Now that my six conversions has progressed the point where the rust is out of the chassis and the 3.2 mated to the 915 are mounted in the car. I'm taking this winter to fabricate shift linkage from the Vellios 915 to the JWest shifter. After finishing the rebuild of the 915, I realized that the shift pattern would be reversed in the car. 5th/reverse would be towards the drivers side of the car. I didn't like this idea. So I'm building a riser for the shifter to reverse the direction fo the pattern. I wanted the linkage to be very crisp. I'm using industrial U joints and spherical bearings where I can. This is the first part of the project, the firewall bushing. I'll be using the stock rubber accordian boot in this setup for weather protection. the following pix are fo the bearing and the nylon housing used to mount it to the firewall. the first pic is the original 914 tunnel shift rod machined down to fit in the spherical bearing. The final pic show shows it mounted with 2 screws, I'll drill for the other 2 when I get the motor out of the way.
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What kind of shifter are you going to use? I have a 914 Rennshift. I was curious if you could just flip the Rennshift and reuse it versus converting it to a ball and socket 911 type. Is there a reason you have to use a ball and socket type with a 915?

FYI popcorn is good for you!!

Just curious - is it not possible to fabricate a cable shift system that would work with a 915 straight out of a 911? I realize that a mounting system would also have to be fabricated, but it seems that this would be much cheaper that the 916 route.

Not meaning to hi-jack, as I think this is a pertinent question.

I'm using the 914 rennshift, I've used it for years with my 901. You can rotate the top 180 degrees for use with the 915. The problem I have is the early type Vellios is a copy of the 916. Which reverses the shift pattern. You can divise a cable system or buy some that are out there. I have a shop available to me and the Rennshift already, so I"m just solving the problem this way. Here's a pic of the shifter console coming out of the 915.
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Pertinent?? Fancy word, Are you getting impertinent??

That intermediate section does not look like a 915 intermediate section, it looks more like an actual 916 transmission intermediate section. The tail section may be Vellios. I looked at the picture at full resolution and see that there is a plate bolted onto the intermediate section that I did not see without zooming in on the picture.....



I am wondering what kind of muffler you will use with the reverse light switch where it is. I would assume you could use megaphones or something similar.

Can you please post more pictures of that transmission? (especially where the shifter exits the intermediate section)

Thanks

I run the vellios 915 sideshift with the 915 shifter and guts in the tunnel for years, like 15 years. George had a great setup and used a straight rod out of the firewall, not a bend in it. I changed to the rennshift 915 and love it.

I lament the future of our society if "pertinent" has become a fancy word.

Bob, "lament" means that it saddens me and I worry about it.

I also have a Vellios 916 conversion, and use a stock 915 shift tower. I like the shift pattern with 1-2 in the same plane and 5th and reverse out to the right.

Like the previous post mentioned, the shift rod is a straight rod from the firewall to the shifting console, and mine has been shifting just fine since it was installed. I imagine the Rennshift 915 tower would be a bit nicer, but the factory shift tower seems to work fine.

Why reinvent the wheel???????????

"I am wondering what kind of muffler you will use with the reverse light switch where it is. I would assume you could use megaphones or something similar " John

John,
I have a triad muffler with GHL heat exchangers. Haven't trial fitted them yet. If it's too close I should be able to put a spacer between the exchangers and the muffler to move it rearwards. We'll see. I'll get some pics in the car with less in the background.
Thanks again for your help with the reverse engineering of that Vellios lever.

"Why reinvent the wheel???????????" George

George,
My Vellios is setup with an internal spring that puts the selector in the 3rd/4th gear plane. You have to push against the spring to move into the 1st/2nd gear plane. I was concerned that the spring pressures from both the trans and the Rennshift would be difficult to push against outward. Your arm has more strength pulling towards you. I don't have to change the pattern. I've just decided to take the time and do everything the way I like it. I'm just more comfortable with a standard shift pattern. Plus I like the challenge of doing something a little different.
Dave

I also have a 914 Rennshift today on my 914 trans. I am also upgrading to a 916 trans and also plan on rotating the Rennshift base to support the 916 trans. It will probably be a couple of months before I get to install it because i need to do some body work first. I bought Martin Bott's 916 kit from Germany. I thought the Vellios used a 914 side shift pivot arm on the trans. Yours looks more like a real 916 side shift console.

"I bought Martin Bott's 916 kit from Germany. I thought the Vellios used a 914 side shift pivot arm on the trans. Yours looks more like a real 916 side shift console."

Steve,
You're right about the later Vellios kits, they had the sideshift style console. The early ones had the 916 style console. I used pic's of Bott's kit to fabricate the internal bracket for my kit that was missing. My kit was also missing a shift lever and was the end case was machined incorrectly. John ( here on World) lent me a lever out of his Vellios to reverse engineer. Thanks again John! Chris Foley helped me out with pic's of his Bott installation for mounting the internal supports bracket. I made a fixture with my 901 to check the mounting alignment of the Vellios and machined it accordingly. My kit was very cheap and I didn't know it was missing parts. I found it at a Porsche race shop swap meet, I didn't have time to check everything out before I bought it. I'm just lucky that people here helped me out and I have a machine shop at my disposal. Here are pic's of the internal shift rod support that I made and some of the shift console that John wanted.

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here are pic's of the shift lever that John lent me to fab

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Glad to help! The parts you made were by far nicer than the original Vellios part.

I'm glad that you are getting closer to putting it all together. One thought on your shifter question would be to find out how is the German guy (who is making parts to clone a 916 box) is shifting his.

I had assumed that a 915 shifter tower would be used. I know that is what is used with the "later" Vellios side shift 915 kits.

OK guys. I know it's been a while. Went to some serious overtime at work, been trying to squeeze some shifter work in. The first thing I made was a riser for the shifter. It's black delrin.
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The machining process with the shifter base mounted to it.
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The inside view.
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I've run out of space for the pix, more in the next installment.

Here's a pic with the shifter mounted in the car.
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This is the support bracket with the sperical bearing mounted in it .
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The next step was to mount a 3/4" ball bearing to the shift rod. This will fit in a cup style socket mounted to the shift rod. I used the ball because of the hardened finish.
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The next step was to modify the 914 rod to shifter coupling. Used the original coupling because it kept the stock adjustment in place. Cut a 1' diameter hole thru the coupling at the centerline of the original thru bolt. Made a tube for the ball to engage and mounted a support shaft out of the front. Welded them all together. Then pressed a teflon sleeve in the tube. The ball and the bore in the tube are the same size. This will keep the shifter from vibrating and the ball will slide easily on the teflon.
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The next post will have assemby pix.

Here's some pix of the shifter assembly from the bottom. I'll mount it in the car this week when it's not so freakin cold! Should be able to fab the shift rod and finish this linkage.
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I did get to machine the new u joints to fit the tranny and stock shift rod. I'll get those pix later. Going to try and mount the oval flange from the original shift rod . Want to use the stock sideshift rubber boot at the firewall.

Holy cool-shit Batman. Amazing work Dave.

Thanks for the pics, I didn't know Vellios had two styles of shift consoles. Mine looks like any late side-shifter trans console. Looking forward to hearing how it works when it's all bolted together.

Did you keep detailed measurements, material lists, etc that you can post to the thread for people to duplicate later, as a complement to your skills and hard labor

Keep the images and status updates coming.

We truly appreciate your abilities.

Thanks guys. I've got drawings if anyone would want them. Need to assemble and be sure it all works first. That should happen in the next couple of weeks.

With the shifter base being above the carpet I had to make a cover for the adjustment hole.
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Here's what I decided to do.
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Purchased industrial u joints from Manhattan Supply Company for the engine bay shift rod. They came blank , so I could bore them to fit. Using the original set screws from the stock shift rods. Here they are after machining.
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The next step was to fabricate a shift rod for the engine bay. I used a 300 series stainless steel tube. It's 1" diameter with 1/16" wall thickness. The ends are solid plugs turned down to fit in the tube and in the u joints. The u joint ends have the tapered holes for the set screws. The tube was cross drilled in 4 places for welding.
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The next step was assembly and trial. Here's the riser in place with the tunnel shift rod in place.
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Installed the engine bay shift rod next.
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Then I tried the shifter . The stroke was my main concern. It's hard to run through the gears with no rpms. There is just enough clearance on the firewall bearing. About 1/16 of and inch. Just enough!!
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Well that's if for now. I still have to weld the oval flange from the original shift rod onto the firewall u joint. This way I can use the stock rubber accordian boot for weatherproofing. The rear u joint has it's own rubber boot to keep the crap out. It's time for a beer. Throttle and clutch cable next.

Awesome work Dave, Awesome!

Cheers,Dion t

SEXY

Beautiful work!

WOW[

Nice job, but I am curious why you need the early style ball and socket shifter. Can't you use the 914 sideshifter rennshift and just flip it?

Nice job, but I am curious why you need the early style ball and socket shifter. Can't you use the 914 sideshifter rennshift and just flip it?

Steve,
The reason for the ball and socket is to reverse the shift pattern. Using the original coupler would put 1st/2nd gear shift plane on the passenger side of the car. Adding the 2 1/2" riser almost duplicates the original throw below the ball in the stock Rennshift. It's about 1/4" shorter. This way the throw of the shifter remains close to the same and the direction is reversed. Without making the shifter too tall.
Dave

Thanks for the help!! Jwest said they would sell me the parts to convert mine to the ball and socket versus buying a new one. PMS also sells just the shift rod for the ball and socket that works with there firewall bearing that I have installed. Hopefully I won't run into any other surprises. My 916 trans is getting built at Hergesheimers. I could of bought a used Boxster for the price of this trans conversion.

Steve,
I hear what you're saying about the cost. I've done all the work myself and have the same amount in the tranny than I originally paid for the car. That being said , I won't have to baby anything once it's together.
Dave

I'm also looking forward to not having to "baby it" as well as gear ratios that better match the motor. My car is mainly street. If it was track only I would of kept the 901 trans.