Empi Quick Shift Kit

That is the simplest way to shorten the shift and for not much money.  

Someone else, will have to comment if the shifter adjustment can fix that or if the 2nd gear issue is syncro related.  I never found the Type I tranny particularly fond of downshifting it at a higher rev into 2nd gear.  Just saying. 

Put the trans in neutral and remove the shifter , the cup should be dead center on the tunnel opening. For what ever reason sometimes I need to take the stock shifter plate I elongate the two shifter plate bolt holes this increases the adjustment.

I had that problem years ago and the cure for me was to get the car in second gear and stopped and engine turned off, then loosen the shifter plate bolts and wobble it around a bit making it " happy " or more " relaxed " in the second gear position. With the bolts tightened back down the favourite gear became second gear and the rest played along with the trick. YMMV.

Great idea David. 

David Stroud Ottawa Canada IM Roadster posted:

I had that problem years ago and the cure for me was to get the car in second gear and stopped and engine turned off, then loosen the shifter plate bolts and wobble it around a bit making it " happy " or more " relaxed " in the second gear position. With the bolts tightened back down the favourite gear became second gear and the rest played along with the trick. YMMV.

Looks like I know what I'm doing tonight after the kids in bed. Thanks for the info. I'll let you know how it turns out. 

The only time the VW trans won't go into second is because of misadjustment or wear of internals, shifter bushing, shifter and/or coupler. It's not a "known" issue.

Or maybe if the shift lever base/lockout plate is installed slightly cocked off-center and/or at an angle from the centerline.   The lockout plate is under the shift lever base and provides the lockout tab to keep you from hitting reverse when you don't want to.  If it gets cocked a little to one side at the rear (to the right, I believe, if my pencil-based stick model is working right) it can make it harder to "find" the 2'nd gear sweet spot because the lever isn't moving the shift rod just enough for the hockey stick inside of the transaxle to select the 2'nd gear actuator rod without interfering with the adjacent actuators.

The actuators look like your hand made into the shape of a talking puppet and one actuator works two gears - one actuator for 1 and 2, a second actuator for 3 - 4 and a third for reverse.  The "Hockey Stick" is connected to the end of the shift rod and, inside of the transmission the end of it looks like a hockey stick with the foot sliding between the hand-like actuators to either push or pull them into gear.  If you can get into 1'st but have trouble "finding" second, especially when downshifting from 3'rd, then it usually means that the shift lever base/lockout plate are slightly out of alignment, so do what Alan mentioned to get to neutral, then, centering the shift rod cup in the hole without the lever attached, reach down to the cup and try moving it very slightly forward and aft to make sure it is in the middle of "neutral" (you'll either feel it find neutral or feel resistance when you try to move it by hand), then put a glob of grease into the cup and re-install the shift lever base and lockout plate.

CAUTION!  The lockout plat has a top and bottom, left and right.  DON'T flip it over or turn it around when messing around with it.  Take a photo with you're phone when you remove the lever base to put it back as it was originally.

 Once the lever base is re-positioned with the bolts just loose enough to move the base, move it forward and aft to where the shift stick "looks" like it should be in neutral, make sure the base is about centered left to right (use the oblong bolt holes as a position reference) and then tighten it down.  The only way to test it is to go for a test drive and then tweak it a bit when you get home.  It can take a few tries til you tune it in, but that's how it's done.

This was long winded so the "Reader's Digest" version (that should work just as well) is to follow Dave's advice above.  Either way, you'll accomplish the same thing, only my version uses more words.