Short Shifter CTS-V upgrade
Katech 2-piece short shifter / UUC bushings / 2009 CTS-V Suede Knob
Katech Part# KAT-A3736 / UUC Busings Pn Unknown / GM pn 25858071 for suede
pn 25858072 for leather
Katech Performance
Online / Lindsay Cadillac for knob and UUC Bushings
Purpose: Stock shifter feels like a limp noodle, crap bushings, horrible feel.
Time: 2 hours
Price: $289.95 US
(Shifter) / 20US (bushings) /
119.02US (Knob)
Shipping: 14.41US
– UPS (Shifter) / 39.81CAN (Knob) / 10US (UUC Shared shipping with BrakeLines)
Duty: 32.21CAN
(Shifter) / UUC
none / Knob none
Brokerage: 5.00CAN
(Shifter) / UUC
none / Knob none
GST: 15.51CAN
(Shifter) / UUC none /
6.31CAN (knob)
TOTAL: $574.89 CAN
Contact: Luke
What a venture for a shifter, no problem like this on my S-10 or the Cobra, or the Ram-Air (ls1).
Wow and the price! My god, but such a piece of shit stock shifter to put it lightly.
This shifter stock feels like a limp noodle, sloppy, long throws, and you really don’t realize you have a T-56 behind it at all.
The bushings used are junk, rubber, brittle and lack longevity, changing out is a must!
Below we will show you to first throw away the instructions you get either from UUC or Katech as they like to show you how to dismantle the whole car around the shifter and build a new car around your new shifter. The second we saw, drop exhaust, drop tranny… umm, what the hell for? We did this is a slow 2 hours, repeated in 75 minutes in another car.
Look at this piece, its immaculate, and thought we saved 100US staying away from UUC’s option.
We will talk about the flaws of Katech’s piece where UUC shines later.
Lets get the stock out.
The stock shifter knob is ‘clipped’ into place. To remove the shifter, place in Reverse gear, sitting in the passenger seat, press forward even more and pull up with some force.
Now pull on the shifter boot on the rear (near the cup holders) side as its being held by clips. The front two are an angle type clip.
We want to remove the entire console.
There are FOUR (4) plugs and nuts, 2 on each side of the rear portion of the center console.
(Didn’t have the seat far enough for the picture)
The Clips just come out with a flat blade, and use a 10mm to remove the bolts.
Remove the thick foam around the shifter, and the thinner piece of foam below that.
Note there are two little tabs that ‘snap’ into a black metal brace. With a bit of force, pop up the center console, once done, swing console to the driver side seat. * there is a wire that runs along the side to the rear power outlet.
Using a 10mm socket there are 6 bolts holding the shifter plate in place and 2 on the support bracket (one on each side)
Push the bracket forward to expose the shifter bushings and remove.
You will see the difference between the stock bushing and the UUC going in later.
Drill the TWO rivets exposed on the base of the shifter with the supplied bit.
Now , the ONLY time we need to get underneath the car, Alan Key (?? Forgot size used, sorry) and 13mm wrench to remove the fork bolt. You can get your hands up there without removing any items underneath.
Once the bolt is slid out of the bottom, we can see the crap stock bushings that Katech wants us to re-use.
Hmm… lets see here, change of plans.
This is where the UUC shifter, not re-using this stock junk would show its worthiness, and worth the 100US more if you plan on re-using your stock (hopefully) good bushings… these will NOT last though and this is the ROOT of the sloppy feel.
Check out UUC:
A better piece than the Katech as they include a Polyurethane bushing where the
bolt slides through, nice work UUC.
If you are handy, you can create your own bushing in place or do what we opted to do. We took 3 bolts a tad larger and pounded them in, then with a ½ inch drill bit, made our sleeve out of metal.
This will yield ZERO play on this joint but may allow a little bit of vibration. This will put the 2-Piece Katech shifter to the test.
New shifter goes in, use the bolts supplied where the rivets went. You can do this from the top if you have small hands or get your helper to tighten with a rachet from below.
For the UUC bushings going in, it’s a bit of manipulation to get the brace over the bushings and we suggest to use plenty of grease or lube to get them on.
Now cut the shifter as per Katechs instructions and thread the inside with the supplied tap.
We went with the new 2009 CTS-V suede shifter instead of reusing the stock. Looks and feels much better. To remove from the boot, there are two tabs that need to be pressed in, its fine if they break as you are sawing them off anyways.
Now Katechs instructions show here to slide the washer first to the base of the shifter, then the boot goes on, then the supplied nut, then thread the shifter in… Um what? Never seen a nut exposed on a shifter kit in my life. STRIKE 2 Katech.
No, no, no… awful finish. We now need to get ourselves another 5/8 washer similar to the one in the kit and thread on the shifter.
Well, that’s much better and besides the knob being suede, it looks stock now, no god awful bolt exposed.
ENJOY
End