I saw this mod on sombodys websight with there mod list and jus wondering if somebody could enlighten me to what it is.

Thanks guys,
-JOhn

 

From what I have read, you take off the plastic cover where the shifter is located, and you dremel out the rubber boot which blocks the shifter from being put into 1st. But there is no point for doing it.

 

Yeah thats basically the mod, there is a tab preventing you from shifting into first- you don't even need a dremel, a hacksaw will take it off just fine. It isnt entirely useless, sometimes in slow traffic I like leaving it in first so the car doesnt shift constantly and I dont need the brakes as much- it also feels great to cruise around at about 15mph in first and stomp it without having to wait for the kickdown.

 

Why did they install that rubber bushing out of the factory??? Theres got to be a reason they dont want the shifter to hit the 1st gear position

 

Something about it being too loud.

 

yeah this mechanism is about as stupid as the skip-shift on my old m6. with 2.73 gears, there's a huge dead spot around 30mph because it won't downshift into 1st gear. if i could do it manually that would help alot! however, i can't figure out how to get the console pulled up....it's alot different than my 94 was.

 

Not everything from the factory is 'the best way'! The reason they did it was because there is a gov. required "drive by" noise test that requires the car to be in the lowest selectable gear when it passes the measuring equipment. Since our cars couldn't pass in first, they made it so that 2 was the lowest selectable gear(lower rev's=quieter).

 

all cars with 273 gears had 1st lock out i think the factory locked it out due to the transmission lt1s have alot of torque and your trans cant take the punishment of first gear with 273s gm did this so it would cut down on tranny swaps.

 

Hey shox, 107 got it right. You got a good guess, but the reason is it is too loud.

 

It was a loudness issue, the 2.73 geared cars did not have first selectable, the 3.23 performance axle cars got to shift into first manually.

 

not like you should be shifting that often in an A4. not worth the time for the mod.