Today for fun I installed the weltmeister (reverse) shift lockout spring kit. The literature says it will help prevent knicking reverse when downshifting. Well, I never had an issue hitting reverse, but did find 2/3 and 4/5 rather vague even with a side shift. I had a tail shifter and that was really vague.

When driving and shooting for 2nd sometimes I hit 4th, or downshifting from 4 to 3 and instead, hitting 5. I know I need to improve technique and it's not an issue when I focus, but why focus on shifts?

I have a Siene systems gated shifter in the SC and there is never a question about what gear you are in or going to. I like it a ton but it is spendy.

So this brings me to the original question, has anyone ever introduced a spring on a short bolt through the side of the tunnel would force the shifter to automatically force it to center in the 2/3 plane? Or perhaps some other method so you know exactly where the shifter is?

Oh and regarding the kit, I followed a couple of suggested ways to install which made it a snap, bit really didn't notice a significant difference in shifts, but that may be because the car only has 65K miles so the original springs were not shot.

Have you ever replace th stock strings and bushing in the shifter?

I swapped the stock springs to the new Weltmeister which are stiffer. The bushing was swapped a year ago.

I haven't done what you are inquiring about, but the PO of my silver car rebuilt the shifter and added the Weltmeister kit. Shifter centers in the 2-3 plain, and finding gears is easy, relatively speaking.

On the flip side, my Revenna green car, being a partially completed project car when I bought it, the shifter and bushings have not been attended to. It can be a nightmare to find gears and easy to knick reverse while looking for gears. So I have work to do there...

Oh, and keep in mind, the Weltmeister kit is not a reverse lock out, it just helps to find the 2-3 plain, therefore with aggressive or fast shifts, one could still knick reverse.

Perhaps the issue is that I didn't double up the springs by adding the new set in addition to the originals. One poster said just swap them out rather than drill the housing. I may have to pull it and give it the full Monty.

Its on my long list of projects: economically modify the stock shifter to provide automatic centering when in neutral.

I'am wondering if this was the kit that Pelican sold,not sure if they still do but the feedback was poor on that item so I didn't buy ,seems there were installation issues,however some of the feedback on there is a little suspect.
Can you explain how the kit you have works?

Buy a Rennshift, from jwest. IMHO it's the best shifter for a 914/901 gear box.
It's spring loaded to keep the shifter in the 2nd/3rd gate.
The Rennshift is also better than a stock 915 shifter with a Seine kit on it. I ran my Rennshift for 10 years on my side shift 914-4 trans and then converted it to a 915 shifter. It shifted much better than a 915 short shift with the seine kit on it.

The Rennshift is very expensive, but it is awesome

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Why all the effort to self center? There is a spring setup to help avoid getting into the R-1 plane. But those are very often eroded away from years of use. IMHO, fix what's broken/worn and all will be well.

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?s=&...t&p=1492421

I would say it is desired because just about every other car ever produced with 3 shift planes has a spring loaded shifter to the center gate. It is the ergonomically correct design.

I do agree that huge improvements can be made with new bushings and fixing the reverse lockout plate/huge groove that gets worn in the shift stick.

A second spring will not be helpful if there is lots of slop in the system, and really, if you look at how the lockout plate wears against the shifter you would probably change your mind about a second spring forcing the shifter against the lockout plate more of the time.

My opinion is that "all will be well" is true in relation to the lousy shifting of all the 911s and 914s using 901 and 915 transmissions. That works for some people, and that is fine if it is good enough.

When new they were mediocre-to-bad in relation to contemporaries, so I don't subscribe to the line that it is old and quaint so it has to be that way. To me, we have one of the best handling cars, with amazing feel through the steering wheel, in complete disharmony with the shifting, which is put to shame by a lowly beetle.