Uprated gear linkage
Discussion
Just finished fitting the Eliseparts uprated gearshift linkage (note: not the shortshift) so thought I'd write a quick summary and some handy tips.
Firstly, this is the first time I've taken the rear undertray off. What a pain! The car was on ramps in a pretty tight garage. I can see that it would be a lot easier with two people and a proper lift.
The retaining clips that secure the cables are a bugger to get off.
All the bushes are a pain to get out.
A torch is not sufficient lighting when working under a car.
Try very hard to get the linkage length right first time because it becomes very monotonous trying to adjust it. I was only 3 turns out but it wouldn't get fifth.
Whilst under the car, spray everything that looks like its parts of the gearshift with liberal coatings of grease.
The undertray is doubley hard to get back on again. Handy tip here (which is what I'll do next time) is don't be a lazy t
t and take the time to separate the two sections of the undertray.
Don't put the undertray back on before you have removed the torch that you handily wedged against the driveshaft to aid visibility.
Once over those slight hiccups, it was time for a test drive. Slightly mixed feelings. The main reason I wanted to do this mod was that I felt the gearshift lacked precision. To an extend this has been sorted. The gearshift feels much, much better. The only slight disappointment is that it still sometimes doesn't glide very easily into 5th and the change down from 3rd to 2nd is a little notchy. Other than that I'm very pleased.
So generally its a thumbs up by me but don't be fooled into thinking its a 30 minute job to sort.
Firstly, this is the first time I've taken the rear undertray off. What a pain! The car was on ramps in a pretty tight garage. I can see that it would be a lot easier with two people and a proper lift.
The retaining clips that secure the cables are a bugger to get off.
All the bushes are a pain to get out.
A torch is not sufficient lighting when working under a car.
Try very hard to get the linkage length right first time because it becomes very monotonous trying to adjust it. I was only 3 turns out but it wouldn't get fifth.
Whilst under the car, spray everything that looks like its parts of the gearshift with liberal coatings of grease.
The undertray is doubley hard to get back on again. Handy tip here (which is what I'll do next time) is don't be a lazy t
t and take the time to separate the two sections of the undertray.Don't put the undertray back on before you have removed the torch that you handily wedged against the driveshaft to aid visibility.
Once over those slight hiccups, it was time for a test drive. Slightly mixed feelings. The main reason I wanted to do this mod was that I felt the gearshift lacked precision. To an extend this has been sorted. The gearshift feels much, much better. The only slight disappointment is that it still sometimes doesn't glide very easily into 5th and the change down from 3rd to 2nd is a little notchy. Other than that I'm very pleased.
So generally its a thumbs up by me but don't be fooled into thinking its a 30 minute job to sort.
dave111s said:
hi glad to see you having fun with the under tray it does get better the more you do it
when i first got my car i found in hard to get 5th untill i fited the shot shifter made it much easyer to get. hope this helps
Must admit I'm in two minds about the short shift. I've heard quite mixed reports so I guess it works on some cars but for whatever reason, not all. I'm going to see how I get on with it in its current state and take things from there.when i first got my car i found in hard to get 5th untill i fited the shot shifter made it much easyer to get. hope this helps
cej said:
With regards to short shifter..DON'T 
That's all 
My car had the eliseparts ss when I bought. Completely messed up the shifting. Very frustrating. Then I removed the ss and installed an OE shifter and it's so much better it's unbelievable. I still have the gear linkage which is fine
I doubt I'll be doing the SS mod. Even if it worked ok, I'm not really sure its the sort of thing I'm after. That's all My car had the eliseparts ss when I bought. Completely messed up the shifting. Very frustrating. Then I removed the ss and installed an OE shifter and it's so much better it's unbelievable. I still have the gear linkage which is fine
Having driven the car a bit more today, I'm becoming more and more pleased I did the linkage mod. I don't think I gave it enough time last night, because the more I've driven it today the better it has felt. In fact I'd go as far as saying that it turns the old porridge box into a really satisfying box to swap cogs in.
Where before, I sometimes felt unsure whether the box had actually found a gear, theres now a very positive engagement. I think roadtesters call it "snickety" which sounds about right. Being a cable shift, its never going to feel as good as some of the best boxes out there, I'm thinking of the MX5 in particular, but its pretty damn good.
I had the std car then put in the linkage as you did and thought it was superb. Took a week for me to realise that I needed to adjust it again just slightly as 2nd was notchy; literally one half of a turn is enough to make a huge difference (sorry to be bearer of bad news there ). Anyhow, give it a week then if it's not perfect then DO change it.
I thought it was the best mod I made so if it doesn't feel amazing play about with it.
). Anyhow, give it a week then if it's not perfect then DO change it.I thought it was the best mod I made so if it doesn't feel amazing play about with it.
TonyHetherington said:
I had the std car then put in the linkage as you did and thought it was superb. Took a week for me to realise that I needed to adjust it again just slightly as 2nd was notchy; literally one half of a turn is enough to make a huge difference (sorry to be bearer of bad news there ). Anyhow, give it a week then if it's not perfect then DO change it.
I thought it was the best mod I made so if it doesn't feel amazing play about with it.
Cheers Tony, the undertray is coming back off tomorrow anyway for a service so I may tinker a little further although its tempting to leave it as is as I'm pretty happy so far. Slightly cross linking to the other thread here, but I'd say the self centering is still a little weak. Are there springs at the lever end that might need attention?). Anyhow, give it a week then if it's not perfect then DO change it.I thought it was the best mod I made so if it doesn't feel amazing play about with it.
kevin ritson said:
Undertray replacement tip: use bricks to support the undertray if you're putting it back yourself - makes life much easier. Obvious I guess but someone may not have tried it!
Cheers Kevin, I ended up using a trolley jack at the back end and my toolbox at the front. State of the art stuff!Don't know if you realised but I'm the same Graham that camped next to you at LM last year. Bought Paul's car off him 3 weeks ago (completely ignoring the old adage about never buying cars from mates). So far so good. Any plans for LM this year? Hope all is well.
Gad-Westy said:
kevin ritson said:
Undertray replacement tip: use bricks to support the undertray if you're putting it back yourself - makes life much easier. Obvious I guess but someone may not have tried it!
Cheers Kevin, I ended up using a trolley jack at the back end and my toolbox at the front. State of the art stuff!Don't know if you realised but I'm the same Graham that camped next to you at LM last year. Bought Paul's car off him 3 weeks ago (completely ignoring the old adage about never buying cars from mates). So far so good. Any plans for LM this year? Hope all is well.
Speak to Paul about LM, I'm sorting something via SELOC (all Lotus people welcome
)dave111s said:
the sshort sifter depends on how you have it set up takes i while to get it just right and it only work with the linkage i think people have truble when they only fit the short shiffter
No.I had both. And it was properly adjusted. It still sucked .Linkage on it's own with OE shifter= perfect
cej said:
With regards to short shifter..DON'T That's all
I think it's partly down to personal preference and (dare I say it?) driver competence. That's all 
I fitted linkage kits and short-shifter to both my Elises and preferred the tighter shift pattern of the short-shift lever. My g/f at the time couldn't come to terms with it and kept selecting the wrong gear due to the narrowness of the gate, however, so I removed it and re-fitted the standard item to keep her happy.
Obviously, the short-shift kit reduces leverage, so increase effort changing gear, but if it is set up correctly and you are accurate with your gear selection, I found it gave a quick, precise, short-throw movement.
It takes literally minutes to fit, though so you could always try it to see if it suits you...
The only implementation I've experienced of a short shifter actually working was combined with a quick clutch kit. Basically it also shortened the clutch pedal movement and thus you could shift faster.
With only the short shifter you'll still have a very long clutch pedal movement.
Call it driver competence all you like, but the majority of people I've spoken to regret installing short shifters. Myself included.
With only the short shifter you'll still have a very long clutch pedal movement.
Call it driver competence all you like, but the majority of people I've spoken to regret installing short shifters. Myself included.
cej said:
With only the short shifter you'll still have a very long clutch pedal movement.
Surely you don't push the clutch pedal all the way to the floor every time you change gear?Most people learn pretty quickly where the biting point of their clutch is and just 'dab' it enough to smoothly engage the next gear. I've never heard of 'quick clutch' kits for the Elise... it would be possible, of course - you'd just have to fit a different master or slave cylinder bore - but I can't really see the point as the range of travel between fully engaged and slipping enough to change gear is narrow enough not to be a problem to most people, anyway.
Competition clutches tend to have very sharp engagement compared to road clutches, but that tends to be a side-effect of the increased friction and clamping pressures to deal with more brutal power transmission, rather than any desire to make them 'quicker'. Proper racing cars don't use the clutch on the upshift, anyway!
I'm intrigued, though... out of interest, where did you get your 'quick clutch kit' from?
I press the clutch until it disengages obviously Which is quite a bit down when you think about it.
The quick clutch kit was not on an Elise. It was brilliant. It was possible to do very fast gear changes without any issues and not having to press the pedal down very much. Don't know if a similar kit exists for the Elise.
Which is quite a bit down when you think about it.The quick clutch kit was not on an Elise. It was brilliant. It was possible to do very fast gear changes without any issues and not having to press the pedal down very much. Don't know if a similar kit exists for the Elise.
cej said:
The quick clutch kit was not on an Elise. It was brilliant. It was possible to do very fast gear changes without any issues and not having to press the pedal down very much. Don't know if a similar kit exists for the Elise.
What did the kit consist of and what car was it fitted to? It would be easy enough to change the hydraulic ratios on a hydraulic clutch system like the Elise, simply by changing the slave or master cylinder bores, but I've never known anyone actually want such a thing, hence the fact that no so kit is available, as far as I am aware.
You'd need to take care not to push the clutch diaphragm 'over centre', though, or to end up with a pre-load on the thrust bearing (which would wreck it in no time at all).
The obvious and direct consequence of fitting a 'quick clutch' kit, though, would be to very much reduce the range of pedal movement between full engagement and full disengaement of the clutch, which would make the clutch very 'sharp' and easy to stall in traffic.
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