstanding of the point I was trying to make, and I'm sorry for that. I must not have been clear. What is clear, however, is that you need to realize that this personal attack is something you need to put behind you and you need to get on with your life. It brings nothing good to this, or any other discussion, and certainly has NO relevance to a discussion of shift linkage. If you can't sense the impropriety of your actions, I feel sorry for you.

To the OP, I'm sorry that something I posted elsewhere has brought this unexpected personal attack down on the discussion of your question. Advice and opinions I express are drawn from 40+ years of working professionally on Porsche products, and a another 15 or so years of enthusiasm for Porsche cars in general. Opinions are just that, opinions. I'm here to be as helpful as I can be so that your passion or project can evolve successfully. Both are worth what you pay for them.

The Cap'n

[TheCabinetmaker]

Originally Posted by The cap'n

I have no idea why you have chosen this discussion on shift linkage repair to vent your anger over something I said or did regarding a completely different subject sometime in the distant past, but you sound like a bitter and vindictive person who needs to get a life. What you say I said sounds like a gross misunderstanding of the point I was trying to make, and I'm sorry for that. I must not have been clear. What is clear, however, is that you need to realize that this personal attack is something you need to put behind you and you need to get on with your life. It brings nothing good to this, or any other discussion, and certainly has NO relevance to a discussion of shift linkage. If you can't sense the impropriety of your actions, I feel sorry for you.

To the OP, I'm sorry that something I posted elsewhere has brought this unexpected personal attack down on the discussion of your question. Advice and opinions I express are drawn from 40+ years of working professionally on Porsche products, and a another 15 or so years of enthusiasm for Porsche cars in general. Opinions are just that, opinions. I'm here to be as helpful as I can be so that your passion or project can evolve successfully. Both are worth what you pay for them.

The Cap'n

well this all started when some one else stated..."If the cap'n says it you can take it to the bank. :

I simply don't want people to be wrongly informed about what you.

And your still wrong, you doubled down on your belief that you cant jump start a car with out harming the alternator. you have shown you don't understand the what gives with jump starting a car.

When I have asked you about it before, your response was that I should believe you since you have "Bosch factory training" and you went on to belittle my advice. When I state that it was common knowledge how to safely jump start a car, you belittled anyone that believed that, saying they don't have the same training you have. (you think very highly of yourself evidently).

You even wanted me kicked off a website for daring to question you (and you where and are still wrong on this matter) You even went as far later as to lie to the website owner saying I was causing trouble, he banned me than later read the truth and re-instated my account, and he told me it was YOU that was trying to ban me. talk about a vindictive person, it is you.

Your personal attack on me then and now really shows you cant take correction well when you are wrong.

So stop insisting that that little tag you show proves that you cant jump start an alternator safely. Learn and get a clue on the function of brushes in an alternator, all the Bosch training really should have you knowledgable not ignorant. Again you stand behind your 40 years of experience, but still you cant articulate why jump starting a car will harm the alternator.

You keep safe now old man, just swallow your pride once and a while, specially when you are proven dead wrong, and don't lie trying to get people you don't like off a website, it really is bad form.

as for the original poster, I am glad he and everyone else can see the captain's ignorance on the subject of jump starting a car, Bosch training and 40 years experience as a grease monkey not withstanding.

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Long past time to lock this. I'm sorry I let it go on this long.

--DD