Well I finally got to start the GTi the other day and give it a good run around the block. I want to get a few things better before I let it be a daily driver. One thing I did want to mention though is the shifter kit I put on it. It is from USRT and it is definately the best mod I have put on so far. Before I put this shifter kit on, the shifter feel was horrible. When you would select a gear you really would not know that you were in gear becasue there was no click of any sort. You would kind of have to hold the shifter in place to make sure you were in the right gear. It was horrible and literally made me not want to drive the car.
So, needless to say, I started poking around the Vortex to find out what I could do to make the shifter feel much better. I came across this new kit that USRT makes and thought it looked pretty good so I thought I would give it a try. When I got the kit I was really surprised at the quality of materials that were used. It is really heavy gauge stuff they use to make this kit.
Anyways, I was replacing the clutch and other things at the same time so the installation wasn't that hard for me. Really all it entails is pulling everything off, replacing all the rubber bushings with the CNC'ed plastic bushings and then drilling off the little ball deals taht hold on the old linkages then smoothing it all out. After that, I put everything back in and then started the aligning. You will need to align the shifter and make the new shifter linkages all the correct length's. It will take a little trial and error but in the end it's worth it. Be prepared to be bustin' your knuckles while you are working with this kit.
After everything was installed and all the adjusting was taken care of, it was time to take it for a drive. I cannot tell you how much of a difference this thing made. Every gear goes in really easy and you can definately feel the click of the gear selection. It did not make the shifts any shorter but it definately feels so much better. Mated onto a short shift kit this thing would rock.
For all you guys that are looking for a better shifter setup for your MK2 or even your MK3 4 cylinder, I would definately suggest getting this. The shifter feels improves dramatically and you wont be disappointed. Next I am going to put in the shifter level pivot rebuild kit so that it will reduce the actual play in the shifter and give it an even better feel. After that I will put a short shifter on it.
Below are some pictures that are comparing what I took out with what went in. Enjoy and ask me anything you can think of and I will do my best to answer everything.