Shifting issues and upgrades, Shifting and Transmission Options

[gator914]

Thought I'd share some recent upgrades and fixes for the shifting issues that plagued my 914.

Symptoms included:

-Grinding when going into reverse or first gear, whether I was stopped or coasting to a stop for first gear.
-So much shifter slop, the sloppiest, loosest, bucket of gravel shifting you can imagine. Was tough to find a gear at all sometimes.
-Shifting performance declined to the point that I was no longer able to find first, or fourth/fifth.
-Clutch pedal was very loose and outside of the bounds of normal.

So what did I do about it?

I decided to take some time to inspect bushings throughout the entire shifter linkage system and no surprise, they were trashed. The firewall bushing was half missing, gear shift bushing was "wallard out", and rear console didn't look so hot either.

So I got some new bushings and decided to go with the Tangerine Racing side shift linkage upgrade kit and firewall bushing kit.

Here is a link to the install video for anyone that is interested in doing this upgrade: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DQx6ISSkcmw/...zRlODBiNWFlZA==

[gator914]

The shifting experience is now much tighter and feels amazing. I know that I will never have the super tight short throw experience that I had with my NA Miata, but for a 50 year old machine, it's great!

I did find that the clutch cable was loose and tightened it up at the tranny. There is a double nut setup on the tranny side where the cable attaches. On the test drive, I felt a pop in the pedal and sure enough, the double nut was loose and the transmission exhibited a little bit of a clunk when going into first.

Perhaps I should try a nyloc nut on the outside to try to prevent it from loosening up at all during driving? Any recommendations? Safe to say that the clutch cable tension may have been a major part of the original grinding issue when shifting into first and reverse.

[NARP74]

Looks like you are missing the boot and the beer can tab at the clutch cable mount, it keeps the cable in the holder. The cable can flop around if not there. Factory just used a double nut on the adjuster. IIRC it's the only 11mm on the whole car.

[Montreal914]

In case you haven’t checked yet, I would look in the tunnel by the shifter to see if the clutch cable tube has detached itself from the tunnel. Typical problem. Also where that same tube pokes through the firewall is another place where it can crack but you would have seen it when installing Chris’ firewall bushing.

What a difference this bushing, the double support at the console and the universal joints linkage setup does! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

[gator914]

One step forward, 2 steps back.

After driving the car a few more times after adjusting the clutch cable, I noticed it loosening up again. The double nut was not the issue and I believe now the cable was fraying further and further until it finally broke. That's fine, I can put a new cable in.

The bigger issue is an unreasonable leak between the shifter console and the transmission. I believe that there should be 2 studs with nuts holding the console on but in my case, there is one stud and one allen bolt. Not sure what happened to the stud previously. The bolt hole threads are stripped and the allen bolt cannot be tightened enough to close the gap between the console and transmission.

Any advice on what to do here? Heli-coil install and maybe a new stud threaded into that?

Broken clutch cable


Console leak


Allen bolt (socket cap screw, whatever you wanna call it)


Stripped bolt hole, threads are gone

[gator914]

One stud and one bolt. Weird

[Ninja]

I'd helicoil that hole and put a stud in it if you have enough room.

New (O-ring/gasket?) for console.

I purchased an extended clutch clevis puppy for better cable control too.

https://pmbperformance.com/products/billet-...nyhtszMeT7CXKKw

That one is for a 911 but the 914 one was similar.

[mate914]

Take the blue stuff out and use old school gear oil.
Matt

One stud and one bolt. Weird

[gator914]

I think that is the direction I'm headed. And I will try to find a stud that matches the original to thread into it. There is no gasket between console and transmission that I am aware of, but I could make one.

Do you have any pictures of the rennline clutch cable clevis installed? Looks pretty cool.

I'd helicoil that hole and put a stud in it if you have enough room.

New (O-ring/gasket?) for console.

I purchased an extended clutch clevis puppy for better cable control too.

https://pmbperformance.com/products/billet-...nyhtszMeT7CXKKw

That one is for a 911 but the 914 one was similar.

[Geezer914]

Best upgrade I ever did was replace the bushings, shift rod and console bushing with Tangerine upgrades. Then I added a Renn shifter. No more hunt and grind shifting gears!

[porschetub]

I think that is the direction I'm headed. And I will try to find a stud that matches the original to thread into it. There is no gasket between console and transmission that I am aware of, but I could make one.

Do you have any pictures of the rennline clutch cable clevis installed? Looks pretty cool.

I'd helicoil that hole and put a stud in it if you have enough room.

New (O-ring/gasket?) for console.

I purchased an extended clutch clevis puppy for better cable control too.

https://pmbperformance.com/products/billet-...nyhtszMeT7CXKKw

That one is for a 911 but the 914 one was similar.

There is an 'o' ring that is used to seal the shift console ,was there when I had mine out to modify and replace oil seal ,it is shown in the Haynes manual but I have no idea of the size.
Helicol is the only fix as mentioned ,cheers.

[TRP]

I have that 'blue stuff' in my current transaxle. I will be swapping to a rebuilt box when I put the 2056 in, what's the preferred gear oil for these transaxles?

[Shivers]

One stud and one bolt. Weird

These work really well especially with softer metals. I've never had one fail. Add a stud and you are done. Not cheap, but worth the peace of mind.

https://www.timesert.com/

[930cabman]

I have that 'blue stuff' in my current transaxle. I will be swapping to a rebuilt box when I put the 2056 in, what's the preferred gear oil for these transaxles?

GL 5