She's outta commission for now....

Not as bad as the title states though

Been having major issues getting into and out of reverse the past couple of days. If anyone has looked at the contraption on top of the tranny, you'll know what I'm talking about.. I had the roller pop out of the little metal cage it moves around in.. That means, no reverse.. So I fixed that after a little cursing and swearing...

Well I reverse out of a spot at Crappy Tire and what do ya know, it doesn't want to come out of reverse. So I get pissed and start applying more then a normal amount of pressure on the shifter..and SNAP!!! There goes one of the plastic pieces attached to the shift linkage ontop of the tranny

So I had to drive home with only 2nd, 3rd and I think 4th gear.. No way it was going into 1st...

So now would be a good time to get rid of that entire assembly VW put into the 99.5's and get an updated unit.. Now here's my question.. I know I need to change the shift box, cables and the stuff on top of the tranny, but is it a direct replacement from a 99.5+ car?

I'm not sure, but I dont think it would be a direct replacement since all the short shifter kits for mk4's dont fit the older 99.5 models. If it was a direct replacement, wouldnt the kits fit no problems?

What piece broke?

If it is the part that I think it is, you can get a metal one here: http://gruvenparts.com/website/cart/cart.php?target=product&product_id=267&category_id=60

It also doubles as a short shift for side/side.

My friend has been wanting me to do this on his beetle for a long time, and I inquired about it a while back. Check out: http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=236888&page=2&highlight=shifter . Should be all the info you need.

SilveR316 said:

I'm not sure, but I dont think it would be a direct replacement since all the short shifter kits for mk4's dont fit the older 99.5 models. If it was a direct replacement, wouldnt the kits fit no problems?

Click to expand...

I'd be swapping the entire system, shift box, shifter, everything...

The 99.5 shifter is a mk3 VR6 unit...

Blizzak: Thanks for the link!

Sourced the new style tower, linkages, cables and shiftbox from a guy on Vortex...

This should be REALLY fun... Do I really have to disconnect the DP? Cause that's going to suck. I can't imagine the shape the bolts/nuts are in after 500,000km's.....

The shifter cables go right above the downpipe heatshield... so if you need to do anything with those, then yes.

If those nuts haven't been touched in 500k.... I'd spray them with some heavy duty penetration oil every few hours for a week before I began... lol.

I had a hard time getting mine off after just 40k because they were baked on from the heat.