Short shift

Thinking of installing a short shift to my 997 C2S. Leaning to a factory kit as it plug and play. Do wise heads here have any views or experience with these.

I know you were after feedback regarding the factory option but I would strongly advocate the Numeric short shift kit https://store.numericracing.com/products/adjustable-short-shifter-porsche-986-987-996-997 It is beautifully made and engineered, unlike the factory option every component is metal with no plastic meaning it is highly improbable that it will break or wear out. It is adjustable, you can set it in three different positions, meaning there is a nice amount of adjustment to get the short shift you like. It is entirely reversible and is a name product, so given it's build quality it will have value if you decide to remove it. After fitting this, it gave the car the shift feeling that it should have had from factory and to my mind better matched 'shift time' to 'clutch time'. If I ever bought another 996 or 997 this would be undoubtedly be my first purchase for the car.

Another slightly cheaper (than Numeric) but superior to OEM https://benautodesign.fr/en/home/64-83-bad-short-shifter-20.html?SubmitCurrency=1&id_currency=1

I have change both my 996 and my 986's shifters over recently and I would not recommend the factory short shifter. The 987/997 is basically the same as the 996 mildly upgraded, but it is still all made of plastic parts that wear and get sloppy giving a rubbery feel. Both the Function First kit and the BAD kit were both well made and a huge step up over the factory unit with nice billet parts and bearings, which I will take over sloppy plastic every day, and quite simple to install. I have done videos installing both.

If going down factory route, I recall the 997 gt3 factory mechanism has some metal internals over the 997 short shifter mechanism with plastic internals as noted above with similar throws.  I had a Gemballa shorts shifter in my 996 and went the other way and put in a 997 factory mechanism.  Very small margin on the Gemballa between catching 3rd and 5th (not just me and others who I have thrown the keys over to made similar comments missteps.  3rd gear for me is where my car does its best work.

My 997 has the short shifter kit from factory. Plastic parts or no there is no slop after 40k kms.

Thanks for all the input.                        Numeric seems to be the premium choice and will seriously consider it.                                                     GT3  unit has a different throw to the normal SSK I think but worth a look due to metal bushings.                                               Will do more research on the BAD kit as not sure if modifications are needed.            Videos are on my list Jeff. Cheers.

My car apparently has a Gemballa one. Not super short but more precise than factory. Good and bad.

There is also the CAE Shifter for these. I have used on other non-Porsche cars and they are very, very good

Looking for OEM solutions that don’t modify the console. These are a quality item though.

I just installed the Numeric shifter in my 996 a couple of weeks ago...It is on another lever compared to the standard shifter in both build quality and operation. Having said that my standard shifter was in very good condition and the action was pretty tight, albeit a little long. The other advantage is the adjustment that you have in both the cable seats and the shift length. The only negative is the price!!

Thanks for the input. Price is high but all considered not a whole lot more than oem and adjustable to boot. Very high on the list 👍

Holy Thread Resurrection Bat Man…. Thinking of pulling the trigger on the Function First short shift kit for my early 996.1. Anyone here experienced Numeric and Function First as a comparison?. I suspect the cheaper Function product will be light years better than my 150k km linkage but would appreciate feedback and where to get them. Only see one supplier in Australia for Function and they’re sold out. Grats Warren

I have the numeric racing short shift kit and have had it for a number of years. It is one of the best modifications that can be made to a manual 996.1 in my opinion. The standard 996 shift is too long relative to the clutch and it is too easy to have released the clutch before you have finished shifting. The short shift kit balances this brilliantly and in my experience aligns the shift and the clutch travel more effectively. There are two things in particular I appreciate the shift kit. 1) It provides three different settings for how 'short' you want the shift to be.  I put it in the middle position and frankly it is superb, but if I shared the driving with a less confident manual driver I would probably have put it the 'longer' position which is still a big improvement over stock but is less challenging for a less confident driver.  So the ability to fine tune it to your preferences is great. 2) All metal.  It is a superb piece of engineering and the entire mechanism and frame is metal.  It will almost certainly last longer then the rest of the gearbox and it is something that has clearly been made with precision and thought.  It does not make use of any of the plastic parts from the stock shifter, it simply provides a beautifully engineered mechanism that replaces the stock item completely and bolts straight in.  In fact it is so well made and so well engineered it is almost a shame that it completely disappears under the centre console. My opinion remains unchanged from when I commented 4 years ago, it is a brilliant piece of kit Sadly it has been hit by the ' Porsche Tax ' and is more expensive then when I bought it, so it is certainly not cheap but in my view it remains the best short shift option I have seen and an Alcantara shift knob with red stitching as per the 996 GT3 RS and a Numeric Racing Short Shift kit would remain my first modification to a 996 after tyres and brakes.

That’s high praise and good to see that 4 years down the track it’s still as precise as you’d hope by looking at it. Noise levels OK?. My past includes Lotus (Exige) so NVH isn’t a big issue, but my track days are largely behind me and long drive refinement is more important nowadays.

I have not noticed any particular noise issues.  All the pivot points have bearings and therefore I have not experienced any metal on metal noises.