leslie

Hi All,

I believe a week ago it was posted that you could remove the entire shifter unit by removing the 4 torx screws and install it w/o undoing the linkage. Has anyone here tried that method?

I'm going to try and install this weekend, and some more specific instructions would be very helpful. By doing this, what instructions (from either Tom's FAQ and/or the UUC ones) would I be bypassing? Do I still need to have the circlip tool (don't have one, yet)?...

Thanks in advance! (I've emailed Ben, but haven't gotten a response yet--his suggestion via BPG)

leslie

Tom Barber

First off, when I started to do mine the very first thought I had was that there should be some way to remove the entire thing and do most of it on a bench. I decided that I couldn't, and the reason is that two of those torx-head screws weren't really accessible, at least on mine. There is a steel sub-frame in the center console, and it has a rectangular opening where the shifter mechanism goes. At the rear of this opening I could see the two torx screws, but there wasn't nearly enough clearance to be able to get the bit on properly. I would not attempt to remove them if I was not able to get the bit into the head fully, otherwise you risk stripping the heads off. One possibility would be to cut away just enough of the subframe to be able to access them, and you might be able to do that with a rotary tool (dremel) and a very hard bit bit. The stone grinding bits will likely not be hard enough; you would need something that has particles of some very hard material.

If you do that, then what I believe that you would want to do is follow the instructions that I gave until the step where you remove the really difficult bolt that is hard to get to. Other than that, everything else that you remove still has to be removed, I am fairly certain. So at that point you would decide whether to try and get it off through the opening or remove the tray assembly by removing the torx screws.

If you are successful at doing it this way, or if you decide like me that it isn't really accessible, then if you will let me know what you find out and what you do, I will incorporate that in my write-up and post it again.

Tom

Another Drew

I haven't tried that method so I can't help you there. I saw the torx screws but the ones up front look pretty hard to get to. I don't think one way is going to be better than the other.

You won't be able to get out of using a circlip tool. You can get one from Sears that run $13. It converts so that it can compress or expand the clip.<p>Andrew Lee

'00 S4
APR chip
18" Fikse FM/5
MTM exhaust
Alcon calipers/rotors
Vortrag coilovers
UUC shortshifter