Short shifter install....

B6/7 S4/RS4
#1

Hey guys, finally decided to install the JHM shifter that has been sitting in my basement since January. Disassembly of the stock unit and then transferring the guts to the JHM was simple enough. Well, I had to use a piece of wood and mallet to get the JHM unit to seat fully in my stock shifter “cup”. Don’t think it is ever coming out so I hope I like this shifter! LOL.

In any case, I spent more time than I would like to admit trying to get the freaking linkage bolt (6mm allen head bolt that is a bit crooked) in. I finally gave up.

I watched videos, read DIYs, etc. Just wondering if anyone here has any tips. Specifically, I am having trouble getting the “flange” piece with the serrated detents on there. And when I can get it to balance on the linkage nicely, I try to get that allen bolt in but it just doesn’t want to seat and any lack of steadiness causes the flange and bolt to fall out. Such an unusual angle so it is really tough to get things started.

Any tips? Was going to pull my ashtray to get some more room but can’t get the frigging thing out! I think I need to remove my climate control to pull the ashtray all the way out and I am not particularly interested in doing that. Based on this my guess is adjusting the shifter wil be a breeze! :wink:

#2

definitely remove all that climate control and ashtray out of your way. I cant imagine attempting the install without that!

#3

The ashtray is easy to remove without touching the climate control. You just need to put some pressure on the sides of the center console frame to clear the ashtray’s protruding bits as it gets pulled out. By putting pressure, I mean 1/16th of an inch is sufficient clearance to get the ashtray out (I’ve had to do it many times). As for the linkage, no clue. I had a shop do mine :slight_smile:

#4

Thanks – after posting I saw you provided that same explanation on AZ somewhere. I noticed there are 2 very small bolts that appear to secure the console plastic (they are sideways) and that the ashtray is contacting these when I try to remove it. I didn’t try to push the console plastic sideways (just nervous about breaking somethign but will try.

Also, just out of curiosity I read a DIY on the strasmophere shifter. One tip they provided to get the linkage bolted up was to remove the small circlip at the top of the spring on the shifter. Doing so allows the entire shifter to “relax” and bottom out, providing a more easy to manage angle for the linkage bolt. I am a little nervous about doing this but might try it if I get desperate tonight ;D My biggest concern is that the circlip is going to shoot off somewhere and I will never find it again or that I have a bitch of a time trying to reinstall it when the shifter is mounted up.

What a PITA. Not sure why they were able to do it with NO problem on the JHM video. Haha.

http://www.pdfdocspace.com/ddata/62137.pdf – look at step 7. Also, I like the idea to superglue the spacers on the bars for for the “stabilizer rods”. JHM should add that to their instructions.

#5

Okay, kids are beginning to wind down so I went to the garage and was able to wrangle the ashtray out. Not sure if it will ever go back in now, but I’ll worry about that later! ;D

So, in addition to about $2.37 in random change stuck in the glove box, there was also a 1GB SD card. Well, this confirmed that the first (and only other) owner of my car was female. I think.

How do I know this? Well, the SD card had no less than 12 New Kids on the Block song not to mention at least 20 N’Sync songs. LOL, at least I know the PO was from the same generation as me.

So, at some point tonight I might get back in the garage to finalize installation of this freaking shifter. Hopefull I can get the linkage bolt and rod in easier now. Adjustment will probably have to wait a couple more days though. No prob as I don’t drive the car during the week anyways.

#6

Good luck!

#7

So I did end up having to take the circlip off of the shifter (that secures the spring). Doing that allowed the shifter to droop and the linkage bolt hole to line up completely straight. Okay, that was easy. Decided to swap to a stiffer spring and compressing everything will getting the circlip on there was a major chore, but doable. If had another set of hands no problem but I didn’t want to bother my wife.

Did the initial adjustment and things are very close. Getting into first has the tiniest amount of resistance but I do have reverse and all other gears. I’ll toss the knob/boot on there temporarily and finalize the adjustment on Wed. or Thurs night. But so far so good!

#8

Nice man. Once you get it dialed in you’ll love it. Seriously one of my most favorite mods.

#9

Good call on the stiffer spring. I hated the standard spring.

#10

Smartest decision ever. I made that mistake a long time ago and will never do it again lmao.

Glad you are almost finished, looking forward to your impressions once all is finalized.

#11

LOL…my wife has little problem with the amount of time I spend detailing or just messing around with my cars. But the second I ask her to help with something related…ANYTHING…man, do the nasty stares and looks emerge!

Bottom line, if I took a picture of what I had to rig in order to get the spring and circlip back in the shifter while it was installed, you would all LOL. Basically, had to "lift the shifter linkage using a combination of those huge metal wire ties that went from my shift linkage all the way to my passenger “oh shit” handle. Doing this allowed me to compress the spring on much easier since the shifter wasn’t moving when I was trying to secure the clip. Bizarre. Necessity is the mother of all invention after all!

#12

I had my wife help me put the transmission back in my VW GLI a few years ago. I was having her raise and lower the jack while I balanced it and tried to line it up…long story short, she pissed me off because she couldn’t follow simple directions, I apparently “yelled” at her and she stormed in the house while I was holding a transmission over my head…lol I eventually lifted it up from the top and slid it on myself.

I don’t ask her to help anymore, but surprisingly she understands things that I teach her and probably knows more about B6/B7 S4s than most kids on Audizoo. A funny thing she said though when I did the 2.5" fullback and JHM tune at the same time was “How is an exhaust and tune going to make the car any faster?” Well after I had everything installed I took the car out by myself, brought it back and parked it in the garage. The next morning my wife went to work and took the car and I got a text about 10 minutes later…it said “Holy Shit, all that from just a tune and exhaust”

#13

Wife - I can relate.

Shifter innovation - I can relate here too. With any type of rube-goldberg-device I make in order to help me accomplish a 2 man job by myself.

#14

That’s way worse than what she pulled with me. I asked her to help me bleed brakes…apparently I “yelled” at her too many times so she went inside before I was done lol. I tried telling her I was on the opposite side of the car with my head in the wheel well so I had to yell for her to hear me. She said, “you’re an idiot.” lol.

Nice, mine has zero mechanical or performance acumen. Which I’m actually ok with.

#15

damn, all the wife stories are rough… my gf loves working (holding the flashlight) on cars with me, both hers and mine

#16

Just to close the loop on this – finished install of the JHM shifter a couple days back but was a bit annoyed because of a loud screech/chirp noise every time I do a reverse pushdown. Did some searching and it looks like its been reported by several folks that purchased around the same time as me (last xmas). Maybe a slightly off production run or something. Oh well. I am also not all that excited about the stiffer spring I installed (forgot now if it was the medium or full stiff). It has a bit more resistance than I would like. At some point I’ll probably pull the whole assembly again, try and fix the areas that are causing the squeak and maybe swap the spring.

Now, I haven’t done a ton of driving but the shifts feel pretty good. Very positive and direct. Also noticeably shorter shifts and time between gears when compared to a normal, leisure shift with the stock shifter. Also, I thought I had the adjustment perfect but I bet it is at like 95% rather than 100%. Things are a touch notchy and the transition from reverse to neutral to first is kind of rough, but some of that might be due to the stiff spring rebounding. All stuff I can fix later. Good mod but I am not sure yet if I would consider it transformational as some have reported. Need more miles on it first.

I have the JHM linkage as well but will continue to wait on installing that until I install piggies (and the JHM tune). Maybe next spring.

#17

Try putting some white lithium grease on the spring or where it seats, should get rid of the annoying screech.

#18

I’ve read that grease alone doesn’t really fix it…there are some casting marks that need to be sanded in order to quiet things completely. This was reported by someone on AZ and confirmed by JHM subsequently.

With that being said the screech isn’t all that bothersome/noticeable when driving. The noise of the car and my radio (which is always on) drowns it out enough. So, I’ll just leave that as-is. The rebound and resulting clunk after the shifer is taken out of reverse seems a bit abrupt, but oh well, just live with that.

I mentioned before that I thought I was at 95% adjustment. Maybe 98% adjustment. Things feel really good with more driving. The very direct and solid feel of the shifter do take away from the niceness of the car but that is what I wanted, I suppose. It really does change the feel of the car. Addition of the TTRS wheel was similar to me, a nice change in feel.

#19

I found the same. Not sure if I was getting used to it, or if there is some sort of bedding in process going on. Either way so much fun!

#20

Same here. I think its the user (us) getting used to the directness of the shifter. You get much more feedback so you can tell when your shifts are less than perfect ie grinding the sychros. This feedback helps us to refine our shifts over time. Its like anything in life, without feedback how can we expect to improve? :slight_smile: