Porsche G50: Replacing long cover with short cover?

[Chet Zerlin]

Is this an easy swap or a potential nightmare?

According to the Porsche online parts catalog both the long and short versions share the same part numbers for the gasket, shaft oil seal and bushing. That would "seem" to indicate they can just be easily swapped (and then the shifter shaft shortened to match).

But, in the parts diagram, the long cover has a parts assembly that the short cover does not have (see parts 39 through 44 in the diagram below). Does anyone know what function these parts have, and perhaps more importantly, does the lack of those parts in the short cover preclude swapping them?

Has anyone done this conversion?

Thanks all for your help.

Chet

 

[David Garton]

Number 40 and 39 are shift rod detent and spring. Also might worry about end play clearance and the adjustments. There would be thin shims behind bearing races. It would be worth a trans guy swapping it out . JMO. Good luck.

 

[Randy V]

Chet - I shortened the housing and shifter shaft (without removing the shaft) on my G50/03 with just hand tools. I had to have the housing bored for the linear bearing that the shaft rides in, but that was done by a machine shop for just an hour’s labor charge.
I don’t have much for photos, but these may help.

 

[Chet Zerlin]

Thanks Randy. I had read your prior postings as well as Sean's latest efforts and you both certainly did a stellar job on your transmissions! Finding a shop here in Naples to do the cutting (so far) has not been an easy task. Everyone I've asked so far didn't have one they would recommend for that type of job. Which is why I was hoping that a simple swap of the two cases was possible.

You cut off that (extra) area of your long cover with just hand tools? I'd be very interested in hearing about the tools and methods you used!

Chet

 

[Randy V]

Thanks for the compliments…
I just used a lot of tape around the seal / bearing and a 4” cut-off wheel on an angle grinder. I used the same to grind a new flat on the shaft to lock the shift lever to it.
Other than the shaft, I did all the cutting with a hand hacksaw (24 tooth) and cleaned it up with files. It’s really not a difficult task, just need to seal everything up so the swarf doesn’t cause a problem.

 

[Howard Jones]

Call California Motorsports and ask for Rodger. He changed my G50 to a "short" cover and supplied the necessary parts to do so when I had my G50 rebuilt and upgraded. Maybe he can supply a "kit" to complete the job. I don't know. I should add I have no interest in California Motorsports other than being a satisfied customer.

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[Chet Zerlin]

Howard I did speak with Roger yesterday and this morning. He confirmed that if I wanted to switch to the short cover I would also have to replace my shift rod with the short one. That's not a simple thing to do and involves a further tear down of the transmission. If I was having Roger rebuild my transmission I would definitely have him do that....but on my end that's way above my abilities!

So I'm going to shorten my existing case and shift rod. Not sure yet if I will go with Randy's hacksaw method or Sean's machine shop method yet. Still considering the issues while looking for a machine shop nearby.

Thanks everyone for your replies!

Chet

 

[Chet Zerlin]

Hi all,

I've successfully completed shortening the rear cover on my G50/03 transmission. I thought it might be a good idea to detail here the steps taken.

Here is what my transmission looked like at the beginning. It stuck out so far that there was no way the rear clip was going to fit over it.

Before removing the cover, I pushed the shift rod all the way forward in the transmission (2nd gear) and measured the length of the rod from the outside of the seal. It measured 1.5" with the center of the hole used to bolt down the shift coupler right at 1". I needed these measurements when it came time to cut the length of the shift rod and drill the hole for the coupler bolt.

I then removed the rear cover and sent it off to a machine shop along with a new bearing and seal and instructions to cut "around 3.5-4 inches off" making sure that sufficient space existed to mount the bearing and seal as in the original (uncut) cover. Then do the machining and install the new bearing and seal.

Here's what it looked like when I got it back. He did a really great job.

He ended up cutting off approximately 3 3/4 inches:

After throughly cleaning out the inside of the cover, and using the correct Porsche gasket, I mounted it back on to my transmission. You can see from the length of the shift shaft how much it's been shortened:

I transferred the measurements I made before removing the cover and marked the shaft for the cut. I think I checked and rechecked this measurement about 100 times!

The deed is done (whew!)....

Chet

 

[Chet Zerlin]

Next I ground down the flat surface needed to drill and mount the shift coupler and then drilled and tapped the hole for the bolt holding the coupler onto the shaft:

Here it is with the new coupler mounted:

While I was doing this I was in contact with Jim Cunningham with Brandwood Cars. He is the manufacturer of the shift cable brackets that came with the shifter that was supplied with my RCR40 kit. Since the one supplied was for the longer rear cover Jim worked with me via phone, email and text over two or so weeks designing and building the correct bracket I needed for this shortened version of the G50/03. Then he made sure I could swap the cables that came with my RCR40 for the correct shorter ones I needed. I can't say enough good things about Jim, he was extremely helpful, patient and in the end produced a fantastic product. If you are intending to do this same conversion I strongly recommend you reach out to him. I also want to thank everyone on the forum that was willing to answer my questions and make excellent suggestions along the way with a special shout out to Randy, Sean and Bryan. Thanks guys!

So here is the finished product installed. Everything now fits completely inside of the rear clip and I'm very happy with how everything came out.

Chet

 

[Neil]

Next I ground down the flat surface needed to drill and mount the shift coupler and then drilled and tapped the hole for the bolt holding the coupler onto the shaft:

View attachment 143866

Here it is with the new coupler mounted:

View attachment 143867


While I was doing this I was in contact with Jim Cunningham with Brandwood Cars. He is the manufacturer of the shift cable brackets that came with the shifter that was supplied with my RCR40 kit. Since the one supplied was for the longer rear cover Jim worked with me via phone, email and text over two or so weeks designing and building the correct bracket I needed for this shortened version of the G50/03. Then he made sure I could swap the cables that came with my RCR40 for the correct shorter ones I needed. I can't say enough good things about Jim, he was extremely helpful, patient and in the end produced a fantastic product. If you are intending to do this same conversion I strongly recommend you reach out to him. I also want to thank everyone on the forum that was willing to answer my questions and make excellent suggestions along the way with a special shout out to Randy, Sean and Bryan. Thanks guys!

So here is the finished product installed. Everything now fits completely inside of the rear clip and I'm very happy with how everything came out.

Chet

View attachment 143868

View attachment 143869

View attachment 143870

Just for reference, here is the other style G50/01

 

[Randy V]

Looks great Chet! Glad that it all worked out for you!!!