New owner about to tackle a sloppy gear change

[NigelM]

New to the forum and hoping to benefit from what looks like a huge amount of experience out there.

I collected a very clean '84 Esprit Turbo on Sunday. Always wanted one and now have a very nice example with 54k on the clock in the garage.

A few jobs I want to tackle, the first of which is a very sloppy gear change. I have gone through all the threads on the subject in this forum. There seem to be quite a few different ways to get back to a nice crisp change (or as crisp as you can get with an Esprit). I have read about the SJ modification, people going at the linkage with welders adding material back in that has worn away, clever new plastic bearings.

Has anyone got a definitive solution to the problem they can share with me and is there a guide on how to do it somewhere on the internet?

Thanks for your help.

 

[molemot]

There is no one definitive solution....it's all the little bits you have mentioned, acting together. If you've read all the stuff on this forum, best thing you can do is get underneath and inspect everything. The plastic bearings are on the linkage that engages the gears...the rods on my 82 turbo. The crossgate cable linkage selects which gear. Any slop or lost motion will contribute to a woolly gearchange...if you work your way through the linkages and cure every loose joint or wear point on the bellcrank, you'll sort it out. 

[Mesprit87]

First, congratulation and welcome to the forum. You will find this place very open to any questions and the answers come in a timely manner.

Start by having somebody sitting inside and move the shifter around while you inspect, it will soon become evident where you need to start.

Even with everything nice and snug, it will never be the most direct shift. I found that shifting mine at higher revs makes more sense and the gears engage better.

 

[TAR]

Welcome to the forum. Please upload some pictures... we love pictures.

 

[The Pits]

Congrats and welcome.

[jcslocum]

Pictures, yes pictures. They can even be of your car!

 

welcome to the addiction....

[ramjet]

Welcome to TLF Nigel.

Duck over to the Introductions section and say hi in there as well.  

[C43]

I did everything. The SJ mod helps the cross gate play, the cleaver plastic bearings help the fore aft play.

I did put some comments on here and I have pictures of the installation if that helps.

I would start of with taking it all to pieces and having a look as it all becomes much clearer then.

cheers

C43

[johnpwalsh]

C43. Pop you pics on again. I find my current S3 different from my last one which was a just over a year older. A late 79 as opposed to the current early 81. Both N/A's

[C43]

no pb, I will try and post tomorrow depending on how busy work is.

C43

[C43]

sorry deleted a lot of the pictures from my phone. Is there anything specific you wanted to see. Below I have shown an image of the new bearing in place on the bell crank for the for aft levers mounted on the back of the box section of the chassis and an image of the new rose joints in place.

I made a flat bell crank to replace the bent one lotus supply and this worked out perfectly in terms of keeping everything in line (I think the S3 ones are flat)

I added some nylon washers to take out some of the rotation of the shafts and act as dust shields as experience from work was these can be prone to dust.

let me know what else you want but all pretty straight forwards once you get into it.

cheers

Christian

[johnpwalsh]

Smart looking work. Being methodical is the name of the game here. The worst bush to do is the one below the gearshift, it's a pig to get at unless you have mini hand's and for that reason I think it often gets neglected when changing the others.

[C43]

have a 11 year old son with small hands who likes helping dad working on the car helps...

must admit the linkage as a little stiff at first but it has loosened off really nicely now and still has very little play.

C43