Getting back on the road

jp928 said:
I also had trouble with the track rod lock nut - I turned a ring spanner into flare nut spanner by cutting a slot just big enough to clear the rod, and its relatively easy now.
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In my case it was more any spanner I had was too long for the available space. Right pain in the wotsit!
 
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Suspension has settled in nicely. Ride and handling feel pretty good. I’m going to try backing off the shocks as it maybe a little over damped. But I can tell you it’s a huge amount of fun.
 
One of the things I’m still not happy with is the gear shift feel. There’s a bit of play still in the mechanism even when in gear. The acorn is in good condition, however I had long suspected that the selector finger should have a tip on it. Sure enough, the daughter of the previous owner had found some papers on the car, one of which mentioned the finger originally had a nylon tip. I know mine is long gone! I have a spare selector rod and finger so decided to make up a new tip out of brass (better chance of it staying out when epoxied in place. I’ve turned one up and will try and fit it later this week. Fingers crossed :).
 

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That's a nice solution. JRW sells remanufactured selector fingers in the UK, but that looks a very acceptable alternative. And probably longer lasting than a repro nylon type.
 
redrover said:
That's a nice solution. JRW sells remanufactured selector fingers in the UK, but that looks a very acceptable alternative. And probably longer lasting than a repro nylon type.
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I know the originals were nylon, it’s a good solution, however the edges of the slots in the selector fork rods are razor sharp. I’m sure they really ate up the nylon if there was the slightest misalignment in the slots. Even with brass I’m concerned about it. If I take the box out in the future I might relieve the edges very slightly so the tip slides over the edge without catching.
 
Only the late cars had the plastic on the selector striker lever, possibly used after the gear lever went all-steel, but they didn't last. At the Main Stealer when I was there the workshop foreman used to braze them up and file them to shape for re-use so that's been around since the cars were nearly new.
 
harveyp6 said:
Only the late cars had the plastic on the selector striker lever, possibly used after the gear lever went all-steel, but they didn't last. At the Main Stealer when I was there the workshop foreman used to braze them up and file them to shape for re-use so that's been around since the cars were nearly new.
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Nothing new under the sun...

My car is a Series one and half. But, yes, this is the early style remote setup (always feels sort of a lash up to be honest).
 
I have slipped a piece of snug fitting plastic hose over the stricker tip. When the car was in everyday use i didn't expect it to last for ages and i (sort of...) treated it as a consumable every few years. With the current use, i expect it to last forever.

However, the biggest gearchange quality improvement that i had, was when i fixed quite firmly the steady angle iron to the gearbox, and to the gear lever plate. Then i had the plate mounted on rubbers that allowed it to move against the tunnel.
 
Demetris said:
I have slipped a piece of snug fitting plastic hose over the stricker tip. When the car was in everyday use i didn't expect it to last for ages and i (sort of...) treated it as a consumable every few years. With the current use, i expect it to last forever.

However, the biggest gearchange quality improvement that i had, was when i fixed quite firmly the steady angle iron to the gearbox, and to the gear lever plate. Then i had the plate mounted on rubbers that allowed it to move against the tunnel.
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I've made the same modification to the angle iron and shifter plate. It helped a lot, this is more to just get rid of the 12mm of vertical slack it has at the gear knob end now.
 
I may have gotten carried away. I made the mods above to an existing shifter rod assembly. As I looked more closely I realised the metalatic of bush at the shifter frame end was falling apart. Not only was the rubber of the metalastic bush swollen and soft from age, but the bronze bush in its center was also in a bad way. I was able to separate the rubber from the steel tube worryingly easily. The inner bronze bush I could drill out. I had some spare bronze on the shelf and turned up a new bushing. Pressing it into the steel tube. It was already reamed and toleranced to be a sliding fit over the shifter remote rod. Now what to do with the rubber? I was able to turn a quick mould from some spare aluminium, complete with a small recess to hold the rod in place. I sand blasted the steel tube, and sprayed some release agent on the mold. Once assembled I poured some 80 shore A PU elastomer resin into the mold and left it over night to cure.
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Next morning I had a new metalistic bushing made up! I assembled that onto th shifter frame with some new rubber washers and I’m pleased to say it already feels good.
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Hopefully I’ll have time to fit it this weekend. With this and the new tip to the finger I think I’ll have a shift pattern that doesn’t need orangutang arms to reach 3rd gear (not a problem for me as I’m built like one).
 
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Well, I’m glad I changed the above. The old selector rod was in a rough way. Bushing fell apart, selector finger tip was indeed missing. It almost feels like a short shifter kit now. Needs little refining on the alignment, but still much, much better.
 

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Fittingly with the gear shift being one of the last major niggles sorted Beryl turned back to 000000 on her odometer today. Couldn’t take a photo at the time as I was on the highway. But I’ll take 39 miles.
 

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That is satisfying, fixing the gearchange, isnt it? Mine looked like it needed an acorn, but with one on it , it wouldnt go into the shaft ring at all. Ended up improvising with some plastic tubing over the end, and it improved no end. With the LT77 in now, not relevant amymore.
With part of nozzle from a silicon dispenser fitted:-
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jp928 said:
That is satisfying, fixing the gearchange, isnt it? Mine looked like it needed an acorn, but with one on it , it wouldnt go into the shaft ring at all. Ended up improvising with some plastic tubing over the end, and it improved no end. With the LT77 in now, not relevant amymore.
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Absolutely, it was one of the last niggles when it came to driving pleasure. The shift has a nice snick to it now. A final adjustment yesterday evening brought the neutral position a little closer to vertical than the book suggests, plus a closer 1-2 and 3-4 plane (first go had a wide placement for those making for considered change up from 2nd to 3rd).

With the precise changes you realise how short a grow they designed for the gearbox originally, they certainly wanted a drivers car when the designed the P6.
 
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