So I have had a love hate relationship with my car over the last few years. Most of the local So Cal guys know my little speeder. My car is very much a hot rod car NOTHING is stock on the car, it is all rodded up with a big 6 and custom 915 close ratio trans.... and therein lies the problem. For more than a year the tranny has been cantankerous it had had a hit and miss relationship with wanting to go into 3rd gear, the 2 to 3 shift was F***ed up, about 20% of the time it did not want to shift 2-3.... a major bummer and caused many F words to escape my mouth while driving.

Enter AutoWerkes in Huntington Beach. I have been a long term customer with them, great guys, Bruce, Johnny and Phil. About a month ago I took the car to them to have its gallons of oil changed... I also asked could you please look into my shifting woes. Well they gave it a go, made an adjustment and it was marginally better, not much but some. I retrieved the car from them and went about an extensive test drive, constantly rowing thru the gears all over the HB and Long Beach area. I counted every missed shift then came home and wrote a detailed synopsis of the drive, I explained exactly how the 2-3 shift would fail. During the drive I could not when it was going to fail and the only thing that was consistent was HOW it failed.

Autowerkes asked my to bring the car back in, armed with the exact details of what happened when it failed it gave them something more concrete to work with. After a weeks time, they not much closer, I will surmise here that due to the fact that NO parts are stock on the car that the Wevo shifter to Patrick Motorsports linkages to the Velios 915 shifter all must have tolerances that are not quite factory. Phil @ Autowerkes asked me to leave the car a bit longer which was fine as I was heading off to Yosemite and Mammoth for a week, no problem leaving the car. Well I get home from vaca and Phil says come on in because he has done about as much as he can without removing the trans and looking inside. When I get there Phil says lets go for a drive, (me fingers crossed) I jump in w/ Phil and off we go.... I could not believe the car, I was so wowed as our 15min drive there were ZERO failures, whoop de f n do I am happy. So here is the kicker as I said earlier I am a long time customer, Phil gives me an invoice for $5 for a new seal. I said ok, now give me the invoice for the labor... he said there was none... I was floored, I said that is not fair to you guys, how much time do you have in it, he said somewhere in the range of 5-6 hours. Their shop rate is $140 an hour, again I said it is not fair to you guys, please charge me a fair rate for your time. I will say that my final invoice was much more than $5. What a great bunch of Porsche loving guys. I am so happy, I have now driven the car every day since I picked her up and not one single 2-3 failure. Autowerkes Porsche in Huntington Beach rocks!

Glad they were able to fix. Too nice a car to have that issue.

My wife works next door to Autowerkes Porsche and knows some of their employees. She always talks about what a nice shop it is...this confirms it.

These shops are rare

Funny...if you google them you can see my wife's white prius parked next door.

7452 Talbert Ave, Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Oscar

Great to know. Glad your issues were sorted and you get to enjoy driving your car.

PICTURES PLEASE ?

Check out his build thread...

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=41464

Congrats!!! My 915 trans does the same thing. I took my car to AASE in Fullerton. They tried everything and pulled the trans. They then tried the one year 1972 915 shifter. It was better, but the problem is still there. $1500.00 later and I still have the problem. I’m not taking a chance on another shop. Next stop PMS.

Hi Steve, Yeah, I agree. I think PMS is a good call for these specific type of issues. They do nothing but build hot rod 914's and they have done so many that these unique problems are basic fixes for them.

Glad everything worked out and 5 bucks !! What a deal. Sounds like a killer lunch delivered to there shop gets you closer to even.

PICTURES PLEASE ?


Pic from about a year ago.

I did pay them what Phil considered fair, it was his choice of $ amount. I was not going to walk out of their shop without making it right, I would not feel good about it. I like these guys too much.

Hey Steve, Instead of PM$, $ubstitute a $ubaru trans and $ave $$$$.

That is one sharp looking 914-6!

914's have seemingly always had a bit of love/hate with owners. Part of the fun of ownership I guess?

Why not a subi build and Porsche build!! Do they make a subi trans kit for a 3.2 Porsche motor or the same Boxster debacle. Personally I love my 915 trans. The gearing matches the motor and is a joy to drive, but this goofy 2nd to 3rd gear shift issue is annoying.

wow! Marv’s silver, Eric’s silver, Steve’s blue, Greg’s white, Andy’s yellow and Oscar’s black and all other members locally with all wide body should be together in one of the future/coming meet up.