New S1 owner, couple of questions.

[Gad-Westy]

I'm well into my first week of S1 111s ownership now and already thinking of doing some mods and pre-emptive maintenance.

Firstly, the gearshift lacks tightness in the extreme. I've been looking at the Eliseparts revised linkage. Will this give a taughter shift (best way I can think to describe it I'm afraid). Not really interested in the quickshift.

The throttle pedal. Are they meant to feel like they're about to fall off? Again, been looking at the Eliseparts revised linkage. Will this cure wobbly pedal syndrome? I've heard talk of a rivet as well, is there something else I should be doing while I'm fiddling with it?

Lastly, the temp readout. Normally its fine but I did notice today that when giving it a welly full, the temp readout dipped as low as 65 degrees and then went back up to 80-85 as soon as I backed off. Is this a sender issue, or maybe the earths need tidying up?

Otherwise I'm over the moon and seem to have aquired a stupid grin that is proving difficult to shift. Thanks in advance.

[jamiebae]

I can't really help but my S1 does a smiliar thing with the temp display, I'd be interested to know why it does it!

[TonyHetherington]

Gad-Westy said:

Firstly, the gearshift lacks tightness in the extreme. I've been looking at the Eliseparts revised linkage. Will this give a taughter shift (best way I can think to describe it I'm afraid). Not really interested in the quickshift.

Yup It's a good bit of kit actually - I put it on my S2 (same gearbox and linkage so identical) and it made the world of difference. Well worth doing.

Can't comment on the others ones as not tried, but would recommend the gear linkage. "taught" is the right word too.

[worldwidewebs]

Gad-Westy said:

The throttle pedal. Are they meant to feel like they're about to fall off? Again, been looking at the Eliseparts revised linkage. Will this cure wobbly pedal syndrome? I've heard talk of a rivet as well, is there something else I should be doing while I'm fiddling with it?

I had about an inch and a half of slack on my throttle pedal. Fitted the Eliseparts replacement in about 30 mins and the difference was amazing. I didn't have much in the way of side to side movement though of that's what you're referring to

[rfoster]

temperature fluctuation is a sender problem - they're about £9 from eliseparts.com and take no more than 2 minutes to fit.

[Gad-Westy]

rfoster said:

temperature fluctuation is a sender problem - they're about £9 from eliseparts.com and take no more than 2 minutes to fit.

Cheers. Sounds like its worth swapping. Is there a technique to changing it without losing any water?

Sounds like the linkages are worth a punt as well. Quite looking forward to getting stuck in.

[Andyt25]

TonyHetherington said:

Gad-Westy said:

Firstly, the gearshift lacks tightness in the extreme. I've been looking at the Eliseparts revised linkage. Will this give a taughter shift (best way I can think to describe it I'm afraid). Not really interested in the quickshift.

Yup It's a good bit of kit actually - I put it on my S2 (same gearbox and linkage so identical) and it made the world of difference. Well worth doing.

Can't comment on the others ones as not tried, but would recommend the gear linkage. "taught" is the right word too.

Totally agree, I have a s1 with short shift and it totally different to standard. Very worth while.

[Gad-Westy]

Andyt25 said:

TonyHetherington said:

Gad-Westy said:

Firstly, the gearshift lacks tightness in the extreme. I've been looking at the Eliseparts revised linkage. Will this give a taughter shift (best way I can think to describe it I'm afraid). Not really interested in the quickshift.

Yup It's a good bit of kit actually - I put it on my S2 (same gearbox and linkage so identical) and it made the world of difference. Well worth doing.

Can't comment on the others ones as not tried, but would recommend the gear linkage. "taught" is the right word too.

Totally agree, I have a s1 with short shift and it totally different to standard. Very worth while.

Does your's have the linkage mod as well as the shortshift? Was thinking I'd just do the linkage first and see what difference it makes.

[TrevorH]

Re the temp sender. I bought a new one to fit and got as far as removing the connector as it seemed a right palaver to change it. So I cleaned the connector and re-fitted it, only to have the variable readout correct itself. I still have the sensor in its bag. i.e. try cleaning the connector first.

[bombadier]

Re: the temp fluctuations it may be worth checking the earth strap connections too. It's more a problem when the alternator is under load though - lights wipers and heater blower on. Only takes a few minutes to clean them up.

[DucatiGary]

my s1 has the short shift kit too, main benifit I found was the cars I drove without it seemed to jam the gear stick against my knee when i put them in 5th gear.

im sure this isnt a problem if your not a tall, fat, ugly person, like me.

[kambites]

DucatiGary said:

im sure this isnt a problem if your not a tall, fat, ugly person, like me.

Unless you happen to be a tall, far, ugly person, like me, in which case it is still a problem.

[TonyHetherington]

Gad-Westy said:

Does your's have the linkage mod as well as the shortshift? Was thinking I'd just do the linkage first and see what difference it makes.

I didn't have the short shift kit on mine, only the gear linkage kit and that changed it enough to keep me happy

[Gad-Westy]

TonyHetherington said:

Gad-Westy said:

Does your's have the linkage mod as well as the shortshift? Was thinking I'd just do the linkage first and see what difference it makes.

I didn't have the short shift kit on mine, only the gear linkage kit and that changed it enough to keep me happy

Cheers, thats what I like to hear. Not really had a chance to have a poke around under the bonnet yet, but I'm planning a major clean at the weekends so I'll do some nosing then and suss out what's going to be involved with the linkages, sensors, earths etc...

[TonyHetherington]

Once the car's in the air it's not too difficult to do. As with all things on these cars, it takes 45 mins just to get the car in the air and the undertray off

[rfoster]

Gad-Westy said:

rfoster said:

temperature fluctuation is a sender problem - they're about £9 from eliseparts.com and take no more than 2 minutes to fit.

Cheers. Sounds like its worth swapping. Is there a technique to changing it without losing any water?

Sounds like the linkages are worth a punt as well. Quite looking forward to getting stuck in.

Yes - firstly make sure you get the correct sender. It's the 'stack' sender you need to change. Simply unclip the connector from the back of the sender. When you unscrew the old one, have the new one to hand. Pop your finger over the hole while you're between senders!