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It's what manual saabs needed all along! I also recommend wrapping the shift lever bit that sits below the ballbearing with something otherwise there is a strong metallic clunk in 2nd and 4th
Thanks for the tip, but it looks like I am going to be waiting a bit. GS has not been getting the core's returned, so if any of you guys still have one and just have not gotten around to sending it in I would appreciate it if you did, so I can enjoy the difference also. She told me they will refund you.

Good things come to those who wait. At least I hope.
 
Thanks for the tip, but it looks like I am going to be waiting a bit. GS has not been getting the core's returned, so if any of you guys still have one and just have not gotten around to sending it in I would appreciate it if you did, so I can enjoy the difference also. She told me they will refund you.

Good things come to those who wait. At least I hope.
I'm sending mine back today during lunch. Plan was to send it yesterday but I didn't have time to.... My bad.
 
Okay just installed it today.

WOW!

What a difference it made. I was skeptical that it would make as big a difference in the feel as it did, but it did.

Thanks to the guy who did the write up. There was no way in hell that I would have been able to do it by myself and using a book. I also did not put in the reverse lock. Now my car feels like my old car. Back to the way I like it.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

As for valbowski1980 thanks for the tip to add sound deadening material. I would have gone crazy hearing my wife complain about the noise. Not to mention how the noise would have bothered me.

There is no way I want to go through all of that again. Even though it would be much easier a second time. I am glad I'm done, and very glad I did it, and did it right. Well almost right. I some how misplaced the spring for the arm rest, but I can live with out that for now, and it would be easy enough to get to if I get my hands on another.

If you have a manual 5 speed 9-5 and you are on the fence, trust me and install this short shifter (and trans mount). You will be happy once you are done. Doing it? Well I made Captain slow look speedy, but I was in no rush, and I am done, and looking forward to all the car trips this year.

Wow I hope SAAB is reading these forums, and seeing what owners are displeased with, so they can avoid these mistakes GM made. As others have stated the car now shifts the way it should have from the factory.

I will be shipping my core back tomorrow in case anyone else is waiting.
 
bushings

I believe there are some plastic bushings at the base of the shifter rod. Did anyone replace these?

I have my shifter, but have not taken the old one apart yet. Anyone know?
 
I believe there are some plastic bushings at the base of the shifter rod. Did anyone replace these?

I have my shifter, but have not taken the old one apart yet. Anyone know?
I'd like to know too. I know there are some shifter bushings in the engine bay. I have those.. just haven't installed them yet. I have a thread about this, trying to make some metal ones, but the ones that are in the engine bay wouldn't work in metal. It'd be a PITA to make. I know the 9-3 has more cylinder shaped ones up near the shifter. Do the 9-5s too?
 
I have some bronze ones

I do have some bronze ones that may work, but really won't know until I take it all apart. the OD on the bronze ones is right, I guessed at the rest and will have to see if they work.
 
thats it

They look like the plastic ones but in bronze. I have to reduce the outer diameter just a tad to make them fit. Will keep you posted.
 
Finally

Well I finally got around to doing this today.....half way done anyway.

The directions on page 1 of this post are terrific. I just have a couple of tips. There was no way I could get any combination of wrenches into that 13mm bolt head in the end of the shifter shaft. I ended up drilling the large hole in the side like the genuinesaab.com part after modification. Except I did this in the car. I drilled an 1/8 " hole and then used a step drill to make it bigger so that I could put a 13mm socket in there. Worked like a charm. Just be careful to put a towel under the shifter and vacuum up the chips carefully. You don't want chips in your electrical connections. I will post a photo of this soon.

I will try to add to the excellent install in this thread from the standpoint of doing this by installing the new shifter in the existing frame and modifying it etc..
 
I did a little more work on the shifter install. Just to be clear the how-to at the beginning of this thread uses a shifter and housing that has the modifications and the shifter shaft installed by genuinesaab. Genuinesaab now sell the shifter separately and you do the mods.

The modifications are pretty simple and the instructions are very good for the install. You have to modify the opening in the housing to a full 2" diameter round hole from the square opening that is there now. The instructions say to use a grinder to do this. I wondered how how hard this would be. I have a good 2" hole saw that works in aluminum and thought I would use that. In the end, I found that the aluminum that has to be removed is 1/16" thick or less and I used a big file that is round on one side and flay on the other. I guess they call it a half round and mine was a 12". I put the housing in a vise with aluminum jaws and worked it for about 10 minutes and came out with a nice round hole. The bigger the file the easier it is to get a good round hole of 2" diameter. But the key is that removing this material is not too bad at all. I was worried about this part, but it was quite easy.

The other modification is drilling a 1" hole in the side of the housing to reach the 13mm bolt that connects the shifter rod to the shifter shaft going to the tranny. The photos at the beginning of this thread shows the hole that genuinesaab put in the housing. I started mine with a 1/8" drill and used a step drill to work it out to about 1".

As I state in my other post, I actually did this with the shifter housing in the car to remove the bolt. I was having no success getting to the bolt from underneath. I am not sure why, because other people have been able to do it. I just go tired of struggling with it in the heat and carefully drilled it with the shifter in the car. Worked very well. I had to put quite a bit of torque on the ratchet handle to break the bolt loose, and I could not have done that without a good straight shot at the bolt.

Tomorrow I will put it all bock together and post some photos.

I am glad to finally get this done. I have had the shifter for about 10 months and have been waiting to fine time to tackle this job.
 
No I did not align it. Everything seemed to be good.

I will check it all when I get it back in again.

Photos coming up.
 
This is what you have to do to the hole that the shifter goes in. You can see that it is a bit square, and your are given a full size drawing in the instructions to make this a 2" diameter hole. I used a big half round file and it worked very well.
 
Here is the hole in the side to get to the bolt that holds the shifter the the shifting mechanism. I drilled a small hole first and then used a big step drill to get it out to 3/4" or 23mm. this allows a 13mm socket and extension to be inserted in here to tighten the bolt.
 
the shifter installed on the housing from top and underneath. Don't forget to re-install that white plastic piece on the side.

I also put in a new bushing at the pivot point. The old white plastic ones were cracked and worn.
 
Well I just went out and took a quick test run and I am VERY impressed. I should have done this years ago!!! I have owned this 2001 Aero since new and have 170,000+ miles on it and I can tell you this is a HUGE improvement.

Yes the shifting is much shorter, and it is so so crisp. I did not think the difference would be this much. The plastic ball did not seem too worn out, I was surprised how tight it was actually,but this is so much better

Here is a shot of installing the pivot bolt. I put a little locktite on it just to be sure before I put it in.....make sure it did not come loose.

I then tightened down the 4 large T-30 headed screws that hold the shifter mount to the floor. When I took it apart these were actually finger tight! But I don't think it made a difference because there are locating pins. I wonder if it was this way from the factory.

You have to adjust the reverse lockout which is pretty easy. see photo below.

And I am so happy not to have to put this thing in reverse any more to get the key out!!!
 
remove the one screw holding the back panel on the center console.



I found it was easier to get things apart by sliding the arm rest all the way forward to get it out of the way for this next part.



the panel lifts UP and away. Some force was needed to get the heating duct to pop out. It has some connectors attached, so be careful not to yank it too far. remove the electrical connections here.



Remove the connector to the anntenna/TRW receiver hidden in this rear panel. Now you can put the panel aside.

I started this install, and so far these are great instructions, but my car doesn't have the single screw in the back panel below the armrest like this guy's (different year I guess).

Anyhow, I got the bottom pried up partway but there's apparently some type of tab or other hidden fastener way up under there instead of a simple/accessible screw. I pulled quite hard and started seeing stress discoloration showing up in the plastic in that area. Anybody got this panel off successfully w/o breaking it? Mine's a MY03 if that explains it.
 
i had the same thing on my 2003 no screw. There were 2 screws under the wire clip on the armrest hinge take those out. that is what holds the armrest in

The rear vent portion just pulls straight up

hope this helps/
 
I did the Genuine Saab/Taliaferro Short Shifter install today....absolutely amazing transformation of the car.

Short throws, crisp engagement, solid feel, no more lame put it in reverse to get the key out.

To be fair I also installed the GS Sport Transmission Mount and did a transmission fluid change at the same time so the big transformation might have to do with the combination of all three updates but regardless the car is so much more fun to drive!!!

I highly recommend the "outright kit" at $140.00 with no core exchange if you have a die grinder (the Dremel wasn't really up to the task)....it ain't rocket science. :cheesy:

I wish I did this update a long time ago.

.
 
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