Project MKVI Golf TDI: Dieselgeek Sigma 6 Short Throw Shift Kit

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On the transmission  there is another pin that locks the transmission selector shaft into its corresponding “home” position.  Once both the shift lever and selector shaft locking pins are engaged the front-to-back (eg 1st to 2nd gear) cable should be in its proper position and the nuts/bolts on that cable end can be tightened.  Once everything is tight the locating pins in the transmission and shift lever can be disengaged and the interior can be buttoned back up.

This isn’t the best image of it but the side-to-side motion cable is adjusted slightly less precisely than the front-to-back cable.  For this one, the threaded shift cable is backed out of the cable end until 2 to 3 threads are exposed from the base of the cable end.  One of the bolts is then tightened while checking for smooth transmission shifting at which point the remaining three nuts and bolts can be tightened.

Assuming we did everything right we reinstalled our air box and took our little oil burner for a spin!  It’s hard to get too excited over a short-shifter but the Golf feels much sportier now with much more solid feeling shifts–like a higher quality feeling gearbox!  There’s a noticeable reduction in slop and play in the linkage but we did have a few instances where the shifting got a little notchy.  To remedy this the instructions say we can loosen the side-to-side cable end and back that cable out another thread or two and see if that helps but we haven’t been bothered by it enough yet to want to go pulling off the airbox again!  Being such an inexpensive modification that so noticeably improves the driver interaction with the vehicle, our only regret about this short shifter from Dieselgeek is that we didn’t install it sooner!

Sources:

Dieselgeek