Gear cable part numbers/differences.

I seem to have bought shift cables for a late 996, and they've sat on my shelf for 9months so can't go back now. Does anyone know what the difference between the following cables? 99642404112 - >>2002 99642404190 - 2004>> I have the latter, and they don't seem to fit (green cable looks too short by about 10-15mm) but I still have a bit of a arc on this one under the car so it may come good yet. I gave up trying to thread any more through the rubber bush/grommet tonight, but unless someone tells me it is shorter I will persevere with it again tomorrow night.

This was me being daft, it was still in gear :roll: Once in neutral via the lever on the side of the gearbox it aligned fine. I had to remove 1 piece of plastic that from the bobbin that attached the cable to the bracket but other than that they fit nicely.

Phew! That's a relief How are the new shift cables? Any noticeable difference?

I've only moved it on the drive so far, so I haven't tried it when properly warmed up, and I'll reserve final judgement for a very cold morning which is when it was worst previously. It seems better though, but still not wonderful.

Did you make any other changes yet? On my car, one of the first things I was to fit 964/993 engine mounts, that made a HUGE difference to the shifting. I also fitted the short shift kit from Alex which took a lot of play out of the linkage and gave it a nice feeling. There's also a 997 gearbox mount sitting on the "shelf of shame" waiting to be fitted :roll:

Yes I fitted RRS engine mounts a couple of years ago and it had an extensive gearbox rebuild last year inc. a new std gearbox mount with polyurethane insert.

The gearshift on these starts to loose its precision in a few areas over time. The gear selector itself will wear allowing some play. Only way to really tell how much is if you take the console off and remove the gear cables and then wiggle it. You will need to hold the bits underneath to see how much the stick wiggles of course. Alex's bushings for this are great, all metal and really solid. I have used them with the SSK and with the standard shifter. For me the SSK didn't feel great as I still had play elsewhere, so the spongy feeling I had elsewhere combined with the extra effort needed to row the gears with an SSK was not great. Hence using the standard shifter with his bushings, which felt great. 997 shifter is even better as a bit shorter. The next bit is rubber mounts aging, don't underestimate how much this can make it feel spongy. New Engine mounts make a huge difference, you can normally tell if they are worn by turning the climate off and seeing of the passenger headrest is showing some vibration. The transmission mount itself is of course one of the first port of calls too. It is a pain in the arse to swap out, but £30 and 30 mins labour will allow you to put a Powerflex insert into the existing bushing. This really, does make things feel more precise again. My mount showed no sign of wear, it was not torn anywhere, but a the Powerflex insert really did make it feel nicer again. So much so I put the SSK back in the car and it is staying for now. I do have a 997 shifter I can use with Alex's bushings and a 997.2 GT3 shifter as well. (which feels like Alex's kit/997 shifter combo). The other thing that everyone seems to ignore is the detent pin. This is held in place by a 5cm or so spring, over time this looses its strength. This then allows play on the shift cable for 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 movement, the back and forth movement. I posted about it before but no one seemed interested, but I put a video up to sow what I mean. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFBP2CWsahU It is a pain to change, but if you have to drop your gearbox down for any reason at all, swap the spring and the detent pin. Porsche even have a part number for an 8mm ball bearing to take up the age related slack, and yet no one ever mentions this anywhere. Even companies that rebuild gearboxes on these don't even mention it and on my rebuild with a very well known company they said they didn't replace mine and have never even considered it. I'm not sure how much difference new cables would make? Surely as a cable ages it might stretch? But we have adjustments on these cars to take up any slack. What does a new cable bring to the table? Do they get more flex in them as they age? Maybe I should do mine? To be honest, you can see the play in my gearshift from an old detent pin/spring in the video, that is what I would like to change next. let us know how you get on with your cables? When under the car, if you move that lever by hand, how much play is there?

Thanks for this, I have a couple of jobs to in that area - I might as well add this on....the parts are super cheap. Is it just the bearing and spring that needs to be replaced? Bearing : 900 108 064 00 Spring : 996 303 245 00

Thanks that's very informative, I will have a look at the video when I get back later. I should have also said I fitted a new 997.2 GT3 shifter a few months ago. I have an invoice for the cables being done about 6 years ago, so I have left these until last as I thought they were probably ok. There is some roughness to the action and I suspect there are corroded somewhere along their length. I will revisit the invoice for the gearbox work with a schematic and see if the spring was replaced.

Yeah, I could see them getting a bit rough over time with corrosion, then that would obviously make sense to change them. I must admit, I can easily change gear by just pulling the cables themselves, cabin end, so hadn't even considered that. Yeah have a look at the video and see what you think. Keep us updated on how the new cables feel too?

The invoice for the gearbox work lists 3x 'compression spring (gears and shafts)", and 1 ball bearing, so looks like they have been done. I drove the car yesterday evening, I have 1/3mile of pottering in 1st and 2nd gear past parked cars and width restriction and then a junction to get to the village, and it was still notchy and stiff to get into gear for those few changes. Once warm it goes into gear very nicely, and is smoother than before, and the tricky 3rd-2nd downchange while heal and toeing is more precise, so I'm happy.