Shifter rattles BAD! What to do?

[racer212]

I've got an 1983 944 I'm slowly bringing back as I drive it. The shifter is stock but has a momo knob, and since day 1 I've had it anything about 2500rpm it begins to rattle until at 4k it sounds like jack hammer in the car. The car had bad motor mounts so I knew she was getting excess vibration, so I didnt do anything with it. Now I just spend the money to replace motor mounts, belts, and a host of other things. The car is much smoother and quieter - except for the **** shifter. My wrench says there is no bushings or anything to replace, but didnt feel replacing the shifter would help much (why???)

Anything I can do about this? The car is almost pretty and drives well, but the darn shifter noise make me want to sell it!!

[jet951]

the original shifter is placed over rubber bushing. these live on the original porsche shifter. it may be worth going back to the original design. the vibrations should be reduced. at the moment woth the momo shifter it would seem to me ther would be no insulation from the gearbox.

sean

[magcuda]

the balance shafts are out of time and causing the vibrations at that RPM. they need to be timed correctly to eliminate them. the problem is the pulley can go on the balance shafts in 2 positions. motor mounts usually give vibration at idle speed. that is why you will see some 944s with the idle jacked up to over 1000 RPM.

[Robert_Osborne]

I had a shifter rattle problem on my 944 when I first obtained it that had nothing to do with the balance shafts. The shifter lever itself was just completely worn out. There was a lot of play, and I mean a lot, between the post that the shift linkage hooked into and the linkage itself. I ordered a new shift lever and also installed a Boxter 5 speed shift lever. (the Tequipment pistol grip one in with the arctic silver inlay) and modified the boot to fit the 944 console. Looks great, better shifting (no slop) and no rattle. If you have saggy engine mounts or a out of time balance shaft those will both send vibrations into the drive line that will present in the shifter but don't rule out the shifter itself.