Kingttr

Car has similar mileage as my 2001, but it seems to have had some maintenance overlooked. First (well maybe only) the bad. The shifter linkage seems to move a good amount. The car shifts into 1st gear at the right spot, second gear is all the way against the shifter plate (shift **** bumps into shift surround), 3rd is normal, 4th is all the way against the shift plate. Everything seems to engage properly, just that there is way too much play. His local mechanic in oregon told him something was wrong with the shifter linkage part that goes into the tranny and that it would need an entirely new tranny to fix the problem. It doesnt make sense to me, why could whatever has come loose not be tightened up? if something were actually broken then wouldnt there be more problems than a little extra play?

Second note, his car is K04 running APR 93 sofware, and it feels about the same (possibly slower) than my old car which was APR 93 (w/ K03) and full turbo back catless exhaust. I expected it to be a little less powerful than my K04 (given my supporting mods and software) but it seems a lot slower. How much would the proper software (GIAC K04 chip) help/would he see reasonable gains?

Most importantly is the shifter linkage question.

BLKPERL

I am thinking about upgrading to the SS, linkage, and shifter stabilizer bushings<ul><li><a href="http://jhmotorsports.com/products/linkage.html">http://jhmotorsports.com/products/linkage.html</a</li></ul>

Kingttr

I feel like those parts are ones I've seen (or similar but stock) when I did SS. The mechanic stated tranny was toast because of linkage problem, truth? crazy lie?

2.0GT35

For one the shifter linkage arm connects to the tranny shift linkage using a bolt, when that bolt is tightened it goes into a small hole so it lines up exactly the same every time and will not allow one to slide off the other. Pictured below.
<img src="http://www.audizine.com/gallery/data/500/2716JHM_bushing_upgrade.jpg">


It is the top bolt that has come loose causing your shifter to move back too much and allowing it to hit the shifter plate. The hole on the end of the shifter linkage is oval allowing for some adjustement forward and back.

Kingttr

last 100k miles of driving. Thank you for the pic. It is actually not my mechanic, the guys I go to would probably figure that out or already have known it as they have worked on tons of audis and vw's. The mechanic refered to is one my brother just started going to 6 months ago (for oil change) when he moved to oregon. He had decent knowledgable mechanic in arizona, but I guess there are none to be found (or hes not looking) in Oregon. I'll pass this info on to him, and maybe he can suggest looking at it/tightening it to his mechanic, unless he can reach it himself?! How hard is it to access the bolt he needs to tighten? Thanks.

2.0GT35

that hold the plastic shifter box cover. He should then see the bolt in front of the shifter base. Jason at JHM showed it to me and adjusted mine when he installed the shifter linkage upgrade and bushing upgrade on my car up at his shop after I picked up the car from 034 motorsports.

Kingttr

not that it wouldnt have been found with a little digging.