Improving Empi Trigger shifter VW beetle

How to improve Empi Trigger shifter

The Empi trigger shifter is a great affordable shifter, smooth shifting with a spring to make 2 to 3rd shifting easier and faster.
It's a (licensed?) copy of the Hurst SAF-T-TRIGGER shifter.
This video shows how to remove the 3-4th gear lockout, and replace the 4 pop rivets with bolts.
This will make the shifter more reliable.

There are different lengths for the VW beetle: 13,5 inch or 12 inch, both will fit in a beetle.

Here I delete the 3th 4th gear lockout, it's something I don't need. I don't go offroading or drive in the snow.
It can only rattle or jam something, so I removed it.
There should be a W shaped spring above the lockout plate, but I lost it while preparing for this video.
It pinged across the garage, never to be seen again. :-)

The pop rivets that hold the white nylon disks is a common failure point. The aluminium pop rivets end to break at the bottom, where it's the most fragile.
In this video I replace them with M5 x 25 mm allen bolts and self locking nuts.

Be sure to also check if you shiftrod bushing is in good condition
Otherwise the shifting will be fague, but this applies to all shifters
There are two-part urethane shifrod bushings available, for which you don't have to remove the shifrod from the car.
That makes it a lot simpler.

Also fill the cup of the shiftrod with thick axle grease (not ball bearing grease).
It will prevent the shifter from rattling.