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 Sigma Shifter that went on sale on September 1st, 2009. These
instructions will not work on any other shifter in existence and are COPYWRITED
material and pictures!
Tools needed:
3/8 drive ratchet
10mm and 13mm (1/2 inch will usually work) socket in 3/8 drive size
Long extension (12 to18 inches 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
3/8 box end wrench (10mm will usually work)
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 and VR6) 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 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. The next step is to remove the shiny metal clip for the silver side to side shift bracket. (Click here for picture). It has a small catch in the middle that is best undone with a fingernail. Be very careful not to lose this clip. 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. (early cars).
6. 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.
7. Slide the smaller silver sheetmetal bracket towards the driver
side of the car (outside). There are two round white plastic
pivot bushings on this bracket. Make sure that the round white plastic
bushing on the driver side (LHD) slides out of the aluminum tube with
the silver side to side bracket. Remove the silver side to side bracket from
the car. Remove the round white plastic bushing from the stock silver shift
bracket and transfer it to the new Dieselgeek silver side to side
bracket.
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 large flattened 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 or neutral position (in neutral, the chrome piece can be moved up and down) and pull up evenly with two hands to remove the chromed 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 the selector shaft. For really new cars, some people have used a battery terminal puller to remove the chrome bracket from the selector shaft (A two jaw puller also works). This can be sourced from most auto parts stores for around $4.00. I have never needed one myself. All I can say is that on stubborn brackets, the piece will come off! If the splines are new and tight and it will take a few minutes to get the bracket off.
10. Put both brackets in a box and store them in a safe place in case you
ever need to reinstall them.
1. With the supplied L-shaped Allen
wrench and a 3/8 box end wrench (10mm will work), tighten all ten of the Allen
screws of the two aluminum cable ends until they are almost snug (very
slightly loose). This will make the install easier. Be careful though, if you
over tighten them the shift cables will not be able to be inserted into them.
2.
Back in the engine bay; pull back the front to back cable rubber boot and
plastic ring to expose all threads of
this cable. (This is the cable on the left, or engine side that was attached to
the chrome shift weight.) These rings can be very tight and some people have
had success with pulling the plastic ring toward the front of the
car to break them loose. After it has been broken loose, slide
it toward the rear of the car to expose all of the threads and smooth
cable.
3.
Start with the front to
back bracket first. Before you try to put the shift bracket back onto the splined
transmission selector shaft, spray the front to back shift cable
with WD-40 or equivalent light weight lubricant. Then slide
the aluminum cable end onto the lubricated and partially threaded shift cable.
You must slide the shift cable into the aluminum cable end until the threads of
the shift cable are even with
the opening of the aluminum cable end. Do
not insert the cable any further than this. This is extremely important!
4. At this point it is extremely important to note that there is a "keyway" or joined splines on the selector shaft on the transmission. The correct corresponding keyway to use on the front to back shift lever is a keyway marked with a permanent magic marker mark denoting its position. You cannot easily push the front to back 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 guide of the side to side bracket will be in the middle of the front/back bracket while in neutral. The white plastic slider is also engraved with "Sigma 6 Top" on the top side.
5. 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 nut that you
removed from the stock shifter. While you are tightening the
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 neutral position. In the neutral position the front to
back shift bracket can be moved up and down.
6.
Clamping the front/back bracket cable end to the shift cable: Make sure
one last time that the front/back shift cable threads are
exactly even with the opening of the aluminum cable end. The
back of the aluminum cable end must be even with the endpoint of the threads on
the shift cable. Next, tighten all 5 of the Allen
screws for the cable end with the supplied 4mm L-shaped Allen
wrench and your own box end 3/8 wrench (10mm works depending on your particular
wrench) to hold the lock nuts. Tighten the Allen screws evenly as you
are clamping down on the cable. Tighten the Allen screws until the slots in the
sides of the cable ends will barely allows either a credit card or two playing cards
to fit in the gap. Once the screws are fully tightened, the front to back lever
has now been properly installed and is fully adjusted in the front/back
direction.
7. Next, take the remaining silver
side to side shift bracket and engage the shift cable
with its attached aluminum cable end. Make sure that the shift cable slides
freely in and out of the aluminum cable end by cycling it many times in and out
of the aluminum cable end (This will remove any burrs inside the aluminum cable
end.) This free movement is crucial to the proper adjustment of the shifter as
described in the adjustment section below.
8. For the shifter to function correctly there must be two round white plastic bushings in the aluminum pivot hole on the transmission. Slide the driver side round white plastic bushing onto the silver side to side bracket largest pivot pin. Slide this longer pivot shaft through the hole on the transmission meant for it. Make sure that both of the white plastic bushings are in place as you install the silver shift lever. (One should be on either side of the pivot hole and the factory VW/Audi part number for these bushings is 1J0 711 067L if you lose one.) As you are sliding the silver brackets pin through the hole, engage the slot of the white plastic slider with the front to back bracket. After the silver 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 and you do not have spare clips holding on your old OE cable ends. If you have a 2006 or newer MK5 VW based car you must now replace the large circlip holding the side to side shift cable to the sheetmetal bracket which is bolted to the transmission.
1. Lock the transmission into its home position. In the engine bay, make sure that the transmission is in neutral (in neutral the front/back shift bracket is free to move up and down). Push down on the front to back lever by 6/10ths of an inch (almost 5/8) and then push in the black locking plunger/pin on the transmission shift tower (#2 in this pic). The locking pin will push into a hole in the transmission selector shaft inside the transmission and will lock the transmission into a home position only used for adjustment purposes. Pushing this pin toward the passenger side of the car (LHD) will lock the transmission shift mechanism in place. The locking plunger is a black 1/4 inch pin that sticks out toward the driver side of the car (LHD). It is very important to note that the 2004 and later Quattro/4Motion cars have a different locking pin than the earlier cars. The locking lever is a black plastic L shaped lever (pictured here with yellow paint) just above the two wire electrical plug for the reverse switch. It pushes in and rotates upward (clockwise) to lock the mechanism in place. Since this new style of locking lever is plastic instead of metal like the earlier one it can be damaged if it is left in the locked position and the shifter is actuated by the driver.
2. Expose the shift linkage inside the car. On all but the GTI 337,
20th, R32 and Audi TT, while working inside of the car, pull
the elastic band at the rear of the base of the shift boot toward
the rear of the car and then 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 GTI 337, 20th, and
R32, squeeze the sides of the chrome trim around the shift boot to unclip it
from the center console. On the Audi TT, remove the eight Torx T20 screws in
the aluminum ring surrounding the shift boot. Lift up the shift boot but do not
remove it. On MK5 cars from 2006 on, reach into the shift boot like this and
grasp the plastic structure holding the shift boot. Then simply lift the
structure upward and it will pop out of the center console to expose the
shifter base.
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 tighten one Allen screw that clamps the side
to side bracket aluminum cable end to the shift cable. This IS the
adjustment for the short shift kit! Where you clamp the cable has
everything to do with the proper adjustment of the shifter. Unlike the front to
back cable end, SOME THREADS WILL BE SHOWING on
the side to side cable end. If you did not follow all of the preceding steps
exactly then do not tighten the Allen screw until you do. If you are
confident that you followed all of the steps before this one then you can
finish the adjustment procedure by simply rotating the aluminum cable end to
make it perpendicular to its mounting pin on the silver bracket (its top slot
will face straight up). Then, tighten the middle Allen
screw (shown outside of car) on the cable end with the supplied
L-shaped Allen wrench and a box end 10mm or 3/8 wrench to hold the lock nuts.
Tighten the middle Allen screw until it will barely allows either a credit card
or two playing cards
to fit in the gap. This is pretty tight.
5. Unlock the transmission from its home position. While pushing down
slightly on the front/back bracket, pull out the transmissions L-shaped or nail-headed
locking pin to the right until it hits its stop. It will come out 1/4 inch
toward the left side (driver side in
6. Unlock the mechanism inside the car from its home position. Go
back inside the car and remove the special bent nail tool from the shifter mechanism.
7. Check the shifter action by gently cycling through the gears
(remember, you only have tightened one of the five Allen screws clamping the
cable). Make sure that first and second gear engage smoothly without too much
effort. Also, make sure that reverse gear is easy to engage. If first and
second gear are not where they are supposed to be, loosen the middle Allen
screw of the silver bracket and do the adjustment procedure over again starting
at step #2 in this adjustment section. (Make note that the shifter will always
work its best with the engine running and the clutch pushed in.)
8. If all gears are easy to engage, tighten the remaining four Allen screws.
Tighten the Allen screws until the slit in the side of the aluminum cable end
will barely allow either a credit card or two playing cards
to fit in the gap. Once the five Allen screws are tight, the side to side lever
has been properly installed and adjusted. It should never need to be
readjusted unless it was done incorrectly.
9. Reinstall the shift boot onto the shift boot frame ring inside the car.
On the GTI 337, 20th, and R32, slide the front of the chrome shift
boot frame ring into the center console and then snap
the rear of the frame downwards into the center console. The New
Beetle Turbo S shift boot just pushes straight down into the aperture. On the
Audi TT, reinstall the shift boot onto the shift boot frame ring inside the
car. Reorient the folds in the shift boot and align the shift boot with the
locating lug in the boot and center console. Replace the 8 Torx T20 screws.
10. Reinstall the air box. Reattach the flexible duct to the mass airflow
sensor with the screw clamp (1.8T) or spring-type hose clamp (all other
engines). Plug the electrical connector for the mass airflow sensor back in
until it clicks. Reattach the engine side vacuum line for the air box (TDI) or
reinstall the flexible air injection feed hose for all other engines. A
positive air hose connection often results in one little click.
12. Enjoy and tell your friends about how much you love your dieselgeek.com
Sigma 6 Short Shifter!
If you cannot get 1st or 2nd
gear or Reverse:
Please loosen the five Allen screws for the silver side to side bracket
cable end and repeat the adjustment procedure. You simply missed something
during the procedure.
If you ever need to remove a cable end from a cable and it
does not want to move:
Clamp a Vice-Grip
next to a fully loosened cable end and pry it off with a flat blade
screwdriver.
