One job off the list!
Discussion
Just so you don't think my cars never go wrong, today I rectified a defect that has been annoying me for (literally) years.
The gearchange action has always been utterly pants.
When I had the engine out, I pulled the 'box as well and examined the shift mechanism. The gearstick is tied to the 'box itself by a forged link that has a spherical joint at each end. The link slides in two bushes in the alloy housing; these bushes take sideways thrusts rather than have the housing wear.
On my car, the sphericals were slacker than an ex-wife and the bushes had more play than a Middlesbrough schoolie on alcopops.
At them time I tried to get new bearings but couldn't and had to make do with just bodging the bushes with two bits of 15mm copper water pipe :eek:
Look, I wanted to get the car back together, OK? :)
Anyway, I recently bought spare gearbox and the shift extension is bloody beautiful. Looks like it's done very little work; the bushes are as new and the sphericals are as tight as any of Michael Jackson's playthings. Ahem.
The other issue was that the rubbers that mount the extension to the gearbox were shot to hell on the car: years of heat and leaking oil have turned them to crumbly stuff, with the result that snatched 2nd or 4th gears had the extension being clouted by the propshaft!
So today I dismantled the centre console and extracted the shift extension. I swapped the gearlevers over as the wedge one is offset, had a bit of grief getting the bolts back in (I'm not a gynaecologist but I bloody felt like one, trying to get both arms through the hole in the tunnel! - got some nice GRP rash now...) but eventually the thing was in and I went for a spin.
WHAT a difference. Even leaving aside the mushy mountings, the shift action is tons better, and also the unworn reverse gear detent means that I can't accidentally get reverse when I want first! :eek:
My project injection system is coming along: been cleaning up the component parts ready for machining. Bead blasted alloy looks like new!
I've located a supplier of the plastic to make the plenum insulator from, I reckon I can get three out of a sheet so the spares will be for sale to help me claw back some of the investment ;)
One slight problem with the Rangey plenum is that it didn't use the over-run valve, so the hole is blanked and the threads aren't drilled, but that's fairly trivial.
I'm also in two minds about whether to incorporate the 'fuel shutoff on overrun' facility into the wedge; obviously it'll kill the pops and bangs but should also save a few pennies on the fuel bill... :hehe:
:scratchchin: Maybe I could have it switchable... a dash switch labelled 'sound effects on/off'... :hehe:
I have three sets of trumpets so can shorten them by different amounts and see what difference (if any) can be felt on the road.
Onward, but not necessarily upward... :drink:
Ian
The gearchange action has always been utterly pants.
When I had the engine out, I pulled the 'box as well and examined the shift mechanism. The gearstick is tied to the 'box itself by a forged link that has a spherical joint at each end. The link slides in two bushes in the alloy housing; these bushes take sideways thrusts rather than have the housing wear.
On my car, the sphericals were slacker than an ex-wife and the bushes had more play than a Middlesbrough schoolie on alcopops.
At them time I tried to get new bearings but couldn't and had to make do with just bodging the bushes with two bits of 15mm copper water pipe :eek:
Look, I wanted to get the car back together, OK? :)
Anyway, I recently bought spare gearbox and the shift extension is bloody beautiful. Looks like it's done very little work; the bushes are as new and the sphericals are as tight as any of Michael Jackson's playthings. Ahem.
The other issue was that the rubbers that mount the extension to the gearbox were shot to hell on the car: years of heat and leaking oil have turned them to crumbly stuff, with the result that snatched 2nd or 4th gears had the extension being clouted by the propshaft!
So today I dismantled the centre console and extracted the shift extension. I swapped the gearlevers over as the wedge one is offset, had a bit of grief getting the bolts back in (I'm not a gynaecologist but I bloody felt like one, trying to get both arms through the hole in the tunnel! - got some nice GRP rash now...) but eventually the thing was in and I went for a spin.
WHAT a difference. Even leaving aside the mushy mountings, the shift action is tons better, and also the unworn reverse gear detent means that I can't accidentally get reverse when I want first! :eek:
My project injection system is coming along: been cleaning up the component parts ready for machining. Bead blasted alloy looks like new!
I've located a supplier of the plastic to make the plenum insulator from, I reckon I can get three out of a sheet so the spares will be for sale to help me claw back some of the investment ;)
One slight problem with the Rangey plenum is that it didn't use the over-run valve, so the hole is blanked and the threads aren't drilled, but that's fairly trivial.
I'm also in two minds about whether to incorporate the 'fuel shutoff on overrun' facility into the wedge; obviously it'll kill the pops and bangs but should also save a few pennies on the fuel bill... :hehe:
:scratchchin: Maybe I could have it switchable... a dash switch labelled 'sound effects on/off'... :hehe:
I have three sets of trumpets so can shorten them by different amounts and see what difference (if any) can be felt on the road.
Onward, but not necessarily upward... :drink:
Ian
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