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Sun Jun 30, 2019 1:01 pm

Xatie’s Bug came with one of these.

https://www.jbugs.com/product/4451.html

She loves it so it’s staying. If it were my bug I’d replace it with stock. Since the shifter staying, I’d thought I’d find out if there is some sort of advantage to using a trigger shifter. Perhaps there’s some performance enhancement I’m not taking advantage of. Googled and did some searches but not finding out why people put these on their cars. Gotta be a link that explains this.

Sun Jun 30, 2019 2:08 pm

My friend that you met with me. Had one of those (just sold his car today) trigger shifters in his 66 beetle.
I drove the car last summer and found it to be a rather smooth shift lever and easy to get into reverse. It gives very positive shifts.

My only issue with those, is the habit of keeping my trigger finger in the loop while driving.

I opted for the Vintage Speed shift lever with the reverse lockout ring around the shift lever. But it was spendy!

Sun Jun 30, 2019 2:24 pm

They shorten the shift throw. Return to stock and you will change back as you have been spoiled now.

Sun Jun 30, 2019 4:08 pm

I like mine because it's the 14" tall bent model. It moves the knob back to where I can reach it comfortably without reaching for 1st and 3rd. It feels nice while shifting too and the trigger makes getting into reverse a snap. Most of the beetles that I drove in the last 49 years(wow :shock: ) had stock shifters and those were fine. This is different and I like it for that.

Mike T

Sun Jun 30, 2019 4:12 pm

Starbucket wrote: They shorten the shift throw. Return to stock and you will change back as you have been spoiled now.

Ah! The short shift. Got it. 67rustavenger that’s a nice looking piece of metal you got there. They for sure not giving those away. When Katies EMPI shifter breaks perhaps one of those :-k Thanks for clarifying the magic of the trigger shifter.

Mon Jul 01, 2019 5:17 am

Xevin wrote: Starbucket wrote: They shorten the shift throw. Return to stock and you will change back as you have been spoiled now.

Ah! The short shift. Got it. 67rustavenger that’s a nice looking piece of metal you got there. They for sure not giving those away. When Katies EMPI shifter breaks perhaps one of those :-k Thanks for clarifying the magic of the trigger shifter.

Yes, this...My wife is 5'2" tall, she had to push seat all the way forward, and even place a small pillow behind her, because the stock shifter had such a long throw. I replaced it with a 14" bent trigger shifter, with short throw, and now she can drive in normal position. It's definately the way to go...

Mon Jul 01, 2019 5:42 am

I had the same shifter installed on my last Beetle. It is a clone of the older Hurst shifter. In fact, some use the Empi for parts to rebuild the older Hurst shifters which are considered to be better quality overall (thought it may just be the "original" is always better).

The shorter throw over stock was noticeable.
Also the gates are firm when used with good shift rod bushings and linkages.
The trigger is a more positive ON/OFF lock preventing you from accidentally sliding into reverse. The stock shifter lock out works, but is less positive when it has been pressed enough to unlock (sometimes you press down but not far enough to enter the reverse gate). Having said this, my Empi shifter had a problem with the trigger adjustment. The "as shipped" adjustment of the trigger was too loose. To get it to work properly I had to add a shim (stiff wire wrapped around the shaft) under the moving trigger body to hold it slightly UP. Without the shim the lock out gate sat too low. Easy fix but points to bad quality control at Empi.

Mon Jul 01, 2019 9:12 am

I read that the Hurst trigger shift advantage was that you could quickly shift from 1st to Reverse to rock out of a hole or sand or whatever, and also quickly shift into reverse.

Mon Jul 01, 2019 9:32 am

whobba wrote: I read that the Hurst trigger shift advantage was that you could quickly shift from 1st to Reverse to rock out of a hole or sand or whatever, and also quickly shift into reverse.
This is probably true. You can hold the trigger UP which would keep the reverse lock out gate constantly OPEN. You can then freely switch between 1st and Rev gears.

One other advantage I forgot to mention...
While I had the stock shifter installed I noticed a rattling sound from the shifter. Vibrations coming from the transmission reverberated thru the shift rod and chassis. While driving at highway speeds, my stock shifter would rattle. It was annoyingly loud. I had to keep one hand on the shifter knob to prevent the rattle. Maybe a stiffer shifter spring could have prevented this rattle? The Empi shifter didn't have this problem. The shift rod pivot ball is sandwiched in a nylon block which absorbs vibrations. All Empi trigger shifter parts are held together tightly so there is very few parts that could rattle. It was primarily this reason I went back to the Empi.

I'm sure there are other shifters that are more expensive and even better, but for the price I couldn't find a better replacement.

Side story... I spent a good deal of time fabricating an adapter so I could install a stock shifter knob (the one with the VW shift pattern) onto the end of the Empi handle which uses a different (smaller) size threading. At the time, I had recently failed my safety inspection because I had removed the ash tray in favor of a cup holder. The ash tray had the transmission "shift pattern". I failed the inspection because there was no visible shift pattern diagram visible (sometimes the Japanese inspections can be unreasonable :cry: ). After reinstalling the ash tray to pass the inspection, I spent months trying to convert a steel bolt into an adapter. No one seemed to have the proper threaded adapter to fit between the Empi/Hurst shifter end (SAE threads) and a stock VW sized knob (metric threads).

Mon Jul 01, 2019 9:13 pm

When I had one of those things I loved it. So on my current car I kept the stock shifter and got one of the short throw kits. If you can't rock back and forth from 1st to Reverse then your shifter spring is probably too strong.

Not going to lie, without the short throw I would miss 3rd sometimes :lol: too much effort to lean in just a little. Dang Cavalier seats.

Sat Jul 13, 2019 9:08 pm

I used a cheap short throw kit and made a longer shift knob.
My wife had trouble with the factory setup.

Sun Jul 14, 2019 5:26 am

The short shifter throw is nice if you're running a BIG engine and want to get through the gears quickly. However, I'm not a fan if it's a stock engine powered bug. I enjoy the stock shifter if the bushings have been replaced and the whole assembly is freshly cleaned and lubed. Bonus points for running a good OEM shift plate too.

Kevin, what else is Katie going to "insist" on?!?

You going to mount some of these bad boys on her bug to!?! :lol: :lol:

Sun Jul 14, 2019 7:12 am

Don't forget the eye lashes.

Sun Jul 14, 2019 8:03 am

wcfvw69 wrote:
Kevin, what else is Katie going to "insist" on?!?

You going to mount some of these bad boys on her bug to!?! :lol: :lol:

Oh hell yes. Those will match the pink pinstripes she’s been wanting. Good call on the eye lashes. Now I gotta get rid of those unsightly bumpers 8) :lol:

Sun Jul 14, 2019 9:08 am

Why not just make it look like one of those cool 'new' beetles??

Dude....you're totally letting Xatie down on the exterior design department :wink:

Get that girl some vinyl flowerpower stickers!

Sun Jul 14, 2019 10:02 am

Just go all in Kevin. Katie will love the new look!

You're welcome!

Sun Jul 14, 2019 11:19 am

My eyes! How can I unsee that horrid car again?
wcfvw69 wrote:

Just go all in Kevin. Katie will love the new look!

You're welcome!

Sat Sep 16, 2023 3:30 pm

Recycling an old thread here.
Over the years the shifting of our '66 Beetle got increasingly sloppy so a couple of years ago I replaced the shift rod coupling and the nylon bushing. It was much better, but still felt rather "vague". My son loaned me his beloved O.G. Hurst trigger shifter and life was good. Fast forward to 2023 and I'm entertaining thoughts of selling the Beetle, but son does not want to lose his vintage copper Hurst. I re-installed the original VW shifter, but I didn't like it any better than I had years ago. So, after reading this thread, I pulled the trigger on buying a new 13 1/2" EMPI clone for well under a hundred bucks.
The EMPI copy works every bit as good as the Hurst-----maybe better---and if the car goes to a new home the shifter can go with it.

Sun Sep 17, 2023 8:28 am

wcfvw69 wrote:

Just go all in Kevin. Katie will love the new look!

You're welcome!

WHY did this car have to come back!?! Can't these threads just die? [-o<

OH, THE HORROR! :cry:

Thu Oct 05, 2023 3:13 pm

Here's how the EMPI trigger shifter looks installed. As a bonus, my vintage aftermarket Porsche shift knob (last used on my 1954 356 Cabriolet nearly 50 years ago) threaded right on the EMPI stalk. :D