Skip to main content

Replies sorted oldest to newest

So any of the one's in the link will work? If so, does anyone have a size they'd recommend. Is it something that is easy to install, or would it be best for a shop to do it?

I have no clue how to do install it, but it doesn't mean I'm not willing to try. (unless this is a job that is known to be tricky). The vague shifter is something I'd like to improve on. Thanks for any advice.

Bill

Replica 356 speedster shifter (vintagespeed.com.tw)

Sslowshoes: You will want to choose a length shifter as long as the one you have or a tad longer it is all to your taste of how it feels to you when seated in the drivers seat. The shifter isn't all that hard to install, a 15 min or less job for someone that can turn a wrench. If you buy one have someone like me face time you through the install.

Bubbasev: I ordered a 45mm tube size which is a custom build for them. They contacted me to send them measurements and pictures of my Speedster to build the system to fit and have the tip a half inch under the bumper. It fit very nice. I am not sure about buying their in stock sebring exhaust. Mine took 6 weeks to build but it was a wonderfully built product.

Thanks for the reply Jimmy, and the offer of help should I buy one - very much appreciated. (I'm confident I'll at least need advice).

This is probably a dumb question, but I'm curious what makes the standard VS shifter feel so vague. Without knowing a thing about them, it just seems like something that could be adjusted and dialed in by someone who knew what they were doing. What did Vintage Speed do with their shifter to make it more precise?

Bill

The stock shifter is made inexpensively and was designed to shift from one gear to another and not be sporty. It does the job but over the years the ball at the end gets sloppy as well as the bushings of the shift tube and coupler. The Vintage Speed shifter has its own machined base to stabilize the shifter and it is designed to use a raised leverage point to make the distance between gears shorter. It is a very well thought out redesign of the VW shifter and worth every cent of what they cost.

@slowshoes @Jimmy V. i have the updated PORSCHE bushing model ...along with having replaced the plastic shift bushing in the hanger with the (EV4U)20190917_18381120190910_14302520200716_163626 BRASS one and a brand new SHIFT ROD since john steele/JPS (aka DR JEKYLL/MR HYDE) in his infinite wisdom thought it was OK to leave a 50 year old WORN OUT part in my $40K car....(which is an entirely different OPRAH)....those things have dialed in the shifting of my car for the life of the car

Attachments

Images (3)
  • 20190917_183811
  • 20190910_143025
  • 20200716_163626

GASP!!!

I am shocked.  SHOCKED, I say, that Mr. Steele would use anything that was not absolutely top-rate in any of his builds.

SHOCKED!!!

I may need another Hot Tody, just to calm down.

And just to be honest here, I have the Berg "T" handle shifter.  I like it, having nothing else to compare it to, but if I had my druthers I would opt for something with an ivory ball or mushroom cap.  Not that I don't like my "T" (it perfectly fits my hand), but Dak's ivory shift ball is really nice.

Before my Vintage Speed shifter, I had a CSP shifter which is also very nice and worth investigating.

The one thing that bothers me about the Vintage Speed shifter is that the boot is not attached at the bottom. I tried a couple of alternatives - the top part of a 911 boot and part of a generic CV joint boot. Finally, I had a leather boot made by a little shop in Poland. I see that jncspyder also has a leather boot.  It bothers me a little bit that the leather boot hides the attractive base of the shifter.

I replace the Vintage knob with a 356A knob. It was an expensive piece of plastic.

Last edited by Michael McKelvey

You know how sometimes something works so well and so seamlessly that it disappears from your mind?

You flush the toilet and never think about the miles of pipe and centuries of civilization working together to carry your unmentionables away so that you don't have to deal with them ever again. You flip on the lights and sit in luminescence until 3 in the morning, escaping or inverting the circadian rhythm that has defined humanity since the dawn of history. We eat fresh strawberries in January and fresh seafood in Omaha. We sit in 70* homes all winter and summer, whether we live in Fairbanks, Alaska or Phoenix, Arizona.

We transport ourselves in cocoons, replete with stability control, lane departure warnings, heads up displays, brake-by-wire, and an engine that lasts 200,000 miles with minimal maintenance. Tires last 80,000 miles. Batteries last 10 years or more. It is possible to drive across entire time-zones without ever stopping for anything-- the limits being human and biological, not mechanical or anything having to do with the roadway itself.

We don't think about any one of 10,000 things that occupied the vast bulk of our great grandparents' existence-- laundry, clean water, heat, lights, getting to town. 

The Vintage Speedster shifter is like that.

It takes something impossible to ignore (how bad the stock shifter is, and how vague), and transforms it into... the background. After a week or two of marveling at how well it works (this thing is AWESOME!!!), you just kind of forget it. It slips into the gear you mean it to slip into. It can be rowed hard or gently nudged-- it works the same either way. From an aesthetic standpoint, it looks serious but not out of place. It doesn't draw attention to itself like a Berg "T" handle shifter or EMPI trigger shifter, both of which look like they are trying really hard to do a weird impersonation of a '69 'cuda.

It just blends into the background, working seamlessly like a good furnace or computer or mechanical pencil.

I can think of no higher praise to give something like this. It works perfectly. It isn't stupid looking or frustrating or quirky. You'd never realize what a miracle that is, unless of course you tried anything else (which we all have). It's the Mazda Miata (or Porsche 911, if you will) of VW shifters-- quietly stepping up to the plate and hitting a towering grand-slam home run out of the park, over the sidewalk, and bouncing down the street-- utterly and finally and definitively showing everybody else how it ought to be done after everybody else has been trying (and failing, mostly) to get it done for 50 years.

Buy what you like. I'm never thinking about a shifter again.

Last edited by Stan Galat

@slowshoes : I purchased a Vintage Speed shifter about a year ago.  Mine is identical to the one posted by @thedak but with chrome shaft and black handle (SKU 155-795-52200).  It claims to be 12” but there are zero clearance issues with it in my 2003 VS.

@Stan Galat : that was some fine writing you posted.  If I ever sell any of my toys can I hire you to write the advert.?

Last edited by TheMayoMachine

.

@slowshoes posted:

Are most guys with a VS going with the 10 inch then? The shifter in my car is measuring 9 inches - I'm concerned going with the 11.5 inch might cause unforeseen clearance issues.

Bill



Here's how the standard 11.5 inch looks in my VS.

If you order directly from Vintage Speed, they will make the shaft practically any custom length you want and they'll also adjust the bend to suit, too.

But, this size seems perfect to me and there are no clearance issues (although I don't have a radio under the dash). In the photos, the shifter is in first gear, so as far forward as it will go.

Adjustment can be a little fiddly, but it just takes some patience. There's a stop plate underneath (which limits the travel of the shifter). The positioning of both the main housing AND the stop plate will determine alignment.

Part of the shifter's precision comes from how tight that stop plate is cut out, so there's just one position that will let you catch all the gears smoothly. It takes a while to find the sweet spot, but once you do, you're home.

Also, this is the older model that requires you lift the whole shift lever for reverse lockout. The new ones have a collar for that.



VintageSpeed01VintageSpeed02

.

Attachments

Images (2)
  • VintageSpeed01
  • VintageSpeed02
Post Content
×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×
×