Sloppy Gear Shift

996.1. C2 The gear shift mechanism looks standard, theres wear and slop in the plastic bushings, it’s generally not very nice to use Ive read about fitting a genuine 997 shifter mechanism, do people use the GT3 version? Or standard one? Is the GT3 £700 ?! Gulp .. I see Alex Yates short shift mentioned in other threads ? Is this the best option? In people’s experience is it only the worn shifter bushings causes the problems or can it be cables / adjustment / gearbox linkage? Apologies I think this subject has been covered alot before but I’m not having much success with the search function on the forum, I’ve no doubt its user error! Many thanks

The 997 shifters are 15% shorter and much nicer. The GT3 shifter is a rip off (They are around £200 cheaper from the dealer btw), you'll feel no difference between a brand new 997 shifter and a brand new GT3 shifter, the metal bushings in the GT3 shifter just resist wear over time better than the standard plastic ones, is all. A lot of the play is in the plastic side arm, too. In my opinion, the best option is to buy a second hand and worn 997 shifter off ebay for £100-130 and then fit a 'fuction first' retrofit kit, which replaces the plastic bushings with 'floating' bearing packs and the side arm with the billet version that operates on bearings: SHIFT-RIGHT Solution: Ball Bearing Shifters Ball Bearing shifter kit upgrade for your Porsche...eliminate the flex and play of the stock shifter for sharper feel and feedback with precise and positive gear engagement. www.function-first.com This will give you a much superior shifter to the 996 GT3 one and also be slightly cheaper. This is all my opinion of course, typical short shifters are 30%+ shorter than the 996 one and for me, too short. My preferred is slightly shorter i.e. 15% but very smooth/ slick over feeling like you're abusing the syncros with the shorter kits. I've been testing out a kit a friend is making, which is similar to the FF retro-fit kit above but with improvements/ differences here and there, in doing so hes been through the full range of throw reductions available and we've tested other products too, whilst his kit is not available yet, the function first option above is the best (in my opinion) Another option from the states is the Phenix Engineering metal bushings, which convert a standard shifter into a GT3 one for around £85 all in. This is a good option if your side arm play is minimal. My second hand 997 shifter felt great with these in. Phenix Engineering GT1 Series 996/997/986/987 Billet Shift Bushings Looking for smoother shift feel? Our GT3 style shift bushings reduce deflection and increase driver feed back to prevent missed shifts. A direct replacement for the factory 997 plastic shift bushings. Using a innovative design to improve over the factory GT3 style bushings to allow for easy... www.phenixengineering.com I think people can have issues with cables etc. but mine are still mega smooth at 90k miles. It has new RS engine mounts and a powerflex gearbox insert on the gearbox mount, which make the shifting more positive. My engine mounts werent knackered yet but if yours are tired then this will have a positive impact as well, once you've sorted the sloppy shifter.

Thanks for taking the time to write that reply that’s excellent information. It’s quite subjective isn’t it, what one person likes another doesn’t ? I can imagine it’s cause for debate .. I’m not crazy about a really short shift but I can see how making it slightly shorter than standard would improve the 996 one, I’d be onboard with that. The side arm on mine isnt nice, lots of play there. Lots of wobble in the fore and aft plastic bushes too. It’s generally not very nice, ruins the driving experience! It’s got fairly new engine mounts, standard by the looks nothing fancy Ive got a few things to work through, The throttle pedals all wobbly, the clutch pedal creaks, there’s an odd metallic knock when you first depress the brake pedal, there’s gonna be some hours invested up side down in the footwell I can tell ..

No worries at all and you're 100% correct on it being subjective! I had a go in a gt3 with a numeric shifter and really didnt like it but the owner loves it, he had it on the longest setting as well so i dread to think what it would feel like on a shorter setting. It sounds like youd benefit from something like the function first kit, they also do a kit that upgrades the lever as well and do 3 different ratios. I've recently fixed the wobbly throttle pedal with the kit that Rennline does, 10-15 minute job upside down in the footwell haha: 20250417_133751 by Scott Osborne , on Flickr 20250417_134159 by Scott Osborne , on Flickr 20250417_135607 by Scott Osborne , on Flickr

Oh Excellent! I read about that pedal mod somewhere, great to hear from someone who’s fitted one. You never know with the after market mod products, although they all have their failings OEM stuff is normally hard to beat ..

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I think with the 996, lots of corners were cut in some areas to make the car viable, the shifter is a prime example to what is in the 991, for example. The standard pedal hinge is another example, the Rennline kit is very good albeit i wish it was anodised black!

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Great thanks, its on my shopping list, yeah wonder why they didn’t do that ? I listened to an interview a while ago with one of the design team, I’m sure he said even things like the door gap tolerances were made bigger to make it quicker to assemble.

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Just researching The standard 997 shifter part number 997.424.010.00 Is that correct? Lists New £327.82 on design 911 website

It's all the above that enabled you to own one. Without those different manufacturing methods and cost cutting, the last 911 would've been a 993.

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Absolutely! A twist of fate made the dream a reality for a lot of us ..

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This is the same part number that's on mine too

How much are the 997 (non-gt3) shifters from Porsche?