These instructions might seem lengthy but they are thorough and most people appreciate that. This install should take about an hour to perform. Also, these instructions ONLY apply to the dieselgeek.com TTX Shifter that went on sale on November 25th, 2009. These instructions will not work on any other shifter in existence and are COPYWRITED material and pictures!
Tools needed:
3/8 drive ratchet
13mm or 1/2 inch socket in 3/8 drive size
Long extension (12 inch to18 inch is best) in 3/8 drive size
Channel lock pliers or special hose clamp pliers for MAF clamp (TDI, VR6,
2.0)
Regular screwdriver for 1.8T MAF clamp
All-purpose lubricant such as WD-40 or equivalent
1. Always work on a cool car. These engines get hot! You will burn yourself
otherwise.
2. Park car on level ground, set hand brake. Daylight really works best for
seeing what you are doing. Pull hood latch and open hood.
3. You need to remove the air box to do this install. The air box is
held in by two 6mm bolts (with 10mm heads), one behind the battery box and the
other behind the air box. Unplug the mass airflow sensor electrical plug (there
is a catch in the middle that must be pressed to release the plug) and loosen
and remove the hose clamp for the mass airflow sensor (MAF) with a regular
screwdriver (1.8T) or a pair of channel lock pliers or specialized hose clamp
pliers (all other engines). Remove the passenger side vacuum hose (TDI) or air injection hose
(1.8T, VR6, 2.0) from the air box by gently but firmly squeezing where the
serrations are on the outer ring. It is sort of thin and brittle so do not
get ham fisted with it or it might break. Tuck it in front
of the battery box to make room for doing the install.
4. Looking down to the left hand corner of the battery at the bottom you
will see the stock
shift linkage with two shift cables running back towards the center of the
car. You can look at the new dieselgeek.com short shift parts and visualize how
the new parts go in place.
5. Detach both of the shift cable ends from the shift cables by pulling
their knurled
plastic rings toward you and against the coil spring and turning it
clockwise (or counter-clockwise depending how you look at it) against its stop
to unlock the cable ends. This will allow you to slide the
cable ends off of the threaded cables.
6. On the left-most shift bracket, (the one painted black) undo the shiny metal clip with your fingernail that secures its pivoting shaft to the transmission housing. Be especially careful not to lose this clip as it secures the side to side shift bracket to the transmission. The VW/Audi part number for the shiny clip is N 908 159 03 in case you do lose it and you do not have spare clips holding on your old OE cable ends.
7. Slide the black sheetmetal bracket towards the passenger side
of the car (Left hand drive). There are two round white plastic
pivot bushings on this bracket. Make sure that both of the round white
plastic bushings stay in the aluminum tube that is attached to the
transmission. Remove the round white plastic bushing from the stock black shift
bracket and replace it in the aluminum tube if it happens to come out when you
remove the stock black shift bracket. The shifter will not work properly
without both of these bushings being in place! The factory part number for
these bushings is 1J0 711 067L if you lose one.
8. Using a 13mm socket and ratchet (plus 12-18 inches worth of extension
bars if you have them), remove the 13mm nut holding the golf club-shaped
chrome shift bracket to the transmission. The shift mechanism will rotate
counter-clockwise into gear as you loosen this nut. This is not a problem.
After you remove it, discard the 13mm nut as it is not reused.
9. Use
leather gloves for this step! After the 13mm nut has been removed, you will
need to put the selector shaft in the middle position (neutral) and pull up to
remove the chrome shift bracket from the splined selector shaft
of the transmission. Use some control since you might hurt yourself
when the bracket does finally come free of its shaft. Sometimes it helps to
spray the shaft with WD-40 and also get both hands on this bracket so you can
pull up evenly (and repeatedly, if necessary). Also, while grabbing the chrome
bracket, you can wiggle it side to side while pulling up on it to free it from
the splined shaft. For really new cars, some people have used a battery
terminal puller (or a generic two jaw puller) to remove the
chrome bracket from the selector shaft. This can be sourced from most auto
parts stores for around $4.00. If the splines are new and tight and it will
take a few minutes to get the bracket off.
1. Installing the shifter is more or less the reverse of removal. At this point it is extremely important to note that there is a keyway or joined spline on the selector shaft on the transmission. The correct corresponding keyway to use on the front to back TTX shift lever is a keyway marked with a permanent magic marker mark denoting its position. You cannot easily push the shift bracket onto the transmission selector shaft without these two elements lining up. It is very important that you do not install the front to back bracket in the wrong position. Once lined up, however, the shift bracket will push pretty easily onto the selector shaft. Another easy check is that once the shifter is fully assembled, the white plastic slider of the black side to side bracket will be in the middle of the front to back bracket while in neutral. The white plastic slider is also engraved with "DG0040 Top" on the top side. This should always face upwards when installed. Make sure to insert the shift cable into the cable end as you are installing the front to back bracket.
2. Next, thread the supplied new
OE 13mm lock nut by hand onto the shaft and then tighten it with
your ratchet but do not go crazy with it (The Bentley service manual says
tighten to 18 foot pounds but this accuracy is hard to achieve since the
extensions alter the torque wrench reading). Do not
reuse the old locknut that you removed from the stock shifter. While you
are tightening the
new locknut, the selector shaft will rotate clockwise before the nut gets
tight. After the nut has been tightened, rotate the shift bracket
counter-clockwise to the middle or neutral position. In the neutral position
the front to back shift bracket can be moved up and down.
3.
Next, make sure that both of the round white plastic bushings
are in the aluminum pivot hole in the transmission. One bushing should be on either
side of the pivot hole and the factory part number for these
bushings is 1J0 711 067L
if you have lost one. The shifter will not work correctly unless both of them
are in place.
4.
Make sure to insert the shift cable into the cable
end as you are installing the side to side bracket. Next, slide
the black side to side brackets long pin through the hole,
engage the slot of the white plastic slider
with the front to back bracket. Another
check is that once the shifter is fully assembled, the white plastic slider of
the black side to side bracket will be in the middle of
the TTX front to back bracket while in neutral. The white plastic slider is
also engraved with "DG0040 Top" on the top side. This should face up.
5. After the black side to side bracket is fully engaged into the pivot hole, replace the small shiny metal clip on the silver bracket pivot shaft. The VW/Audi part number for the shiny clip is N 908 159 03 in case you lose it.
1. Expose the shift linkage inside the car. On Golf and Jetta, while
working inside of the car, pull the elastic band
at the rear of the shift boot toward the rear of the car and lift up the rear
of the shift boot. Do not to remove the shift boot completely as it requires
you to remove and reinstall the plastic rectangular shift boot retaining ring
if you do. On New Beetle, grab the rectangular ring at the base perimeter of
the shift boot and pull it upward. It will unsnap from the center console. Then
lift the rubber sound deadening boot from the shifter aperture. On the Audi TT,
remove the eight Torx screws in the aluminum ring surrounding the shift boot.
Lift up the shift boot but do not remove it.
2. Lock the mechanism inside the
car into its home position. Do this by inserting the expensive and
rare special tool
we supplied with the kit into the hole at the lower left of the shift
lever and push it through and into the corresponding hole in the
shifter base until it bottoms out. This will give the appearance that the
shifter is near to second gear which is exactly correct. Also the
shift lever inside the car WILL NOT MOVE if you have successfully put
the nail through both holes. If you do not have the nail tool we provide with
our kits, the special tool was made from a 4 inch long, 20d Bright Common nail
with a 5 mm or .195 inch shank diameter and a 30 degree bend 2.5 inches from
the tip of the nail to clear the shift knob.
3. Lock the transmission into its
"home" position. Right now, your black L-shaped locking lever
is in the rest position and should point to the left, just like in the picture.
In the engine bay, make sure that the transmission is in neutral
(in neutral the front to back shift bracket is free to move up and down). With
your right thumb, push down on the front to back lever approximately 1/3 of an inch
and then with your forefinger turn the small black L-shaped locking
lever on the transmissions shift tower clockwise while pushing
it in. The tip of this black locking lever will end up pointing straight
up when the shift mechanism is successfully placed in the locked
or home position. You will also not be able to move the
front to back lever up and down if the transmission is locked into the home
position.
4. Once you have locked the transmission into its home position (Step 1) and also installed the adjustment nail through both holes inside the car (Step 3), you are ready to twist the knurled rings of both cable ends which allows each of the cable ends to grab the shift cables. This IS the adjustment for the short shift kit! Where the cable ends grab the shift cables has everything to do with the proper adjustment of this shifter. If you did not follow all of the preceding steps exactly then do not twist the knurled rings until you do.
5. Unlock the transmission from its home position. While pushing down
slightly on the front to back bracket, pull the transmissions L-shaped locking
pin to the left and rotate it counter-clockwise until it comes back out to its rest
position stop. It will move toward the right side (engine side) of the car
by approximately 1/2 inch. (You are not removing the pin completely.) It is
very important that you pull this pin back to the normal rest position
since your shifter will not work with the pin in the transmission home position!
Furthermore, you will permanently damage the pin if you forcefully try to
shift the mechanism with the pin pushed in! Please do not forget to release the
pin after adjustment. The shift mechanism will still function perfectly if you
damage the plastic pin. The part
number for the locking pin is 02J 301 358C and is available at your dealer for
about $5.00. It is a pain to install, however.
6. Unlock the mechanism inside the car from its home position. Go
back inside the car and remove completely the special bent nail tool from the
shifter mechanism. Save the adjustment nail with your stock shifter parts.
11. Start the engine and go for a ride. You are finished with the install.
12. Enjoy and tell your friends about how much you love your New Dieselgeek
TTX Short Shifter!
Note: While we do not recommend using a B&M shifter in conjunction
with our TTX Shifter, if you are attempting this install the TTX Shifter on a
car that has a B&M short shift kit installed then none of the instructions
above apply. Your adjustment procedure is trial and error since the B&M
shift lever does not have the factory alignment holes to set the shifter in its
home position.
If you cannot get 1st or
2nd gear or Reverse:
Please repeat the adjustment procedure. You simply missed something
during the procedure.
