Short shift for gearbox which one to go for?

thinking it would be nice to shorten the throw of the gear lever and heard a few people mention that its really easy so which one is the one to go for?

One way that works well for a few reasons is to cut down the lenght of the shifter. Some will say that this is not making a "short shifter" but it does and it works very well for many. Requires no parts if you already have tools to do it and nothing has to be removed either. The amount of "shortness" is limited by how far you want to reach for the knob (and effort in shifting).

The more common way is by replacing a shifter lever. This is also very easy and only takes a few minutes to do. Some people make their own or there are many companies who sell pre-made levers either alone or with new bushings. They often come with two or three adjustment, throw reductions in percentage, holes to try or use. The max I think I have seen is 50% which most find causes trouble, binding of the linkage and shifter effort becomes very hard. 30% seems to be a real good and well liked position as effort is not too much and the feel is good.

A few things to think about along with the shorter throws; Get a weighter rod to also install at the same time. This makes the feel much better and helps overcome the increased effort of the shifts. VW started using them on the A3 models and sells it for around 30 euro I think. Best time to install new bushings which will make a gread difference in the feel. When the bushings start to wear the shifter starts to become sloppy. Get a shifter adjustment gauge. They are rather cheap and solve much of the shifting issues people come upon with gear selection. Without the gauge to set the shifter it is more like hit and mis or trial and error when adjusting the shifter. No short shifter will help with gate selection, side to side, and only replacing the bushings will help here.

google 'missing linkz'

my bushes are brand new on the car and it goes in gear perfect i just want a short throw so where do i get the rod from that is shorter? cheers

There are many many companies that sell these things and if you do a simple search on the Internet you will be able to pick which place you want to do business. Missing Linkz selles fair quality stuff, but years ago their weighted rod was just too light. I discussed this with them back then and maybe the rod has gained some weight now, don't know.

Bling said

thinking it would be nice to shorten the throw of the gear lever and heard a few people mention that its really easy so which one is the one to go for?

Hi

Here is a pic of a short through gear lever which I make have made these for years and never had  problems with them jamming its all to do with the positioning  above the ball .I use half of the original lever and make the rest up my self.

Hope this helps
                      Martyn  8)