Dear 914World Team,

It has been a little hectic after my return from Germany, but I wanted to let everyone see how our shifter works when fitted to a 914 box.

I have had the pleasure of driving and sitting shot-gun in Martins Blue Beast. Martin's beetle utilizes the shifter for beetle application, but the operations is similar to the Porsche application.

For those that do not know us personally, here is a quick pic of Martin (Bug@5speed), the "Man" behind the scenes, myself (Bugat5speed_USA) and his Subaru powered Beetle. He appologizes for the dirty car, but we did not have the best of weather.


Now regarding The Bug@5-Speed Porsche and Beelte Shifter: I have enclosed a few pics of the shifter and a few showing how the bug shifter looks when fitted to a beetle chasis (See below)

Some info regarding our Porsche 5 Speed Shifter. The Porsche Style Shifter, is cast in alum, then machined. It includes ball shifter knob, and boot. Specifications are similiar to beetle shifter with regard to performance. Applications for both early and later 914 setups.
Pic

Pic


Little info regarding the shifter:
- The Shifter can be looked as a short throw shifter, due to the reduction in shifter throw.
- Shifter has spring gate to prevent accidental shifting into reverse.
- Shifter is available for both 901/914 as well as 915 applications.
- Can use with a stock, aftermarker or our shifter ball. As you can see the shifter can be fitted with the Stock Beetle Shift Knob or you can use an after market one like ours (included)
-Some folks have experiences issues when going from 1st Gear to 2nd Gear when using 901/914 boxes when using other options, precision of shifter helps fix this issue.

Some more pics of Bug Shifter mounted to Beetle tunnel.
Pic3

Pic4


Video: Enough Pictures here is a quick video 1 of 2. 2nd to be posted later. Video shows Shifter installed in Martins beetle, and highlights the shifter as he goes thru the paces on a nearby road. As you can see shifting is precision and quick. From driving this car I can say that once you get use to the shifter pattern, finding the gears is not difficult. Shifting is very precision and not weighted to heavily, as confirmed by myselef and from speaking with Martin's Wife who also drives this car frequently.

Quick Video. Let me know if any problems as video is uploaded to Photobucket.



Overall, I must say that shifter is very solid and with a good weight to it. Once I got use to the shift pattern again, it made driving with the old 5 speed box a blast. Now if I can only get my darn project completed so I can enjoy it. Again very positive on this shifter.

Any more questions feel free to email me.

VR
Alex
Bugat5speed@yahoo.com

> Once I got use to the shift pattern again, it made driving with the old
> 5 speed box a blast.

Do you mean the early 911/912/914 five-speed shift pattern with



or something else? You mentioned that you used it in a Beetle, which as far as I know has always had the usual H-pattern four-speed, so I'm unclear about what you had to get used to.

Thx,

Skip Montanaro

Whats the difference between your shifter and my stock shifter with the short shift kit and lock out gate kit I have installed? Thanks.

Skip, Thanks for the interest.
I was referring to the dog-leg setup. Martin's car runs a 914 gearbox with our bug style shifter. (More info below) Not having driven a car with this setup in a while was entertaining at first, as my DD is somewhat newer.

Socal,

Some more info, and background. As a new company to the US scene it has been a little difficult breaking in. Bugat5speed being based in Germany, has had some good success with the european market, so it was only a matter of time before we brought the products to this scene.

Regarding price if interested, its about 425 Euro plus shipping. Shipping is about 30-40 Euro. Prices have changed since Martin (Owner, Germany) made his initial introduction to 914 Club.

I have enclosed a link to the old thread since it has a little more info and better explain the difference: http://www.914club.com/bbs2/index.php?show...p;hl=bug@5speed

Regarding other shifters, we are aware, and believe that there is room for such a product. Alot of other products available involve replacing parts here and there. Our product can be looked at as a complete integrated system that is ready to be dropped in. Additionally, it includes such items as the ball shifter knob, and boot, Lock-out Gate, which have to be factored in.

I am trying to work with a member from PCA here in NJ, and a Porsche Garage here locally. If you were closer would not be a problem. But I will put out the offer to other members that are near the Tri-State Area, preferrably North NJ, as I have a demo one here that can be set up for early or late 914 or 915 gearbox. Would not mind meeting up, having a few and sharing thoughts..

I will be posting some more pics later this week. The video of the beetle style shifter should begin to give an indication of the quality and precision of this shifter (Mechanically both porsche and beetle style are internally the same). Having spent some recent time in Germany, and driving Martin's bug with a 5 speeed (914) mated to the beetle shifter, I can say my opinion is very positive on this shifter.

Again, hope that helps and please feel free to email me, Bugat5speed@yahoo.com or Martin if you have more questions.
VR
ALex

Hi altogether,

I´m Martin, the one that engineered the shifters. Found the thread and want to give some further info.

The shifter was originally designed for my 5-speed conversions to VW Beetle. I offer parts to convert Porsche gearboxes (901, 914, 915) to Volkswagen Beetles.

The shifter works brilliant and the very special pattern of the 901 914 gearbox is no issue anymore. You can push from 1st into 2nd in the same speed like pulling from 2nd into 3rd. The shifter is very precise and secure to shift. That are the main features. Besides and I relly mean besides, it has a short throw of only 55 mm per gear.
As vendors and tuners for old strong Volkswagen and old Porsches are often the same person (at least here in Europe) I was asked to make an equal shifter for the old Porsches with 901 and 915 gearboxes, but also for 914s.

The shifter for Porsche was redesigned and comes with an own aluminium casted housing. It can be exchanged 1:1 against the original shifter. Throw is 60 mm per gear. It´s available for all above mentioned cars, also for the 914 past 1972. I have very good references from the Porsche scene here in Germany. Porsche Kremer in Köln for example is using the shifter for customer cars. The shifter was installed into a few 914/6, 914/6 GT, 911 RS, 911 RSR,...and is very successful over here.

Important for me was not at first side a short throw, but precision and security and by this speed in shifting. The short throw is "only" something like a further positive result of engineering this shifter. That´s the main difference to the kits which are mainly a plate to change lever ratios. They do not really improve shiftability and precision.

Martin Bott
Bug @ 5-Speed
Germany

Not sure if my Photobucket link has given folks who don't have an account problems, so here's link to it in google video.
VR
Alex

Link: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8966126634572053546