B & M Short Shifter

I looked into the B&M Short Shifter at my local Porsche service center and this is what I was told... "The B&M shifter requires damaging the stock shifter housing to install making it non reversible, also the action is too short. I would prefer a RUF short shifter, although you would have to source that from Ruf of Dallas." Is that true?

You would have to "damage" the stock shifter housing in order to remove it making it useless for reinstallation later. But with the B&M unit in, you will never again need the stock shifter housing anyway. The throws are short but not overly so. Many on this board, including myself, are very pleased with the B&M shifter.

Yes and no. Yes, you gave to cut (damage) the stock bushing clips to get the OEM shifter out of the housing, so it is not reversible without buying an OEM shifter or bushing clips (I do not know if just the bushing clips are available). See steps #23, #24, and #25 in the B&M installation instructions (in the link below). If you wanted to change back to the OEM shifter, you MIGHT be able to use the B&M aluminum bushings with the OEM shifter. However, I do NOT know for certain that this can be done. Maybe someone else here can respond to that. The other option would be to buy an OEM short shifter that is already mounted on the tower (black housing - best seen in steps #29 & #30). If you went this route, you could skip steps #23 through #30, and simply swap the towers. No, it is not too short. You will LOVE it! http://www.bmracing.com/media/products/pdf/67.pdf

The front shift tower in the picture has the oem shift lever with the B&M bushings.

Tool Pants - thanks for the clarification! I "thought" the OEM shifter might work with the B&M bushings, but since I have never tried it myself, was not certain it would work. That's nice to know.

Any option you go with will require the removal of the plastic factory bushing, unless you swap the whole housing... ...the only thing you damage is the plastic bushings... need to cut the tabs to remove them. So, if you can find those bushings, you could go back to stock (not sure why you would want to do that...). I went with the factory part (same as B&M but a bit more $$ only to avoid any hassels with any future warranty claims...) In a word? AWESOME!! A few observations: 1. 1st and 2nd are very short. Almost to the point that I thought it was not engaged. 2. More precise shifting. 3. There seems to be a bit more effort (almost negligible) in shifting 4. Going from 2 to 3rd I have to be careful as I find it going to the middle of the two (the 1st is so short that I think the spacing is less than it actually is when going from 2nd to 3rd, hope that makes sense, for the next few weeks I just have to get use to the distance between 1st and 3rd to avoid going into gear 2.5 . Not a chance of going to 1st by mistake... just need to get use to it). In short, well worth it and give the car the shifting feel that is should have had from the factory.

First, your dealer is incorrect in what they told you. The OEM "Sport Shifter" is the exact same unit as the B&M. If the actuion were "too short," then so would be the OEM Sport Shifter. B&M makes it for Porsche, except the B&M version is annodized blue an and the OEM version is annodized black. All the hardware to install both is the same. Just check with Suncoast Porsche, they stock both the OEM and B&M. Yes, you will need to break the shifter bushings to install it but you can get replacements. The B&M is designed to fit in the OEM housing without modification and many on this board, including myself, have installed this shifter. You will find that this is one part most leave in when they sell their cars. They aren't that expensive (about $200) so with the time it woudl take to swap it back, the cost of the bushings and being a good selling point; there really isn't a reason to swap back.

What bushings are in the plastic bag? They look like the oem bushings and from what I can see they are not broken.

I put B&M SS kit in my car, it has never occured to me to go back.

I love the way it feels as well and doubt anyone would want to go back

They look like new OEM plastic bushings that come with the OEM SSK. You can see a number (but I can't make it out) on the black base of the shifter.

Everybody here is talking about the console mounted SSKs. B&M also makes an adjustable transmission mounted undercar SSK. It doesn't "damage" anything and I'm pretty sure it is reversible. It is very similar (if not identical) to the Ruf SSK.

They do not look like the Porsche short shift bushings that come in the Porsche retrofit kit to me, like the the ones I am use to seeing, like below. They look like the busings that come when you buy the Porsche shift lever already installed in the shift tower, or the oem bushings that are broken and removed to put in the Porsche/B&M kits with their different style bushings.

When I placed the order with Sunset Porsche that is the kit that I expected... it is what is documented in the TSB that goes over the install... instead I got the one in my previous post: Here is a photo of the stock one...

Interesting. My picture of the Porsche kit was taken almost 3 years ago, so something changed. How were you able to install the bushings in the plastic bag?

I called Sunset and they reassured me that that was all that is included in the recent kits... nothing more. I just had to push those in... with the help of a rubber hammer.

Tool Pants - you are correct, they do not look like the Porsche short shift bushings. I MEANT to say " They look like new OEM plastic bushings that come with the OEM stock shifter " but I had SSK on my mind and typed SSK. However, it is interesting that they came with his OEM SS kit.

Something has changed over the years. You could never buy just the bushings shown in the plastic bag. And they look exactly like the bushings used for the original shift lever. And exactly like the Porsche clone kit when it is already installed in the shift tower. I have been looking for the part number for the bushings in the plastic bag for years. I have seen what I think are these bushings on ebay but you need to buy the Porsche kit to get them. I am looking for just the bushings. Ebay pic.

I tried to order just the bushings from Sunset last year and provided them with the TSB number. They indicated, at that time, that the bushings could not be sold separately. I too would like to get just the bushings.

I'm looking to get this piece - where can I find it for about $200?

Tool PAnts - have you asked Loren about the bushings? Maybe he would have a source to check if just the bushings could be purchased.

We stock it at $219 on special now, and we also have the Evo Shift Link to go with it. Email me tomorrow. Special deal for the day, Friday only, $199! [email removed]

Price?

Ordered it from Eric on Friday, it arrived today, and took 90 min to install. The car now shifts like it should. Even if you return to stock, I think you want to keep the B&M bushings as they are notably more solid. Does anyone know if B&M sells the bushings separately?