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... recently came to my rescue. You may remember how upset I was last week about my B&M short shifter having broken a bushing and how I couldn't get any response from B&M's "lifetime" warranty without my receipt (from 10 years ago, which I no longer have). Well, Eric (the main Plug Guy) from Bumperplugs.com immediately contacted me through this board and privately and offered to help me. He told me that he thought he may have had the parts I needed, but after doing research, he found out that those parts he had wouldn't fit my car, so he contacted B&M and had them overnight me the new parts! I want to publicly thank Eric for helping me out and for being so customer-oriented. It ought to teach B&M (and every other manufacturer) a lesson. A distributor, supporting a customer who hadn't even purchased the part from him. This is what my bushing looked like, after it broke Apparently, I had one of the original all-teflon bushings which were more prone to breaking (it ONLY lasted 100,000 miles). Here are the new parts that B&M sent This is the new bushing, next to the old bushing Once I started to assemble the unit, I found that the Porsche teflon slider and the side shifter ball were worn as well. Notice the play of the sliding ball inside the teflon part So, since the slider part is a Porsche part and not replaceable I decided to hack it. By cutting a thin slice of yellow teflon material and sanding it down to the proper thickness I was then able to slide it into place and take up the slack then I just assembled everything back together and put it back in its place these new bushings even have and adjusting set screw for very precise and no slop shifting now I can have my old ultra short shifter back and I really need it for next year to see if I can get a third one of these, next December Happy Boxstering, Pedro

Eric: I wish all of the companies we have to deal with have one tenth of your customer service awareness. I know that if you sold it, even if your supplier wouldn't stand behind it, you would. Thank you for your offer to supply me with bushings, even when I didn't purchase the shifter from BumpePlugs. You are a true business man and auto enthusiast. Keep up the good work. Pedro

Thanks for your kind words Sebastian. I will put my website under my signature and hope DIY'ers can take advantage of the projects. Happy Boxstering, Pedro

... unless you provide them with the original receipt of purchase. I had purchased a short shift kit from them many years ago. I went with them instead of Schnell because they offered a "lifetime warranty". Last week one of the teflon bushings (rearmost) gave out on me and I couldn't shift gears. I called B&M and they told me that I just need to send the original receipt (which I've lost after so many years). They wouldn't budge on this. I asked them to sell me the broken bushing, they wouldn't. The solution for them was for me to buy a new shifter. Well, the solution for me was to make my own bushing! But it really p!sses me off that a company offers a lifetime warranty and when that unit breaks they won't stand behind their promise. If it's a lifetime warranty why do they require your receipt? Sears doesn't! Finished ranting. Happy Boxstering, Pedro

I bought mine new in early '98. She now has 185,000 miles. I do all of the maintenance and repair work on her. Happy Boxstering, Pedro

You would be better off by installing a 3.4L engine from an older 996. The 3.2 from the "S" will fit, but you may have issues with the e-gas engine. Your '97 is a non-e-gas engine, so is the 3.4L from the 996. You should also consider replacing the tranny with the engine. Happy Boxstering, Pedro