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Shifter Cables. "IF.... not WHEN" they might fail.


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Great video.. My 2098 3.4 987.2 has done similar miles so I feel a little less worried that mine might go at any time, but who knows. 
Knowing the issue I do tend to change gear with care but who knows what the ferocity of gear changes have been like in the past by previous owners.

Have seen the Numerics and will probably go that route it they do fail, so I’ve been watching vids on how to change them so I’m ready ha ha.. 
My car is a daily driver so if they fail it would be a bit of a problem sharing other family members cars..

Is there a check that can be done while they are in situ.?

Wonder what the trigger is for some and not others to wear/fatigue and fail..? 
Know the new Porsche brackets smooth the cable run out don’t they?, but looking at your old ones it doesn’t look to be an issue?

 

Cheers

John

 

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Yeah theres 2 modified brackets porsche recommend you change with the new cables.. my indy garage managed to get cables and brackets for £600. 

Gear change doesnt feel any different with new cables and set up..

But then again there was nothing wrong with my old ones.. 

He did say that gear changes start to get stiff and notch when old cables are failing. So maybe bare that I'm mind..

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Thanks interesting to know. Will change mine at some stage. Will probably stick with the OEM ones as they have improved them. The Numerics look great, but are more race orientated and a lot pricier.

 

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Get yourself a pair of these bad boys, Jack your car up, lie on your back for 10 minutes with occasional use of mild bad language as you wish you had double jointed wrists whilst fitting these over the gear cable/linkage connectors and never worry about being stranded at the roadside with a broken shifter cable and unselectable gears again... 😉👍🏻
 

https://www.design911.co.uk/fu/prod133484/Gear-Shift-Cable-Security-Clamps-PORSCHE-987--Cayman/

 

I think most ‘gear cable failures’ are at the cheap crappy plastic connector end of the cable onto the linkage on the actual box, rather than the cable itself snapping along its length.  
 

these clamps will hold the cable onto the linkage even if the plastic connector piece falls apart. 
 

I fitted a pair last year. 

Edited by Windymiller
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  • 1 year later...

I’ve just bought a pair of these shifter clamps from Design 911 and will have them fitted over Christmas at the same time as my GT3 shifter, thanks for the heads up 👍🏼

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  • 7 months later...

To those who fitted these, did you have any issues. I bought a set here:

 

https://www.stuttgart-classica.co.uk/enginedrivetrain/gear-cable-camps

 

Seem to be identical to the TuneRS on D911. But the channel that allows for the clamps to slip over the pin does not seem to be wide enough. Also can't tell if the channel is meant to slip over the base of the pin where it is wider (red arrow) or a bit lower where it is narrower (yellow arrow):

 

unnamed.jpg.d626ac7e181d5eef4dd8b33a3812e64c.jpg

 

 

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Oh and is it meant to be the same clamps for both gen 1 and gen 2 cars? The sellers of these things aren't clear about what they are selling and which models they are compatible with.

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Can’t comment in detail on the gen 1 / gen 2 point, other than to say I don’t think the gearboxes are any different so presumably likely that the shifter cables and therefore their connectors are fundamentally the same also. 
 

I do think I recall experiencing the same problem as you re fitting the clamps and have a dim memory of possibly making the clamp aperture a little bigger, I probably filed it down a bit. 
 

Also think i remember mine went over the red arrowed area in your photo. 

Edited by Windymiller
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I got the clamps fitted. But the cable snapped a few days later. I thought the shift felt slightly iffy. Snapped even though I was really babying it.

 

I believe most failures are the cable snapping due to the long term stress of the routing rather than the cups cracking and popping off the levers at the gearbox end, so these clamps won't help in the majority of cases.

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Oh dear. Will your warranty cover the snapped cable?

 

if not, I know a man on here who has a spare set of cables (they went with ‘my’ car when I sold to him), he might be willing to sell at cheaper than OPC prices?

Edited by Windymiller
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Heh. What warranty?

 

Thanks for the offer of the cables, could be a bit late. I had the AA take the car directly to my specialist and the cables were ordered on Monday, AFAIK.

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Ah, I thought you’d bought from a dealer in the end hence thinking you had a warranty. 
 

as I recall the cables were around £300 for the pair from Porsche and labour will likely be about 4hrs I’d guesstimate. Removing the centre console to get to the ends that attach to the gear stick is the most time consuming bit - but If theyre familiar with its removal you can have it out in an hour. Then it’s the bulkhead cover (15mins), the engine cover (15mins) and actually removing the cables itself and re-routing the new ones should be quite quick and easy with a ramp to get to the ends on the g’box (another hour). Then the reverse to button it all back up. 
 

Check they refit your clamps to the ends of the new cables though 👍🏻  You don’t want them getting chucked out as you’ve just bought them. 

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Yeah, I had the cables go on my last one. Would you believe on the same bit of road and the car was recovered from exactly the same spot!

 

Think the cables are nearer £400 these days. 😭

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Incidentally, how much time would it add to fit the factory short shifter while you're in there? I would assume not much?

 

I have the shifter sitting around, I was going to get it fitted at some point. The only issue is that they're having to squeeze the job in and I'd rather get the car back sooner than delay it because asking to fit the shifter at the same time made them put the job off...

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The short shifter will take exactly 5 minutes  to fit. It’s 4 bolts if I remember correctly. 
 

Again it’s the centre console removal that takes the time, but if that’s out already for your cables then might as well do the shifter itself. Have you got the small green ‘centring’ tool that should have come with the short shifter?  If not it’s about £3.50 to buy from Porsche. It’ll help you ensure the shift lever is exactly centred when the shift cables are reconnected. 

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Just checked design911, they’re £383 (+vat +p&p) on there. But D911 are always more expensive than direct from an OPC for OE parts - typically the OPC prices are same / less than the exVAT D911 prices. 
 

https://www.design911.com/Porsche/Cayman-987C---981C/Cayman-S-34L-987C-MKII-2009--/Clutch-Cables/pt376_384_-cma81-cmo121-ct1377/

 

Plus, if you say you’re a PCGB member (and give them any random 6 digit ‘membership’ no.) You’ll get an additional 10% off the OPC price. 👍🏻

Edited by Windymiller
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  • 2 weeks later...

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