Subaru Transmission Cable Linkage, Some Photos with a Rule Options

[roachghia70]

The parts look really nice, and the price is great! Nice work!

But can you provide more details about the robustness of the bell crank parts? Is there a bearing in the mechanism? I must admit, the bell crank is the only part that I am not thrilled about, because it adds an additional moving part/ mechanism. The beauty of the cables are that you're not constricted to the motion having to come from any one direction. You can flex and bend the cable, resulting in the motion coming from any angle.

That being said, if the mechanism is robust, tight, and built to last nearly forever without getting sloppy, I am definitely getting in line to buy one. The cable shifter in my dad's car is sooooo much nicer than my modified rod shifter. I'm ready to upgrade. And your prices are good enough that it might one of those parts that's worth buying done, rather than building from scratch.

Please post pictures or describe the bearing in the bell rank, if you don't mind. PM would be fine if you don't want to post those details in public.

Thanks!
Thomas

[effutuo101]

follow up email sent Ian!

[hsus2k]

Any news on this Shifter Cable Kit? Updates?
Has anyone recieved the Kit or paid for them yet?

I know Ian is a busy man, but I just would like to know if someone has received the Kit already?
I haven't heard anything for alomst 2 weeks now.

[IM101]

Hey guys,
Not they have not shipped, only capttrips got the prototype.

They have been keeping me busy at the new job and it's been difficult to adjust to the 9 to 5 schedule again. But I have increased the sales opportunity pipeline from $400k to $1.6m so at least its not for nothing.

Everything for the shifters is basically ready to go. I just wanted to get one installed for a final working test fit (I had done a mock up with a bare block and trans) thus the reason for capttrips getting the prototype. really im just waiting to see that everything works as is should fit wise before i send these out and get a bunch of people mad at me =).

[IM101]

Thomas,
Don't mind posting in public (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif). Usually I would build everything from scratch including parts like the bell crank in doing so i can beef everything up to the point where its basically indestructible under normal to severe conditions. However because I have more limited time then normal with this project I found a bell crank off the shelf.

I am not particularly thrilled with he part as it is not as robust as I would like. However it has a sealed bearing that will hold up fine to normal conditions (both weather and physical torsion forces). I even did somewhat of a torture test with a hammer and it held up fine until I really started putting some force into the blows from the worse possible angle.

End result is I'm confident it will hold up under normal to abusive conditions. however if you get the car sideways of the road and happen to slam some obstacle into the back of the transmission you may have some problems.

looking forward, I have no problems replacing any bell crank that fails. Otherwise I do plan on eventually drawing my own beefed up version and will probably let people replace the older version at cost if they want.

-Ian

The parts look really nice, and the price is great! Nice work!

But can you provide more details about the robustness of the bell crank parts? Is there a bearing in the mechanism? I must admit, the bell crank is the only part that I am not thrilled about, because it adds an additional moving part/ mechanism. The beauty of the cables are that you're not constricted to the motion having to come from any one direction. You can flex and bend the cable, resulting in the motion coming from any angle.

That being said, if the mechanism is robust, tight, and built to last nearly forever without getting sloppy, I am definitely getting in line to buy one. The cable shifter in my dad's car is sooooo much nicer than my modified rod shifter. I'm ready to upgrade. And your prices are good enough that it might one of those parts that's worth buying done, rather than building from scratch.

Please post pictures or describe the bearing in the bell rank, if you don't mind. PM would be fine if you don't want to post those details in public.

Thanks!
Thomas

[hsus2k]

Thanks, Ian.
I was just worried that you might had forgot about me or missed my email or something; becasue last time I heard (in here) they were ready and you are about to send them out.
And then after 2 weeks, I still haven't heard anything from anyone.

I know you are very busy, and thank you for doing all the design and torture testing for us.

My car has just being painted and suspensions are back on and the engine is being preped; so, I'm a little excited.............

Thanks again!
Dennis

[veekry9]

Wow.
This cables-gift looks like a winner.
Well thought out and executed.
Beats the agricultural trellis-work I have now hands down.
A plan for the T-shift in the future would allow the spirited use of the early TX in sport mode.
Well Done.

[914forme]

Yes I too was starting to think I missed the boat. Hate missing the boat, water around here is still very cold.

[CptTripps]

So I haven't driven mine yet, but the installation went pretty a well. There are only a few slight mods that I made to his kit. Here's what I did.

For the bolt that goes through the shift-lever at the back of the Trans, I made the holes on the attachment match the size of the hole on the bar. Then I shrink-wrapped the bolt to snug it in there before I used a lock-nut on the back.

I opened up the top hole on the bell-crank so I could put a little thicker bolt in there as well. I may have mis-matched the bolts when I was putting it back together, but the ones I had there was just a little too loose. All good now.

The cable lengths are good if you aren't looping a lot. I got them both through the hole the shift-bar went through. (One at a time.) and they fit well. If they were 2" longer, that wouldn't suck though.

Last thing is that on your MR2 shifter, you'll need to grind out a peg used for the left-right action. You'll see when you're in there, but there is NO way to get it off without a grind wheel.

Past that, the kit fits up and works real well. I can't wait to drive it (hopefully) this weekend.

[hsus2k]

BTW, which MR2 shifter is everyone using (or for this Kit)?
Are all the 1st and 2nd Gen shifter the same?

I think I had an older 1st Gen shifter, but already hacked and weld so many times to fit my old cable design for my "old" engine cradle.
Now, I have Ian's engine cradle, the old cable/shifter system won't fit thru the new Trans hangers.
I'll be purchasing Ian's Shifter Cable Kit, but would like to know the correct MR2 shifter to use (model years?) before I make a mess again.........

Went back reading thru the threads and comments again, but a bit confused........on which MR2 shifter everyone perfer to use?


Thanks!
Dennis

[CptTripps]

Really, as long as it looks like one of these...you'll be fine.

Earlier...later...shouldn't matter. As long as the cables go backwards, you'll be ok.

I'm looking to see if there are others that'll work as well. Something for me to do on the plane later...

[Chris H.]

I heard the 90-91 Honda Accord shifter is AWESOME which is why I bought one. You have to flip the "action" of one of the levers around from it's stock position (left-right probably) to use it but I'm gonna try it out before I buy an MR2. Probably remove the outer part like D914 did. Just need a set of separate cable mounts to do that but it looks pretty easy.

Here's a pic...from my thread but D914's setup...

[76-914]

Keep in mind that these shifters are much shorter than stock. Sit in the car with the shifter before you bolt it down. If your not in the NBA you'll probably want to bend the new shifter's rod aft or move the entire shifter aft.

[IM101]

Hey Guys, going to start sending out quotes/invoices at lunch today, if you don't have one in your inbox by the end of the day and you want a shifter, email me.
-Ian

[1stworks]

Hey Guys, going to start sending out quotes/invoices at lunch today, if you don't have one in your inbox by the end of the day and you want a shifter, email me.
-Ian

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif) (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/i1315.photobucket.com-15718-1398266215.1.jpg)


here's my 00 mr2 shifter I'll b using.

It looks like a winner 2 me.

[Chris H.]

Keep in mind that these shifters are much shorter than stock. Sit in the car with the shifter before you bolt it down. If your not in the NBA you'll probably want to bend the new shifter's rod aft or move the entire shifter aft.

I was thinking about bending mine to look stock-ish.

Hi Kent (IMG:style_emoticons/default/bye1.gif) I'm working on it! Updates soon.

Ian,

Awesome news!!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smilie_pokal.gif) I'll be checking the inbox.... nope...not there...nope...not there...nope...maybe I'll give it a minute.

[BIGKAT_83]

I started with a MR2 shifter and changed over to a Corolla shifter. This did need a revesal of the gear selector. I added a bearing and bell crank at the shifter. This allowed me to also set the length of travel for the shifter. It worked out fine.

You can make most any shifter work. We spent a few days in the pick and pull looking at different options.
Corolla shifer
Mounted in the car


Bob

[andys]

MR2, Corolla, Celica, Mitsubishi can all be made to work, though the MR2 doesn't need to be turned around. I'd probably avoid the all plastic ones (late MR2 and Boxster), as they don't lend themselves well to modification. The Corolla/Tercel shifter Bob mentions is quite nice. I went with the Celica (after buying three different Toyota models) as it had greater gate travel that my 6 speed needed.

Andys

[IM101]

Hey Guys, going to start sending out quotes/invoices at lunch today, if you don't have one in your inbox by the end of the day and you want a shifter, email me.
-Ian

And by that I mean work is going to blow up and i won't be able to send out any until today..

So do not worry if you have not recieved anything yet....

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/headbang.gif)

[Chris H.]

Ah...just bugged you with a PM...disregard. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)