Ok, I have contacted both Forge and JKM Performance.
Forge suggested we deal directly with JKM and here is the response from JKM I have just received:
Thank you for your enquiry.
We already discount these products by 10% off of Forge's normal RRP. The margins are very very tight on these items which unfortunately doesn't give me a lot of room to move on these.
A complete shift kit consists of the side to side shifter and front to back shifter. The combined price on our website for both these items is £104.90 plus VAT = £123.26
If you can get a minimum of 5 to purchase the kits then I will offer free postage and packing to UK address and a reduced cost of £5.00 to Ireland.
If you can get 10 who wish to purchase then I can obtain slightly more discount from Forge which I will pass on to you in full. This will reduce the cost of purchasing the pair down to £96.61 plus VAT = £113.52
If I can be of further help please do not hesitate to contact me directly.I didn't expect a huge discount from JKM as they are already cheaper than going to Forge directly (don't ask me how this works!!) but if we can get 10 confirmed orders we could make a reasonable saving.
I will create another reply below to get the list started, if you copy and paste the list and add your name to it we can build up a list of those who are
definitely interested. Please don't add your name to the list if you are not ready to make a purchase.
I also got some additional info for VAG 5 speed and 2008 GTi owners from Forge as follows:
We don’t currently do a kit for 2008+ models but its in development so should be available in a few months. We don’t currently have a 5 speed kit listed, but we do have a prototype made, if anyone with a 5 speed would like to come to our Gloucester office for a test fitting.I then queried the differences between the pre 2008 and current 2008 gearboxes and got the following reply from Forge:
The mechanism for the shifter has changed on the 2008+ box, though we don’t know if the box itself is different or not, so we’ll have to re-design our casting as the pre-2008 casting physically fits but doesn’t retain the 2008+ shifter cable correctly. The engine on the 2008 models is definitely different.Hope this helps. I’m wouldn’t have thought the
2008 GTi and
5 speed kits would be eligible for this group discount at the moment as they are both in development so you could contact Forge directly (peter@forgemotorsport.co.uk) but add your name to the list stating either
08 GTi or 5 Speed to get an idea of how many we are talking about (could be rolled over into another group buy). If you are the first to get in touch with Forge directly to try out their 5 speed kit you may get it cheaper anyway.
If you have a 08 GTi (it may still have been built in 2007) or would like check your cars build year, try this link which should give you a better idea
http://www.abvwc.org.uk/vw_vin.htm. If anyone has anymore info on how to find out if your car has the 2008 spec gearbox please post here.