I picked up a firewall shifter bushing locally. It looked suspiciously large for the hole in firewall, but I was going to soften it by heating it up in hot water to aid installation.

After 3 tries with boiling hot water I couldn't get it to go in. I tried heating it with a heat gun and I got it about 1/2 way in and then knackerd it up trying to get it in all the way.

I'm thinking I got the wrong bushing. I looked at the PP website, and there are actually 3 different plastic firewall bushings:

early style for tail shifter
late style for side shifter
late into early style for converting tail shifter into side shifter

I think I received a 'late into early' 914 firewall bushing, as it just looked too big on the groove ID. Does anybody have dimensional specs for these 3 bushings? I want to make sure I get the proper one for a side shifter.

Brad Mayeur told me that the dealer bushing is better than the aftermarket bushing, as some of the aftermarket ones will quickly deteriorate. Problem is, the local dealer told me that the firewall bushing (and the shift coupler bushings) are not available (out of stock). Anybody else encounter this?

I was also wondering if there are any 'upgrade' firewall bushings available? Maybe made out of oiled bronze/brass, etc.? I already have the brass one for the trans end.

Anybody?

Pelican link for reference:

http://www.pelicanparts.com/catalog/shopca...t_pg1.htm#item2

Surely somebody can answer this. I'd hate to see this happen to somebody else.

Rob,

All I can tell you is that I purchased a Porsche firewall bushing part # 914.424.224.03 from Auto Atlanta for my 1973 914. I boiled some water in a coffee cup in the microwave, placed the bushing in the hot water for about a minute and a half and the bushing popped in with very little effort.

I actually have all three bushings in my garage and I just went down and did some measuring. I could not find the micrometer but I do have a very nice MM ruler. The OD measurements below are of the overall width, the bottom portion of the picture below, not the sholder that sits on the firewall.

914.424.224.00 70-72 914 ID=26mm OD=40mm OEM Part
914.424.224.03 73-76 914 ID=22mm OD=35mm OEM Part
Conversion bushing ID=22mm OD= this is packaged in shrink but I compared the diameter of the part that rests on the firewall with an early bushing and they appear to be the same.

I will say that if you were to hand me one of the bushings I would have a hard time telling them apart if I only had one. I actually had to order more of one of the bushings once just to make sure that I had the part numbers on the bins correct.