This past weekend I installed the
Function First shift kit
on my 2007 Cayman Base - it works great and made a huge difference! I want to share mistakes I made and tips that may save you some time.
Mistakes
Disconnect the battery!
I didn't do this and now I have the airbag indicator light turned on. Browsing through all the forums, its not safe to drive as the airbag may be off.
The passenger airbag light trips a sensor for the airbag indicator if you don't disconnect the battery
It's costing me $150 to order the iCarSoft v2.0 to be able to reset the airbag light. Waiting for this to show up from Amazon.
Buy a 90 degree snap ring pliers. A
set
from Harbor Freight was $5
Basically this is a must have. Normal tools won't really work or you will end up spending a lot of time on it.
You may want to order the passenger airbag off light ahead of time. It's $30 and will prevent headaches later on.
Mine was brittle and came apart into small plastic pieces upon taking out the center console
The most recent part number is 997-641-165-01 (
Suncoast
). It replaces 997-641-165-00.
None of the local dealers had it in stock so have to wait for it to show up
Add the retaining rings before pushing in the bushings, else you will need to take out the bushings and its a real PITA
I also had the retaining ring drop out after I had the yolk installed which was annoying and I had to start all over again
When installing the shift kit, only press in the metal ball bearings till the cutout for the retaining rings. The retaining rings need to sit flush with the shifter housing.
Because of the tight fit it was hard to push out the new metal bearings and I ended up scratching and banging them up a bit in the process.
Luckily its not a part you see and the scratches don't impact the functionality
All of the posts talk about twisting the black shifter connector to pull out the boot - you do not need to do that!
This resulted in my leather separating from the shifter knob
It added more time to address this issue when putting things back together
The shifter leather is held in black by a black plastic trim piece on top of which the twist black connector attaches to
Sorry don't have pictures for this handy
Tips
One of my shift cable ends was in pretty bad shape, likely the cause for the poor shifting
Order these ahead of time. The two part numbers are
996-424-147-00
and
996-424-145-01
Use a drill to shave off the plastic bushings in the old shifter, much easier than just knife
Note that it will go all over the place no matter what and do have some type of eye protection
The shift kit comes with a new black plastic housing that attaches the shift cable to the yolk. I replaced the old white one in the instructions and seen in other pictures. Its hard to tell if it got brittle or not so best to replace it
The metal yolk sits at an angle compared to the old plastic yolk - this is OK
The plastic yolk is thicker and has an angle in.
Took me a while to make sure this is right
There is a notch on the black shifter assembly, you need to align the bushings with that notch. Have a hammer or something handy to help you tap the bushings into the shifter housing.
Tighten the large nut on the outside of the bushing after you have the shifter install with the shift cables
This will have ensure a tighter feel overall
Mine has 100K miles on it, don't order the shift cables unless you really need them
I ordered OEM (not numeric, I know) which is probably not popular on the forums but is the path I chose on purpose for my preferences
Turns out the shift was the problem and unless you know its a cable issue save the $ till you need it
Have super glue handy
I broke one plastic tab and ripped small part of the leather on the shifter boot
Do not apply grease into the new cable ends (hopefully this is an accurate tip)
Other observations
There is still bit of play in the shifter and it seems to be due to the transmission. Its still loads better than stock and the shift into 1st is crisp
The plastic trim piece attached to the shifter boot lifted off with the shifter, I had to massage the connectors to split them apart
My shifter was covered in grease, I don't know why. I searched online but couldn't find much info. Seems like the cable ends had grease on them but the grease had eaten into the cable ends
Helpful posts that helped me through this process
9x7.1 Center Console Removal/Shifter Removal - ******** - Porsche Discussion Forums
DIY Shift Cable Diagnostics and Replacement - ******** - Porsche Discussion Forums
Overall, I spent a lot of time as a first-timer on this job. Below are some anticipated times:
Trim removal: 1-1.5 hrs
Once you do it and know it's easy. But its daunting the first time around
Taking apart the old bushing on the stock shifter: 1-1.5hrs
This took me way longer than I thought so adding in realistic estimates
Installing the Function First kit: 1-1.5hrs
Again, I made a ton of mistakes and so time it took was much longer for me
Putting everything back together: 1 hr
This is probably the faster than an hour but I did make a few mistakes when putting things back together
Also adding in time to make sure the leather on the shift boot stayed connected to the shift knob
Total time spent: about 5.5hrs on the high end. You may be able to do it faster if you don't make the same mistakes I made. Hope this is helpful!
