This is the basic idea, use a proven system. Cable to mechanical. This is a MR2 system.






I am running a 930 transmission and its shifting characteristics are well known, it's a heavy slow gear change motivated me to try something else.
The system works much better than the straight cable. My "H" pattern is flipped as I need to install a new shifter unit which matches the back side. I've only driven the car one day and I love the direct feel.
It feels like a modern transmission now, well real close for sure. The 930 transmission shifts like a tractor LOL. I'm going to remove the transmission brace tomorrow, sand down everything and put a fresh coat of paint all around.

930? Cool. It's called the SLAP (shifts like a Porsche) syndrome, and it's amazing how much a cable shifter can make that better. It transforms the whole car and the way you drive it, no exaggeration. Somebody should do a bolt-on kit and put all those unwanted but perfectly fine tailshifters back to work.

Cool fabrication, "Drive-ability."

Is it written "tailshift," or "tail-shift" transmission?

with "DB cooper" (good handle BTWT) Converting from tail to side shifting requires wasting some otherwise fine parts. Transmissions to make the conversion are not abundant, etc.

I dealt with my 1972 "tailshifter" by tearing apart a perfectly good carpet and spending a lot of time replacing bushings and adjusting the linkage, but the performance is still pretty lame --even when compared to my '71 VW (albeit a 4 speed). The problems with the worn ball and cage linkage in back remain unaddressed, and to my knowledge, unaddressable.

Looking at the manufacture charts for years and models, the 1972 four-cylinder was the 914's biggest production run at @ 25K units (all from the top of my head so please forgive if those stats are inaccurate). Each one of those was a tail shifter.

Anyhow, I've been thinking about this since I realized the difference between tail and side shifters (about 6 months ago) and although I am not an expert in any part of the automotive process, I've got a welder and a lathe and know how to use them. It would be fun to develop a fabrication procedure--though now that I've said it that sounds too ambitious for my skills.

"Drive-ability", Those are nice photos, thank you for sharing them. Would your MR2 styled system be the best analog for a 901 tailshift conversion?

Has anyone else done another kind of homemade cable shift conversion (I recall an older thread that used a heavy piece of plate steel under the car as a platform for various cable stops and pivots for a 901 cable shift conversion. but I can't find it, nor do I remember if it was applied to a side of tail shift car.)

Like I tried to convey above, I'm a 914 novice, and know this has been tried, talked about and discussed at length. Having said that, it is my feeling, based on looking around the net, that it takes longer to find the parts to assemble the side-shift conversion and they are more expensive than they used to be. Am I mistaken about this. E.g., Im guessing it requires about $500 and a bit of looking around to accomplish the typical tail to side conversion -- starting from scratch -- moreover, after assembling it, you still need to go through a fairly laborious process to dial-in the linkage.

My goal for this post in reply is that omeone who knows what they are talking about is inspired to pass along some more information or links about side and cable shift conversions for either the 901 or 930 transaxle. That would be much appreciated.

Thanks again to "Drive-ablility."

Do you have a pic of your old setup for refference? This really looks nice!

OK, I had something like this. The problem as I see it is the amount of force needed to move the transmission rod in and out. Rotation is no problem. The 930 4 speed needs some leverage gain on the other side of the cable. Just pushing it cable end to cable end seemed wrong. I know lots of cars run them but nothing factory made does it this way.

I have done a bit more work on the linkage to my V8, 930 transmission. I swapped the shaft twist pivot to the driver side because among other things reverse needs a pull motion rather than a push with this cable set-up. I chose this shifter because it simply gave me much more leverage. I have been driving for a day or so using clamps which lets me move the base around to get a idea where the best placement might be.

I think this is the best my 930 has ever shifted, among being tighter having a shorter throw its direct feel is fantastic. Where before I had a hard time finding first gear wile downshifting, now its there and snaps in perfect.
It might not look like a lot of work but believe me it was a painful process. I tried
a lot of different angles, used a few different leverage factors to get things to work well. The speed of my shifting has improved quite a bit as well. I really don't know why all the shift linkages on the market for the 930 don't use this type of design, most factory cable systems all use a mechanical mechanism at the transmission. If it were easy to build I might make a few and sell them. I know for me its a huge improvement.

Very nice.

I agree, the car is transformed, easily the best modification I've seen for drive-ability ("drive-ability"... get it? har har har). Your car's a beaut, by the way.

You're going to have to devise a way to keep the dirt and grit from getting caught up in the grease and those sliding/rotating parts on the tail of your trans. It will eventually lead to problems down the road.

I would be in favor of a bell crank for the gate (twist) function mostly to get rid of that looping cable. A bellcrank to translate the motion would give you a nice straight shot from the shifter tower to the trans. Straight push-pull cables exhibit a lot less friction and wear than one's that make curves or loops (you need advantage you can get to ease the shifting on that 930)- though they are designed to take devious paths, they do perform much better the straighter they are.

Where BTW did you get those rubber bellows on the cable ends?

Andys

this thread's been around for a while

http://www.etischer.com/914cableshift.html

I agree the cables work best in a straight line. The 930 only needs to twist a few degrees to move from 1-2 to 3-4 gates. good idea (now you've given me more work to do LOL) . I got the rubber parts from other apps via pick a part.

The next project is to overhaul the clutch pedal, slave and related parts. I really don't like the pull slave and my clutch pedal setup needs a redesign. I'm looking to use a later model 911 pedal unit with a twist.