So I've heard of some people changing over their 914 side-shift trans-axle's to cable shift but I've never seen a build thread about that. Does anyone know of one and or a vendor that sells a kit?

http://www.cableshift.com/914/914%20page.html

Not a clue. Just saved the link long ago.

I’ve watched this over the last 25 years and the feedback has not been good. Patrick Motorsports used to sell the cable shift for the 915 box and the feedback was it was a bitch to adjust it and get it right. They now specialize in the Wevo solution for the 915. I’ve only seen cable shift builds on this site for transmissions designed for cables, namely Subaru, Boxster and cayman.

I had found a page where a guy was creating a cable shift setup for the stock trans, but I think it was a rear shift. And it also looked kinda hacked, not a nice kit or anything. I had started down that path, then decided to just switch to side shift and that has been good enough for me.

I think it would take some clever engineering to get it right,believe there was a kit made some years ago,there was one on the Samba not so long ago but not complete.
Good cables are expensive Morse are generally the best,then theres rose joints, linkages and SO many hours to get it right ,then would it be better???.

I did one on my Suby car before I changed over to the Suby trans. It worked well. I don't recall if it was better or worse than the shaft.

I did one. It was a pain in the ass to get everything working correctly. Not sure if I did a thread on it. It shifted slightly better but not good enough to do it again.

So I switched to a Boxster tranny

I sense that's the direction I'll be moving.
I can only assume if it was a mod (cable shift for the 914 trans) that did wonders, their would be odles of folks doing it. That does not seem to be the case.
Do I recall there was an Audi 5-sp transaxle that was essentially the same as the Boxter 5 spd? Or was that a VW transaxle....?

the boxster 5 speed is made by audi (012) and it was used in the vw passat

What year Passat's should I look at for sourcing? Is there any particular year that's better?
Thanks!

1999-2002 Passat

I dabbled a little on a cable shift as my engine swap has a tight clearance with the rod, but the rod with good bushings hasn't been a problem for me.