Tail to Side Shift Conversion Rookie Options

[Cuda911]

Excellent work, Jameel, and excellent write-up. Thanks!

[brant]

Wonder why you had to cut out that access hole in the tunnel? When I converted my '71 to a side shifter MANY years ago I didn't have to do that.


When adjusting the shift rod, if you experience difficulties, Tangerine makes a slick part that allows easier adjustment- check Tangerine Racing website...

Agreed.
No cutting necessary

[Jameel]

Thanks! Great news! Two nights ago I got everything buttoned up, fired her up, pressed the clutch pedal in, put her in reverse, then with great apprehension I slowly let the clutch out. The car backed out of the garage! Then I put her in first and drove over to the school parking lot across the street from my house and checked everything out. It works! It seems I even got lucky and nailed the shift coupler adjustment up front first time out. It goes into every gear without issue and feels great. I have not taken her out for a serious drive though, just a spin around the parking lot. Needless to say, an ENORMOUS improvement over my worn and sloppy tail shift. Once I get a few other things sorted on this car (oh, forgot to mention our first test drive with maybe 10% brakes was interesting) it's going to be pretty sweet. I'm just waiting on a new master cylinder to finish the brake system. I bled them three separate times, two-man method, and still have pretty much zero pedal. Must be the seals in my master.

[Jameel]

I just picked up a junk yard side shift trans today and am looking forward to the conversion. I did not get the new style rubber mounts with the cross bar. do you think it would be possible to retain the old rubber outer mounts and solid mount the center like the old bar?

Hard to say. There might be a way to do that. I think the front end of the engine case might have some bits that interfere if you delete the rubber mounts. Might be a way to shim it out with rigid spacers so you can use the early rubber mounts at the ends. I'm a rank beginner here, so these are really green opinions.

[Dave_Darling]

I just picked up a junk yard side shift trans today and am looking forward to the conversion. I did not get the new style rubber mounts with the cross bar. do you think it would be possible to retain the old rubber outer mounts and solid mount the center like the old bar?

Nope. The shift rod will foul on the hole in the motor mount bar. You need the late style mounts.

--DD

[stugray]

Wonder why you had to cut out that access hole in the tunnel? When I converted my '71 to a side shifter MANY years ago I didn't have to do that.


When adjusting the shift rod, if you experience difficulties, Tangerine makes a slick part that allows easier adjustment- check Tangerine Racing website...

Agreed.
No cutting necessary

Actually when I saw this, I looked into my center tunnel with a borescope (my car is a tail-shift to Side-shift conversion as well).

There WAS interference between the shifter and the clutch cable tube AND the shift rod was rubbing on the hole in the tunnel like shown in the pics.
I have a rennshifter so I dont know if that contributes.

I used a hole saw to make a hole in the center tunnel and reached in with a die grinder and enlarged that hole.
You could actually hear the rod rubbing on the center tunnel opening before as you shifted. Now I cant hear anything rubbing.

[Jameel]

Just a quick follow up. I got my brakes bled properly after installing a new master cylinder. Now I can lock up my wheels. A GREAT feeling, which made a proper shakedown drive possible. After a few days my shifter started acting up. I couldn't get into 2nd or 3rd, it went right into 4th from 1st. With the knowledge from rebuilding everything I knew to look at the cone screws to see if one had come loose. Sure enough the one way at the back was loose and the rear shift rod was rotating in the coupler at the side shift module. I reinstalled it with some blue loctite (and did the same to the front one for good measure) and all is well. It still shifts great. I've been tearing around town in this little go kart for the past week and loving every minute of it. Here's a couple pics of the car, along with a friend's 1971 914. He's the original owner. He's my dad's age, and used to take me for rides in this car when I was a kid. Great memories. Thanks again to everyone who helped me out here, especially Dr. Evil and his invaluable video.

[gereed75]

Nice work and really nice looking car(s). Feels great to be able to rat around and shift with some confidence!! Really increases enjoyment of driving the car! Thanks for the great write up.

[mbseto]

I've been tearing around town in this little go kart for the past week and loving every minute of it.

All is right in the world.

I like the steelies. No-nonsense.

[Porsche930dude]

I just picked up a junk yard side shift trans today and am looking forward to the conversion. I did not get the new style rubber mounts with the cross bar. do you think it would be possible to retain the old rubber outer mounts and solid mount the center like the old bar?

Nope. The shift rod will foul on the hole in the motor mount bar. You need the late style mounts.

--DD

Iv completed the conversion and I was able to use the old outboard rubber mounts and old engine mount with the new bar. I had to drill out the center bar holes slightly bigger to fit the old bolts. also cut off the nubs on the ends of the bars that stick up so they are the same height as the old bar. The biggest problem was the old engine mount holes are about 1/2" narrower than the ones in the new bar. So I sliced out a nut on one side and bent out the gusset to weld in a new nut to slightly widen out the holes.
For the shift lincage my old u joint was shota nd part of the bar that came through the firewall was all bent up. so i welded in a new pipe section the same diameter as the old bar. Actually a bit bigger so it sits tighter in the bushing. and i welded in a u joint from a car steering shaft with the splines so its removable on one end. And I even used the old tailshift firewall boot just turned around. It fit over the new u joint since i positioned it as close as i could to the firewall. Hope that all makes sense (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beer.gif) The conversion seems to work good. i wasnt able to drive it at the moment because i have one wooden wheel (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)