Shortened shift linkage and widened throttle

[i6941TB@gnn.com]

To my suprise a great number of people have noticed the two lines, that I have 
appended to the defaulf signature, and asked for detailes.

My 200, unlike the previous 5000, had this long, (Tercel-esqe), shifter, with a 
gigantic span between the opposing gears. In search of the short shift kit I've 
called up all of the main guys,that I could find in the EC advertisers index. To 
the best of my knowledge no one up to date makes it for big Audis.:-(
 
Oh-oh, thinks me, once again you have to come up with something youself. Here's 
what I did to reduce the shift throw:

Sometime in '87 Audi had lengthen the shifter by 15mm (Bentley). It was obvious 
that it had to be shortened back.

PLEASE, DO NOT DO IT ON THE CAR!

Jack up the car and secure it well!!! Always use the heaviest duty jackstands you 
can lay your hands on. Some lister, (evidently in a suicidal mood), has asked 
recently if it was OK to work under the car, supported only by a jack.NO!!!!!
Put the gear selector in NEUTRAL beforehand or readjusting the linkage afterwards 
will be a real PITA!!!!!!

I removed the shifter lever as the assy, together with the bottom ball joint. 
Secured it in the vise and cut (in order to extend down) some more thread for the 
knob (about 25mm). Then I have sawn the same length (25mm) off the threaded top 
portion of the lever. That alone would have shortened the through quite a bit.
But I was able to do more. The ball joint in the bottom of the shift lever is the 
main pivot point (PP#1). In the middle portion of the lever there is a fancy 
shaped (ribbed and well greased) piece of plastic with a bore in the middle. The 
bolt (8mm-?) that goes into that bore is a secondary pivot point (PP#2), to which 
one of the gearbox links is attached. Attempted ASCII drawing:
                            
                             
                             O<- ARC ->/     
                     O       |       O
                      \      |pp#2  /
                    ___ \    o____/_  |<-L->|        __________
                     ^    \  |  /    \______________>[gear box]
                     R      \|/            link      ----------
                    _v_      Opp#1


When you shift the gears, PP#2 travels in the arc trajectory ARC around PP#1. This
arc is a part of a circle with a radius R. The link travels the distance L, 
tangentialy to this circle. 

If you lengthen the radius R, you can achieve the same travel L with the less arc 
movement ARC. To do that you need to elevate PP#2. You can achieve that (non 
destructively, I might add) by drilling an additional hole in the plastic piece, 
located as high as possible, and running two plastic washers, the metal sleeve and 
the bolt, (all of them  comprise the PP#2) through it. If I remember it correctly, 
you can thus increase R by approx 10mm. Grease it up well after the assembly. 
Mount the lever in the tunnel. Use the Bentley technic (a centering punch trough 
the alignment holes).

Connect the linkage back to the PP#2. The lever, while still in neutral, will be 
out of wack (tilted forward). Not to worry. Do not put on the leather boot yet! 
Go under the car, loosen the nessesary link (there are two of them, don't touch 
the wrong one). Have an assistant move the lever into the position, appropriate 
for the NEUTRAL (absolutely orthogonal to the horisontal plane) WITHOUT SHIFTING 
OUT OF NEUTRAL!. You will see the link coupling sliding on the splines of the 
link. Once the assistant is comfortable with the position of the gear selector 
lever, tighten up the coupling's nut. Make sure that you can run the gear selector 
through all of the gears without any problems (especially the reverse, see that it 
clears that little safety tab on the RH side). Put the boot and knob on and enjoy 
the throw shortened by good 20mm in each direction!

DISCLAIMER! I've done this 2 years ago and might have forgotten some details. Be 
judicious and excercise a good measure of common sense.

To be continued (about the throttle thing)...
Good night now!