My buddy came over the other night with his '05 SS/SC to borrow some tools and get some help installing a TWM STS.

Console teardown was done in less than a minute and we had the old shifter out and the new one greased and packed into the rotator cup in less than ten or fifteen - this, literally, should have been a less-than-a-half-hour install (save for a trip to AutoZone to get some lithium grease).

However, we ran into a few problems. First, going off of another shifter install into an SS/SC (as well as a slightly similar linkage-shifter install in a 'vette), my friend was a little miffed at me for not consulting the instructions as often as he'd have liked. While this did prove to be a pitfall for me when I failed to remember to mark the linkage arrangement prior to teardown, resulting in a forced re-read of instructions - the provided instructions provided a SERIOUS amount of error later on in the install (which I'll discuss later).

Second - with no visible scoring on the yellow linkage rail and with a linkage retainer clip that both looked and acted (no apparent damage or scoring) like the retainer removed from the left-to-right linkage - the linkage retainer removed from the stock shifter and popped onto the TWM would not clip back on the yellow linkage rail! No matter the force we used, the tools we used or the angle we used them at (nor where the linkage retainer was positioned!), we couldn't get it to clip. After well over an hour's worth of neighbor-concerning shouts of "**** THIS PIECE OF **** ASS BITCH" I finally engineered myself a different approach. I ended up grabbing a set of the strongest and thickest zip-ties I had, which I then used to wrap SUPER TIGHT around the center of the retainer (the part where you normally push to click-lock into place). With this done it freed my hands to maneuver some serious plier-action to get the clip to close. Satisfied with this LONG OVERDUE connection, and worried for future pop-outs, I left my initial zip-tie and added three others (all as tight as they could go) to cover as much of the linkage retainer as I could. Before someone bashes for the "ghetto-rig" (and I'm usually the first to do-so!), mind that this was a precaution - the clip DID snap and was holding itself when slack was introduced to the original zip-tie. I also test drove my friend's car before putting the reverse lockout and knob on, using ALL of the force I could muster, with the specific intent on breaking that linkage retainer. While the plastic shift assembly DID wiggle and lift up on the stock, rubber bushings the linkage retainer held steadfast - I was satisfied and would have left it on my car.

My/our third problem was with the TWM instructions. While they weren't wrong AT ALL, and were INCREDIBLY detailed with EVERY step pictured (thanks! ) - they were HORRIBLY out of order. When we finished the shifter up to retaining the reverse lockout with the e-clip, I ventured ahead into the bushing install steps - and I'm glad I did before I went any further. To install the new, solid bushings you (of course) have to remove the rubber stockers. This doesn't seem hard - until you do it. To do so you can remove the assembly retaining nuts and lift the assembly up and use a flathead screwdriver to hold the metal bushing retainers back while you lower the assembly. Easy enough, right? WRONG!!! While the two bushings closest to the rear of the car were as easy to remove and replace as the instructions suggested, the front two were ABSOLUTELY impossible without removing the shifter. That we had just put in. Which required removal of the linkage retainer. That I wrestled with for nearly two hours. Etc. So, I disassembled everything again - going sofar as to remove the side-to-side linkage retainer (with the spring-loaded A-arm thing) so that I could slide the linkage connector blocks out of the front of the shifter assembly. This was the ONLY way (and with CONSIDERABLE force!) I could surmise to remove the front two bushings. With the shifter and linkages in place with the assembly you COULD NOT bend/raise/move/wriggle the assembly NEARLY enough to get the bushings replaced. This resulted in going COMPLETELY backwards and taking EVEN LONGER than the already-way-too-long-and-aggravating install. (Read: I had to redo the zip-tie'd, nightmare-inducing and headache creating bitch of a linkage retainer). Oh, well - bushings went in, all was well - but I would seriously advise TWM to have people install the new bushings DIRECTLY after removing the old shifter, if not the whole assembly.

The last problem I ran into (and this was ENTIRELY my fault, and I am well-known in my circle of friends for doing this), was me dropping a nut (in frustration!) after realizing that I had to remove the whole shifter assembly to replace the bushings. The nut fell down to the right of the "shifter tunnel" (maybe exhaust is under there?), in-between the way-too-difficult-to-remove plastic console side, some cut-your-fingers-up-real-good sheet metal and something that felt like sound insulation. It was permanently lost forever and for good and so help the poor bastard who tries to get to it. At any rate, it was only a problem because it's impossible to find the nut you need to replace it after 10pm (when everything closes - IN HOUSTON, TX OF ALL PLACES!) and your friend needs his car back that night. Luckily, we found a new nut and washer that worked just fine in his garage.

Anyway, I'll link my friend this thread so he can post pictures (if he took them?) - I certainly don't have any. I just wanted to vent some of my frustrations with this install and to ask if anyone else had run into any of these problems before, particularly the linkage retainer problem. All-in-all the install wasn't THAT bad AT ALL, it was EASY (effort wise, linkage retainer frustration aside) and shouldn't have taken longer than a half hour, maybe up to an hour with the bushings installed in the correct order. (I seriously just think my friend's car hates me, and JUST to be an ******* it purposely messes up 'simple' installs). The end result was epic - the stainless knob matched really well (nearly mirror!) with the little trim circle at the base of the shift boot and the weighted knob plus TWM STS action was REALLY satisfying - I didn't want to give the car back! And while I didn't drive the car post-bushing-install, my friend says it feels pretty solid - but how much more solid he was a bit unsure of after a two-minute test drive.

All-in-all I was pleased. If it were my car I'd make the same purchase - but I would have probably left it overnight and tried to get a dealer to shed some insight on the horrid linkage retainer problem.

EDIT - the lock-washer on the shifter shaft for centering the engraving was REALLY convenient, easy-to-use and it resulted in a stock-looking, fitted knob. This was the most pleasurable surprise of the whole install.

 

Might I add that the replacement for that nut you dropped into the depths of my car came off a 30 year old bicycle sitting in my garage.

I'll take some pictures whenever I can get my hands on a camera. Went with the stainless steel weighted shift knob, and it looks pretty good.

Didn't bother with install pictures because there are already so many.

As for the shifter- it's significantly tighter and shorter, you can really tell even just by looking at it. Feels good man.

 

well thanks haha.. now you have me all worried about doing my install tonight!