FAQ'S
Is the part I want to order in stock?
Although we are a small manufacturer, we try to do a great job getting your ordered parts out quickly. We sell really cool stuff, so we know you are excited to get your order. If you see an "Add to Cart" button it means we have the item in stock. When we run out of something, we will show "Out Of Stock" and disable the button to purchase. Most orders go out the same or next day. Some products have to be configured, so if we are running behind those might take one extra day, but not usually.
Do you ship to my country outside of the US?
We ship all over the world. After many years using USPS and having the tracking go cold once in-country, we decided to switch to UPS Worldwide Expedited ® (2-5 days). Our customers tell us they are shocked at how quickly they receive their international package. We don't handle Duties/Tax/VAT ahead of time, so please be prepared for that as an added expense.
Where are your parts made?
We are a manufacturer located in Texas, USA. There are certain areas of the world that we try to avoid as sources, but we can't restrict everything to US only. Obviously some great parts come from Germany! We do outsource some of our larger machining operations, typically to local, Chicago, and New Jersey firms. The hardware we use is always top quality sourced from reliable suppliers who do not accept counterfeit fasteners. We select every part we sell, for example if you order a bushing, there may be 6 versions on the market to buy - the one we sell is the one we have determined to be the best quality version, we will not accept or sell junk replacements just because they have the correct part number. Sometimes the Porsche factory replacement is the one you want, sometimes an aftermarket alternative is actually an upgrade. We sort through what we sell and you can rest assured that you are getting hand-picked quality.
I've seen brass bushings for the shift rods and coupler. Why don't you sell or make these?
We have been modifying and correcting Porsche shifting since the mid-1980s. We have had to "repair" quite a few cars that have come to us with complaints of overly stiff shifting due to home-grown or aftermarket bushings in parts of the linkage that have to allow for angular misalignment (which is most of the linkage on 901s and 915s). As the shift rods move forward and back, the misalignment between the transmission and shift rod bushing creates a change in alignment. An hourglass shaped bushing (or a spherical bearing) has to be used to avoid a bind. If an elongated sleeve bushing is used, it will either move in its mount defeating the purpose, or wear into an hourglass shape and then continue to wear out to an oval hole and even damage the shift rod.
Brass in the shift coupler is overly constrained, there either needs to be some give with slots (yuck), a compliant material like polyurethane, or a true universal joint.
We've build exotic linkages with precision shift rods, linear bearings, spherical housings, etc. The real-world difference in shifting is minimal, which is why we offer the products we do - to get the most bang-for-your-buck without risk of unintended consequences.
What shift knobs fit on the RennShift? Can I use my existing knob?
The RennShift is very shift knob compliant. If you have a knob on your original shifter that you want to use, it will almost certainly fit on the RennShift (unless your shifter was modified). With these cars being around for so long and being so popular for modifications, you could have an aftermarket knob that has been on your car for over 50 years, so it could seem original but is actually an aftermarket knob. AMCO knobs were sold at dealer parts counters and could have been on the car from the owner's first day!
All 901 and 915 factory knobs were pressed on and retained with a corrugated tolerance ring, usually referred to as a crush sleeve. They are removed and installed by simply pulling/pushing. People sometimes add glue, making the knob impossible to remove without destruction. Luckily, all the factory style knobs are once again available new (3 styles, all in plastic - 901, 1972 915, and '73-'86 915). These factory knobs will fit the smooth outer shaft of the RennShift just like stock.
Pretty much all the other knobs you may find are held on with setscrews through the side of the knob. If they fit your stock shifter they will also fit the RennShift.
The RennShift has an added feature of 8mm internal threads at the end of the stick. Where the factory shifter is just a hollow tube, we have added the ability to screw in a stud to accept a threaded knob. When the knob has a shift pattern, we supply shims to adjust where the knob is fully tightened so the shift pattern is aligned.
We can also do custom custom adaptations on request. The first 911s had an external 15mm threaded shaft for a plain shift knob without a pattern. We've adapted AMCO wooden knobs from that time period by threading the outside of the RennShift stick. We can also do almost any internal thread size to adapt a stud for your special knob. It is much better to ask us before you order and let us do this work ahead of time. We can modify your stick to come with your shifter much easier than trying to create some kind of adapter after the fact.
I think the gated panel with the slots for each gear like a Ferrari would be cool. Can you make that?
Unfortunately, the gates do not work out well in practice in the air-cooled Porsches. Loading the chassis in a turn, higher horsepower, soft engine/trans mounts and combinations of these cause the shifter to no longer be aligned with the transmission as these twisting forces are applied. A spring gated shifter will allow you to still select the desired gear, but a true gate can lock up and completely prevent engagement. The stick can also bind in the gate and not allow shifting out of gear (not fun at redline in 1st!). Note that the tab gates used the 915 factory shifter are typically not an issue as most of the forces described above are less in the higher gears. But putting tabs on the 1/2 side can lead to some of the problematic issues.