On Tue, 27 May 2003 BenTbtstr8@aol.com wrote:

> A short shifter will reduce the feel of sloppiness because the pivot point is
> raised up. In other words, there will be less travel between shifts.

Hmm...that's what I'd have thought, too, but on this page:
http://4crawler.cruiserpages.com/Diesel/ForSale/ShiftLinkage.shtml#FAQ7
it says that any play will be magnified by the degree of shift throw
reduction.  Admittedly that's for A2's and not Vanagons, but it seems like
the basic physics should be the same.  I'm a little unclear on how this
works out, though...I can't picture in my head why it would be true.

Regardless, I already have one iffy syncro that requires me to shift
carefully from 1st to 2nd, so shortening the shifter throw would just
encourage me to make fast shifts that the transmission can't handle.

David Brodbeck, N8SRE
'82 Diesel Westfalia
'94 Honda Civic Si