Olthoff Shift Kit

[Chris Kennedy]

Hi:

My MKII was built out by Olthoff with the Olthoff shift kit, which means I have no practical knowledge of how the shifting was before the kit was installed. Frankly, I find the shift quality overall to be lousy, all things considered----slow, heavy, notchy and really clunky for over 6,000 miles, and it's installed and adjusted correctly. I may do some experimentation, but are there others out there who have the before/after shift kit knowledge that I lack? I did a search and found a few opinions, but I am wondering if there are more.

Many thanks,
/s/ Chris

 

[Randy Folsom]

Hi:

My MKII was built out by Olthoff with the Olthoff shift kit, which means I have no practical knowledge of how the shifting was before the kit was installed. Frankly, I find the shift quality overall to be lousy, all things considered----slow, heavy, notchy and really clunky for over 6,000 miles, and it's installed and adjusted correctly. I may do some experimentation, but are there others out there who have the before/after shift kit knowledge that I lack? I did a search and found a few opinions, but I am wondering if there are more.

Many thanks,
/s/ Chris

I just ordered the Olthoff kit for use with a Quaife in an RCR40. Hoping I don’t run into similar issues.

 

[Mark H.]

Hi:

My MKII was built out by Olthoff with the Olthoff shift kit, which means I have no practical knowledge of how the shifting was before the kit was installed. Frankly, I find the shift quality overall to be lousy, all things considered----slow, heavy, notchy and really clunky for over 6,000 miles, and it's installed and adjusted correctly. I may do some experimentation, but are there others out there who have the before/after shift kit knowledge that I lack? I did a search and found a few opinions, but I am wondering if there are more.

Many thanks,
/s/ Chris

Hi Chris,

I had the same slow, heavy, notchy and really clunky feel too on my MKII, but I don't know whether I have the stock SFP cable setup or Olthoff's unit. Olthoff did my engine and transaxle install. I noticed the cable that crosses over the top the gear box was substantially out of alignment with its lever. I extended the cables bracket, which is on top of the transaxle, straighting the cable to its lever. I also relocated the cables around the engine and freed the cables from the parking brake cables, both of these fixes helped quite a bit.

 

[Randy Folsom]

I read somewhere that the cables themselves are often not well lubricated, so it might be of benefit to add some cable lube. In my case, the shifter box was also binding a bit.

 

[Chris Kennedy]

I just ordered the Olthoff kit for use with a Quaife in an RCR40. Hoping I don’t run into simila

Hi Chris,

I had the same slow, heavy, notchy and really clunky feel too on my MKII, but I don't know whether I have the stock SFP cable setup or Olthoff's unit. Olthoff did my engine and transaxle install. I noticed the cable that crosses over the top the gear box was substantially out of alignment with its lever. I extended the cables bracket, which is on top of the transaxle, straighting the cable to its lever. I also relocated the cables around the engine and freed the cables from the parking brake cables, both of these fixes helped quite a bit.

Thanks---my guess is that you do have the kit as Dennis I think recommends it in his discussions with people who are interested in having him do the install. I will look into what you say on my own car, and thanks for the tip!

/s/ Chris

 

[Mark H.]

Thanks---my guess is that you do have the kit as Dennis I think recommends it in his discussions with people who are interested in having him do the install. I will look into what you say on my own car, and thanks for the tip!

/s/ Chris

I will post some pictures of my cables and what I did.

 

[Chris Kennedy]

Oh, wow, that would be great---thanks you!

/s/ Chris

 

[Mark H.]

Chris, here are the pictures. Subtle changes but they did add up. Moved the parking brake to under dash so cut off the small tab at the original parking brake handle (last pictures). This took some bow out of the cable so now a straight shot out the firewall. Rotated the transaxle bracket and added some metal to extent it along with some case relief to line up the over transaxle cable to the shifter arm below. Hope this helps.

 

[Chris Kennedy]

Wow, thanks, Mark---I'll give this a shot! Please let me know if I can return the favor.

Regards,

/s/ Chris