The Secret Shifter - by the Coupler Whisperer

[X JBM X]

Let me start by saying that Ed (Ivangene) is a great guy - he and I have gone back and forth a few emails regarding both his coupler bushings and more recently, his Secret Shifter. He's been more than helpful with any and all questions, and seems to be a genuine 911 enthusiast with engineering tendencies .

Many of us know Ed for his Coupler Whisperer coupler bushings, and I have yet to see or hear of a negative experience with them.

His latest product is the Secret Shifter. I've been reading some information about it, and my presumption is that I'll be ordering in the very near future (as in days), but if anyone here already has one installed, I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences with them.

Here is the description of the product directly from Ed's website: Home - The Coupler Whisperer

Ed - I did a little grammatical editing - I hope you don't mind.

There is not only an alternative to other shifter products being offered for your 915, there is a real solution. Introducing the most originally designed shifter centering spring ever seen for 915's - The Secret Shifter !

Not only does The Secret Shifter retain all of the look of your stock set up, it utilizes stock parts to enhance the shifter allowing centering to be completed with the exact feel of the stock shifter. The Secret Shifter requires NO console, boot or leather modification and aside from 2 very small holes in the side of the shift tower, is for all intents and purposes completely without modification to your car's stock configuration. That means your car is still all original, but has an internal enhancement that is virtually undetectable in appearance.

This all began by trying to resolve the dreaded "money shift" probability. I wasn't happy with the idea of making permanent changes to the stock interior, cutting the console or having a shifter that looks really cool, but not the stock look or feel. Recreating the same feeling of the stock spring that was already working so well for the 5-R plane seemed a good place to start and determined to keep the stock shift arm, boot, leather and console with no cutting or trimming were all requirements. The Secret Shifter delivers all of these attributes in a simple to install all inclusive kit.

The Secret Shifter utilizes a mixture of OEM parts and newly developed parts to keep the shift lever in the 3-4 plane when left to rest in the neutral slot. It eliminates the feeling of being "lost" in the dead space between 1-2 and 3-4 gear planes. It delivers a very confident feel of knowing exactly where your gear selector is. Best of all it takes away the likelihood of selecting the wrong gear that can cause a catastrophic engine failure. All of this with the exact look your interior had before you installed it.

I am happy to offer The Secret Shifter for both Factory Short Shift kits and Stock / original shifters - Prior to ordering and I can help you determine which shifter you have so you get that perfect fit.

Installation is very simple. Two small holes are required to be drilled The rest is just as simple as taking the shifter all the way apart and reassembling it using the additional parts provided in The Secret Shifter kit and your existing pieces. - No spring adjustment required, instant results. The kit includes a clamp to hold the gate arm to the shifter. This clamp could be used alone or if you you have access to a welder, you could have it welded in place. (welding not required) The gate has a bit of lateral adjustment after the shifter is re-installed in your car. That's it!!

The Secret Shifter kit is all inclusive - and requires very minimal tools to install. As with my Shift coupler though, I will offer to install The Secret Shifter for you (email for details).

[X JBM X]

Another email excerpt:

the secret shifter is named "secret" because its virtually invisible after install and any cars that want to remain stock looking but want the advantage of a shifter that actually works and grab this and really be all stock - no trimming of plastic, rubber, leather or anything else.

The other advantage is that is has a much stronger centering spring than the single sided outside the housing styles. In fact the first drive I was concerned I used too much spring, but after a day of driving realized I nailed it - now about 6 months of using mine everyday I dont even know its in there - until I drive someone else's car and go WHOA ! Whats with the shifter - DOH!

[80-911SC]

not a secret now ........ thanks

[X JBM X]

Well, I said days, but I really meant hours. I went ahead and ordered mine.

I'll provide a full write up after installation and a bit of usage.

[ivangene]

Found this
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/747627-secret-shifter.html

Hope it is helpful

[Arne2]

Wish that had been available last year when I bought my Seine. Oh, well.

[80-911SC]

Originally Posted by ivangene

Found this
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/747627-secret-shifter.html

Hope it is helpful

secret is out now .....

[X JBM X]

Well, my shifter has been sent to Ed, with expected delivery of Friday. Sucks not being able to drive the car while my shifter goes cross-country, but I'm VERY excited to get it back and reinstalled.

[KTL]

Looks fantastic. Nice job Ed

[X JBM X]

Ok, so my review is long overdue, and I told Ed that I would give a fully comprehensive review of the product.

Day 1:

I got the shifter after much anticipation, and installed it in the car. (what a PITA that is btw). I loved it. It was great to feel the shifter go from gear to gear, and be able to see it at the same time, knowing what gear I was in, where the shifter was, etc.

Day 3:

I let my father drive the car. The car is stored at his house, and he has free use of it (what can I say, I'm a good kid ) He came back from a 30 minute drive, all backroads, and I asked his opinion; he HATED it. I couldn't for the life of me figure out why - so I had him explain the problem. The issue was he was shifting to 2nd gear, but not in the correct plane within the shift gate. I decided to take off the shift boot, and take a look around.

The gate actually allowed shifting into 2nd gear with the "wing" that's welded to the shift lever both inside and outside the gate. The "wing" staying on the outside of the gate is proper, while inside was not correct, yet still possible.

I called and spoke with Ed - he told me to adjust the coupler (which I had done 2 weeks prior) and if that didn't work, I could adjust the position of the gate on the shifter housing itself. I readjusted the coupler, and that didn't seem to be my problem.

So, I got to work on the gate. I played around with the positioning a little bit. I also mistakenly overtightened one of the nuts holding the gate in place, which spread the "fork" and messed things up a bit. I bent things back into place, and actually swapped out the nuts that Ed provided with some flange nuts (As he and I discussed, this seemed to be a great solution to let the nuts go further down on the threads like the standard nut does, while covering the surface area on the "fork" that a washer would have.

So now the gate is in position. For the most part, the shifter is working as expected. However, I can still slide into 2nd gear inside the "wing". Out comes the rubber mallet, and a set of needle nose pliers.

With a tad bit of tweaking to the gate's "wing" with the mallet, I bent the gate very slightly. I then used the pliers to turn the edge of the "wing" attached to the shift lever outward. Basically, it made it impossible to shift into 2nd gear without the lever being in the absolute proper position. In my opinion, it also made it a lot easier to find that proper position.

Day 27:

Both my father and I continue to drive the Carrera, and what a pleasure! The slight tweaks I made to a fine piece of engineering make shifting this 915 an absolute dream!

Thank you Ed, for developing and helping me with such a great product!

[rubing]

Is this secret shifter still available from anywhere? looks like website is no longer?

[Laneco]

+1 on that - I was actually looking for his website today and found that the shortcut no longer works...

angela

[rwest]

I thought that he had some family medical issues that required him to stop "whispering," or at least take a break for awhile.

[A horse with no name]

Yes, like other Pelicans, I also purchased Ed's coupler bushing kit and it really is an excellent product...What a huge difference in shifting after the installation!..

When I had communicated with Ed a couple of years ago, he had told me that he didn't know if he would continue to make the Whisper Shifter but to check back...I contacted Ed last year to see if he would consider making me a Whisper Shifter, and unfortunately, he told me that he was not planning to make them anymore

Not to long before his wife was diagnosed with cancer, I was wanting to purchase one and was making arrangements with Ed to drive to Seattle for him to install and to set up a Whisper Shifter for me...As he was a very genuine nice guy; he had offered me to do so.

As many may know, Ed's was/is? a track racer from Seattle. Is there anyone from the Seattle area that may happen to know if he still races? In my mind, If I recall, I think that his car was red with a number within a large white circle on the door???

[tirwin]

Sorry to say Ed sold his Carrera a while back. He changed jobs and it seems like he is diggin his new career. I believe he has a newer P-car (Cayman?). I think he is still active in PCA. Or was a while back. I see posts from him from time to time on FB. He may post more there, I am not as active on it as I used to be.

[A horse with no name]

Originally Posted by tirwin

Sorry to say Ed sold his Carrera a while back. He changed jobs and it seems like he is diggin his new career. I believe he has a newer P-car (Cayman?). I think he is still active in PCA. Or was a while back. I see posts from him from time to time on FB. He may post more there, I am not as active on it as I used to be.

Thanks Duderino!

So 'The Dude Abides' eh

Best

'Donny'

[RarlyL8]

I believe I have one of those shifter kits, unopened in a box. I bought it several years ago to install in my SC and sold the car before installing it. If you are still looking for one shoot me an email and I'll see if I can find it.

[Quicksilver]

Here is the archive of what looks to be his "good by".
The Secret Shifter - The Coupler Whisperer

[dyerkes]

Brian,

I sent you an email about an hour ago.

Regards

[RarlyL8]

The fellow from BC is the one who posted that he was looking for one of these, sorry if my post was misunderstood. I received several messages from folks wanting one of these couplers.
To the guy in BC, I'll look for this part this weekend. It's been a few years in storage.