Gearchange mechanism adjustment problem

[tomcattom]

I have been busy on the the car today renewing the entire gear change. Lever overhaul kit, new translations bearings and rod ends and a pair of new cables have all been fitted. I've come to the stage of adjusting everything and I'm running into an issue I can't seem to work out what's wrong.

I've followed the guidance in section FG3 of the workshop manual and successfully set up the translator arm 4mm off centre towards the right with no issue, but I'm not having any luck with the forward/aft setup on the lever. The manual says: "The gearchange lever is independently spring loaded to the 3rd/4th gear plane, and when viewed from behind, will lean slightly to the right on 4-cylinder cars, and stand vertically on V8 (and late GT3). Viewing the lever from the side, have an assistant hold the lever in a fore/aft vertical position, without disturbing the crossgate position." From here I'm then supposed to adjust the cables at their ends so there is no preload, but I'm unable to get it setup as such.

I've checked my chassis is sat level

The gear lever is upright relative to the chassis, as per the manual.

But this is how the cables are sat at the gearbox end and that is with the ball joints wound in as far as they will go.

The gear box is in neutral (its in the middle of the three positions when I rotate the gearbox cross shaft on its axis) while I've been doing this setup and I've checked that the cables are correctly crossed over as they were prior to replacement.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. I've been out there most of the day working on it and its very possible I've overlooked something trivial in this heat, but I can't work it out at the moment.

[tomcattom]

I think the exhaust mounting cradle is bent causing the misalignment of the cables ☹️

[Sparky]

Tom, can you post photos of the translator from other angles, especially sides?

Also, from memory, the stick should sit back about 4deg?  I'll check...

[Barrykearley]

Viewed from above sat in nuetral. Ignore the split rubber bush 🤪

Your cradle I very much doubt will be bent - it’s bolted in too many places and would look proper twisted if it was

[Sparky]

Just checked the manuals.  Up to 1992, initial stick setting is 3/4 plane, 7.5deg back.  This is not mentioned in 1993-on manuals.  I swear I've done them successfully with that back rake on the stick, and it looks like it would move your rose joints into the zone.  Maybe worth giving it a go?

[sailorbob]

The gear lever raking back 7.5 degrees is for transmissions with the translator on the left hand side. For transmissions with the translator on the right hand side the gear lever rakes to the right (no angle or dimension is given). I just offset the gear lever slightly using a piece of plywood with a slot cut in it to hold it in the spot where the lever centering spring neutral position is.

[tomcattom]

Thanks guys. I'll get some photos of the translator tomorrow, and some of the cradle. 

I whipped the cradle off before I finished for the day on the car and it's definitely had a whack because the bolts on the driver's side were hard to get out because the frame was pushing against the bolt threads.

The left cable is about 5mm too long and the right hand one is about 10mm too long, although that difference may be accounted for by me not setting the translator rotation perfectly potentially.

 

[SPADGER27]

Sparky thanks for help

[tomcattom]

@Sparky here are a few more photos of the translator bearing. Unfortuntely I've taken the exhaust cradle off since I posted the photos last night, so I'm not sure if these will tell you what you want to know now. But here they are nonetheless.

 

That all said, I've done some some crude squareness checks of the exhaust cradle, comparing the left side to the right side and I'm pretty sure its bent. In all the following photos the frame is laid upside down on the floor.

The left hand side all looks nice and square

Right hand side the arm is bent inwards somewhat

Bracket that mounts to the back of the gearbox on the left side is nice and square

Right hand side, with the cable abutment tray is way out of square. You can also see the nice ripple in the triangulation bracket.

 

I am assuming here that the two sides are both supposed to be square, I can't see any reason why they shouldn't be. The net effect of the mangled tray is that its pushed the cable abutments rearward and towards the gearbox casing shotening the distance to the translator which is why I can't get things to line up I think.

 

[Chillidoggy]

I had to angle my gear lever back, or I’d never have gotten the rose joints to fit in the translator.

Your translator position looks fine to me.

[Sparky]

I don't think the bracket would cause the cable anomaly to that extent.  I would angle the stick back first, and see what happens.

[Chillidoggy]

I’ll take a photo of my knob if necessary.

[Sparky]

Please, not another court case.

[SPADGER27]

Hi does anyone know the measurement of the inhibitor pad. I roughly know the diameter from the old one. But not the measurement as per picture. TIA

[Sparky]

Can't remember exactly, but around 10mm should be good.  You can adjust the baulk block to accommodate.  Pull yer finger out!

[SPADGER27]

Never mind "pull your finger out" I have been and brought a £200 pillar drill just to make this. Also some of us essential workers have to keep the country moving 😀

 

Anyway thanks Sparky for the reply that was just about my guess 1 cm

[Sparky]

Essential?  I thought you were a toad sexer.

[Jacques]

On 12/06/2020 at 15:34, SPADGER27 said:

Hi does anyone know the measurement of the inhibitor pad. I roughly know the diameter from the old one. But not the measurement as per picture. TIA

I believe it's my gearstick and as I took it off years ago, the inhibitor was worn in a strange angle, making reverse a bit strange. So I asked a frind to make me two new ones. 10mm sounds about right. I loctited it on plus the bolt of course. I also had two far more precise steel pins made, and pressed in, slightly longer in the reach, so I could delete one more source of sloppiness. The new pins are pressed in at this picture.

Maybe I can go find the other nylon part tomorrow.

Doing this and installing fresh translator bearings etc. was one of the very first things I did to Little Red Riding Hood after I bought it.

Kind regards,

jacques

ps: you should have that big bracket blasted, reshaped, galvanised and powdercoated to align things up as precisely as possible.

[tomcattom]

I ended up ordering a new exhaust cradle because I simply didn't trust the squareness of mine and didn't have a reference to be able to try and square the old one up even if I had the means to. The new one eventually arrived earlier this morning and over lunch I've been out to the garage and briefly compared them and the old one is definitely well and truly bent out of shape now that I have a known good one to compare to.

The most stark comparison can be seen in these two photos. It doesn't look like a massive difference but this alone accounts for pretty much all of the alignment issues I reckon and also explains why one cable wasn't as far out as the other.

Will find out for sure if it solves the issues this evening when I get a chance to fit it to the car after work. 🤞

[tomcattom]

Success, everything lines up, fits properly and all gears have been accounted for! The lever is reclined back from vertical by a millimeter or so still, but I'll accept that to be within tolerances. Its certainly a LOT better than it would have been if I'd carried on with the original bent cradle.

[Sparky]

Nice one!  TBH I was dubious.