My 1st mod on my 2004 Targa will be shifter

Since its been a full month owning and almost daily driving the Targa, I love this car. Its so amazing and fun and makes me nervous at the same time lol I wanted the best of both worlds and thought a Targa would do the trick and currently in Az the weather is amazing for the top down. I love the hatch back feature, today I was able to be put my suitcase in the back with ease. I am going to be house setting for a week and that leaves me with a garage to do some cleaning and to change out the shifter. I hate the stock shifter and after seeing many youtube videos with it being removed, I now see why its so sloppy with those plastic bits... I picked up this unit on Amazon since it was a prime member deal and a youtube video on how the $35 shifter felt more defined, and I was like it has to be a better than the stock. Yes I am aware of the more expensive shifters and cables...I am just looking to get rid of the sloppy shifter for the time being, while I figure more updates for my Targa I am just glad to be back in a Porsche and the 996 is the right one for me....Untill I get the 997 bug lol

Shifter is always a good upgrade. Though generic, thats a copy of a B&M Short Shifter (I think) so if you're going to copy anyone, why not them. Shouldnt be too bad to do. Dont forget to keep us updated

Nice, hope you like the results!

Taking the center console was so fun lol...I tried to not damage the finish, but some areas got small scratches, I didnt realize I had a coin holder, untill I had to take it off. I have been using the ashtray for coins The plastic parts that hold the shifter were a nightmare to remove, I had to drill them out and be careful to not to damage the housing, Success was made after much cursing lol As others have stated, this is a copy of the B & M short shifter. What I have noticed from the many Youtube videos I viewed is the small changes that some have. Mine doesnt have the plastic washers on the bolt that holds the shifter to the unit, see below. Instead they are 2 hard paper like washers on each side, which in my op has a loose feeling foward and backwards, but no play side to side. I have seen some with plastic washers instead of these hard paper washers and I will prob head to home depot to find those plasiic washers to tighten up the feel and to never have to replace those hard paper washers, if they fail and to be more inline with what I feel would be better washers. I did have an issue where the metal barrels where not fitting the ends for me to add the clips to the barrels and I remembered one of the Youtube videos stated the barrerls have plactic units that hold both ends, they each have metal washers within in them, so I ended up removing both washers and the barrerls fit perfect on each end of the housing and I was able to tighten them down to remove play. The unit already feels way tighter and zero play like the stock unit with the junk plastic pieces. I think I will be happy with this update. I will write more when its fully in and I go for a drive. Just an FYIif others do this, I just put the shifter in place and put the console over it as some Youtube videos showed the allen head bolts , could be longer than stock for the front fit, Mine seems to be ok with room, we shall see what I put everything back together.

Definitely watching! My 02 Targa seems sloppy compared to the T5 in my 04 Mustang Gt. and the short shift setup in our E36 M3.... Heck, no that I think of it, even the old school Hurst 4spd shifter in my 65 Mustang is snappier

If I had this to do over I would have gotten the unit with the nylon parts in the 1st place, but this has been a good learning experience. As I stated before there small difference with the short shifters on Amazon. I ending up going to Home Depot and getting the Everbilt 3/8 inch nlyon washers $1.25 for a pack of 2. The washers fit perfectly with the bolt and were a tad wider, which I was ok with. The nylon washers themselves were a tad smaller in girth compared to the hard paper washers, I ended up using a metal 3/8 washer to remove the play going foward and backwarrds and ended up using those paper washers on the outside of the bolts. I am no fully happy with how tight the shifter is now vs stock. For $50 I cant complain and I wont I can already tell the shifting will be tighter and notchy Next I will be vacuum the interior as I made the mistake of leaving the Targa down and small leaves got into the interior. I will be reinstalling the shifter today and maybe later on tonight, give feedback on the shifter fully installed and feedback on shifting

I hope you like it better than I liked the B&M in my FD. It truly was a BM in that car and one of the first things I did in the car was to toss it in the trash. Way too short, way too notchy.

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Just installed it and started to shift before putting everything together....way tigher and notchy for sure....I think I will be fine

B&M can be hit or miss. I loved it in my VW back in the day but hated it in the BMW. I think the inherent loose-ness that cables bring into the equation are balanced out by the notchiness, whereas the BMW is a direct lever into the gearbox and the notchiness made it annoying. Hopefully this is the forner since there are cables involved.

Go figure this happens to me and this connector is not talked about when removing the console....Looked at Youtube video and evern here for the console removal.....It seems when I removed mine this connector is attached to the center console towards the rear I believe under the storage compartment, mine detached from the console I am not sure where it goes? I just detached from the connector, but would like to put it back where it belongs?

Just figured out where the connector goes and it seems I broke mine when I removed the console. When the storage compartment door is closed, it must be a light feature. This switch seems it cant be replaced its part of the console. Going to super glue back together and remember that next time, If I have to take off the concole again. Should be mentioned when center console is removed. I learned the hard way

For future reference, you can get a huge selection of washers from McMaster, or even semi-custom stuff from Misumi. I used their stuff to build brake pedal boxes and shifters in other cars. Bringing this up only because some folks would like a more metallic "clink" from their shifter and nylon/paper/soft washers will hide that. If you were to use steel (coat in antiseize) or bronze washers you can get delightful rifle bolt noises from shifting, somewhat like an old Ferrari or Alfa.

I am waiting on a 997 shifter and will be doing the console removal soon as well. I did know about the coin holder, so maybe I watched a different video than you. I believe that switch you have there is the "center console microswitch" and it has to do with the alarm. It lets the computer know the center console lid is closed or not. If it is not there anymore, I'd wager when you lock the car you might hear a chirp? Have you noticed this? Anyway, good to know because I agree, none of he console removal videos I watched had any problems (or mention) of this switch.

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Its in a garage so its not locked and alarm not on...Glad I didnt do that now that you tell me..and yes its for the console lid

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I think you can still set the alarm, it will just beep when you do it. I actually found this on an older thread, some people do this on purpose because they WANT to hear a beep. " Some people will push the micro switch contact out of the way on the center console to make thier car beep. The want it to make a sound. Porsche wants the car to be quite when it arms. There is not other way to make it beep." I don't even know if my car alarm sets when I lock it, I don't use the fob I lock it with the key. Oh well, it hasn't gone off at 3 am for no reason so...

The next upgrade if you want to eliminate the slop is a Function First Shift Right kit, it removes all the plastic from the shifter.

So I put everything back together today, here is the center console lid connector that no one talks about when removing it. Super glue is holding and its back connected As I stated earlier in my post, the allen head bolt for the front can be longer depending on what model you get on Amazon. Mine fit just right, any longer I would had to get the hacksaw out to trim it. Everything put back in and the shifter is shorter than stock for sure and you can tell right away when you feel the shifter So here's my feedback on the unit for $50 you get a tighter feel when shifting and I feel no slop as I did from the stick unit with plastic bits. Is it perfect no, but it feels better and for me worth the change out. The issue I still have sometimes is getting into 3rd gear, just as the stock unit on the new shorter unit, sometimes perfect engagment into 3rd and sometimes not. I have a feeling this has to the do with the cables themselves and not the unit, as you can adjust the cables. In the process I ended breaking the center console lid connector,(fixed) scratched up console around the shifter and ended up scratching my driver door paint with my goddamn zippered shorts....All in all fun to get to know the 996 better and give it battle scars lol