wulfy66 Posted April 9, 2015 Report Share Posted April 9, 2015 Fitted an OEM short shifter today and thought as I have taken a few photos I would have a go at doing a How To thread. Job took about an hour and fairly straight forward.Part number for the kit (cost £230)Started by removing the gear lever gaitor/boot, this took a bit of brute force to pull upwards and forwards at front edge to release from the clips and then release from the rear clips by pulling forwardThen you need to pull the silver cap off the top of the shifter (the bit with the gear numbers on). This will reveal two ridiculously small T9 torx screws. As the smallest torx I had in my box was a T10 I managed to remove these with a small flathead screwdriverOnce these two screws are removed you can remove the rear part of the gear knob by pulling up and outwardsThen you need to release the gaitor/boot from the gear knob. Underneath the boot at the base of the knob is a knurled ring which needs to be turned a quarter of a turn clockwise then pull down to release. Once free you can pull the remaining part of the knob off.followed by the bootNext you need to remove the trim panel around the stick which is held in by 4 T20 Torx screws. The rear two are straight forward, the front two are hidden & accessed by removing the boot retaining spring clipsYou then need to remove the trim by lifting upwards and wiggling out. Take great care if yours is painted like mine as some of the clips are quite sharp and can easily scratch.Now for the pita bit, the single T20 torx screw in the middle just underneath the centre panel. Probably would have been easier to remove the centre cubby hole but I chose to bend the plastic slightly to get at it, it was very flexible and no damage done by doing thisNext thing to do is remove the trim piece in front of the handbrake Underneath this is a single T20 torx screw to removeNext step, lift up the arm rest and remove the rubber mat. Under here you will find 4 more T20 torx screws to removeJust 2 more T20 torx screws to remove right at the very front of the centre console in the footwell (one on each side) sorry forgot to photo these.Once these are out you can now lift the console up from the rear and unplug the cables to the 12v outlet and ashtray from underneath. There is also a small LED light in the ashtray area which you turn 90 degrees and pull out from underneath. You then need to release all the cable clips that hold the harness to the console, some came off by hand some needed pliers. Once that is done you are now ready to remove the centre console from the car, lift at rear and pull backwards again taking care not to scratch paint work. I found I had to get my hand underneath and pull the handbrake up to get enough clearance over the handbrake lever.Once the console is out its now time to release the shifter cables. This is done by pushing the spring collars forward and turning them clockwise to lock them out of the way. You can then lift the front part of the cable free and then remove the rear part by squeezing the flanges on the retaining clipOnce the cables are released theses just four 10mm nuts holding the shifter in placeUndo these and lift the old shifter unit out - jobs a good un!The new shifter comes with this green clip attached which centres and aligns the cables so no faffing about with trial and error trying to get them back in the correct position (worth paying the extra money for this imo)Bolt the new short shift unit in place and with the green clip still in place (most important not to remove this just yet) refit the rear shifter cable mounts then push the front part of the cables into the collars until you hear a click then turn the spring collar anti clockwise so it comes back and locks the cables in place.Hey presto all done! All you have to do now is refit everything which is just a reverse of these removal instructions.Start by removing the green centering clip off the new shifter!! Keep it safe by putting it on the old shifter unit, will come in handy if you want to return back to stockHope this makes sense and helps you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duffy3074 Posted April 11, 2015 Report Share Posted April 11, 2015 Well documented, thanks for that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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