cable shifter??and is it possible

If someone could answer this for me, some of the 550 spyders i have seen have a nice aluminum cable shifter, i was told its not possible to install this in the speedster.Is this true?? any help? anyone? thanks please e-mail me @ rbuy@aol.com

I drove one with a cable shifter and didn't like it.

The 550 Spyder is a mid-engine car and that complicates the shifting linkage via long extensions with multiple heim joints to clear the engine, tranny and exhaust. A cable shifter is one option that one might consider to get around all of that stuff in a mid-engine car.

On a Speedy, there's nothing in the way and it's a straight line from shifter to tranny, and not a very long one at that.

Sure you can use a cable shifter, but why? It adds cost and complexity that simply does not make sense in a Speedy or any rear engine VW.

They retail in the $400 range, even the most expensive Berg shifter is half of that.

Any shifter problem in a Speedy can be resolved for short money.

Boston Bob.

I'm with Bob.......VW shifters I driven typically have so much slop in them that you push it in the general direction of third gear and hope it finds smoething close, but they don't have to be that way.

If you've got a new, well greased bushing on the shift rod (the one inside the central tunnel), and you have a new neoprene shift coupling at the back of the shift rod, and you have a neoprene bushing in the "cup" at the front of the shift rod, all to reduce or eliminate any "slop" in the linkage, then it'll feel as tight and crisp as a direct linkage tranny. Mine's that crisp (after those mods) - Hoss Hallstrand drove it and he thought so, too.....

Hey Boston Bob!!

We're a-headin' back North next week, and we'll be bringin' Spring with us!!

All that cold, icy, snowy, yucky weather in the Northeast is about to end!! We're hookin' this warm, flower-poppin' weather to the back of the truck and draggin' it North with us, so hang in there.......Spring should be there in about a week!!!!

That goes for the rest of you folks in the Northeast, too! (Sorry, Mike.....can't vouch for Canada....)

Gordon
One of the "Nomadic Speedstah Guys" from down South

Gordon, it's about time! We've had a winter and a half up here with the Cape, Boston and Worcester all with 100 in snow totals, or more than double our norm.

Definately looking forward to spring.

Bob