Did my first official mod on our family's new ride, 2003 GLX Wagon V6. I installed a fleabay short shifter. Everything came apart just fine and the kit pieces went together fairly smoothly. Putting the unit back into the shift tunnel proved to be a bit of a chore, especially getting the front push rod to slide into its holder. I tried what I thought was every conceivable angle to drop it in and onto the push rod. Just when frustration was about to get the best of me, kerplunk and it was in. Tightened some things up, checked the adjustment, took it for a spin and I'm quite happy with the end result. Put everything else back together and now I can vent a bit over my struggle. Thanks for letting me blow off some steam.
Short shifter - just a little venting
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From what I understand, its not the easiest of jobs getting things to line up
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It wasn't the shifter that was the difficult part, it was the shift unit that everything circlips/snaprings into that gave me trouble when reinstalling. I didn't have to modify anything to the shifter unit to get it to work. The seller was ezplus2003. It was cheap: $40 and free shipping. In the end, I'm quite pleased with the results.
Short Shifter Audi A4 96 97 98 99 00 01 S4 00 01 | eBay
Indeed, it's listed as A4/S4. When I was searching for info, all the pictures of other's SSers looked like this one. There were parts that didn't get used and the shifter is about 3/4" shorter than the stock unit. From what I read when searching, this is a copy of the B&M shifters.
To complement my short shifter, my new shift boot and matching e-brake boot arrived today. VW Passat B5 FL 2001 2005 Gear Gaiter Gator Red Stitch | eBay and VW Passat Red Stitch Leather Handbrake Cover 01 05 | eBay. My interior is gray but I wanted something to pop. And I know, pix or it didn't happen. My wife has our good camera and she is out of town right now. I'll post up some pix when she gets back. I also topped the shifter with an old VW MotorSport knob I had on one of my Sciroccos back in the day. The old shift boot is trashed but the e-brake boot is in vgc if anyone is interested.
They feel like butter! Seriously, the boots are at least twice as thick as the OEM pleather. The shift boot has an elastic band on the bottom which secures it nicely on the boot frame; no staples! The stitching is strong and no stray strings. The e-brake boot fits like a glove. I left the end in the console loose; I didn't glue down the ends. But there is no boot movement on the handle but I might hot glue the ends later. The front end of the brake boot had just enough leather to fold under and insert the plastic button surround so it looks OEM from the button end. I am VERY pleased.
Thanks. So much nicer than the stock pleather. I have 3 of those VWMS knobs. And I plunked this in the driver door:
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