Hi guys,

I'm actually new here, but thought this could serve to whoever wishes to do this mod to their GPA.

Long story short, I own an 08 GPA (standard, not esseesse). I've had it for more than 7 years and will probably never part with it because I freaking love this thing.

The only mod it's had until now was an intermediary + exhaust from SuperSprint. It's popping and crackling just like it should.

One thing I've always kind of disliked though, was the number of kilometers you need to throw your gear leaver to shift gears. So I decided it was time to improve this and I bought the Q shift short shifter from MTech:

[Google it as I'm not allowed to post external links]

The reason why I thought I'd write this up is that the fitting instruction from MTech are not made for the GPA. They're a mix of Opel and steps done with the transmission out of the car. In other words, it's not as easy as they claim it to be :-).

Side note: I'm not a professional mechanic.

Difficulty: easy/medium

Step one: Open the hood (duh)

Step two: remove all cables from battery and remove the battery holder (13mm socket). An extension will help

Step 3: remove the battery

Step 4: undo 3 bolts to remove the battery bracket (13mm socket) and remove the bracket.

At this point, you will see the OEM linkage that we will replace. What is not mentionned in MTech's documentation, is that you need to remove the angled hose on top of it, otherwise, you will not be able to remove the OEM linkage. I forgot to take a picture of this, but it's the hose located where the red arrow is:



In my case, the 2 metallic braces holding the hose in place were not using the same mechanism. The first one could be opened with a flathead screwdriver. The second one, however, needed a 7mm socket and was facing the engine bay, so a bit tricky to remove:



OK, so once you have removed the hose, you should have decently good access to the OEM linkage. At this point, you need to follow MTechs doc. There's a metal cap on top of the linkage that you need to remove in order to access the bolt inside (13mm). This was one of the most painful steps.

Basically, you need to take a drill and drill a hole in the cap. I used a 4mm drill. Drill this hole AS CLOSE AS YOU CAN to the edge of the cap. The cap is like 2-3mm thick so you will drill through pretty quickly.

Now comes the painful part of removing this cap. Use something you can leverage with and is strong enough not to bend (my cheap nose pliers are dead...). Just try not to break the cap in half or whatever otherwise you will never be able to remove the damn thing. It took me a good 15 minutes to get it off...I was afraid of breaking something.

Once you have it off:

Use pliers to remove the 2 cables from their respective ball joints:



Next you need to remove this mechanism which is in the back of the linkage:



It's simply secured with a security pin to the left of the linkage in the picture where I showed the 2 cables to remove. BE CAREFUL NOT TO DROP THIS IN THE BAY! The arrow shows where the pin is located.

Finally, remove the bolt which is inside the OEM linkage with a 13mm socket.

Ah man, almost done. Put the linkage in neutral (middle position) and give it a good few pulls upwards. Again, MTech's documentation did not mention anything about pulling it up with strength or not. As it's well secured, this wasn't obvious to me and I didn't want to brake something. I didn't have anything to pry it with but it ended up coming out.

That's it, now install the MTech shifter (careful with the orientation). Once it's placed correctly, use a hammer with a cloth so you don't damage it, to secure it back down and do all the earlier steps in reverse.

I know this how to is missing a few pictures so if you have any questions just drop a line below.

The car definitely has shorter throws now and feels a lot more notchy. Rev matching is easier too