Anyone near Los Altos have one installed in their car? I'd like to see how yours feels dry shifting into 2nd so I can make sure mine is adjusted (if there is such a thing) correctly.

I'm having a tough time selecting second, either up from first or down shifting from third and I'm thinking it is either the spring setup or some other adjustment.

Of course I am shifting a lot harder than you would on the street, but if the shifter isn't installed correctly it just makes it worse.

Thanks.

If you are up here in Oakland, swing by and you can drive mine. I have the early version of the Rennshift. I've adjusted it several times over the years and it takes a bit getting used to to get it just right. Now mine shifts like butter through all gears.



PS: I work in Hayward, if that is better for you. I could drive to work and we could meet up for lunch.

Great Andy. Let me know what day is good for you and I'll come over. I'll even bring my Rennshifter as it is just about out of the car. Maybe you can show me how to properly adjust the unit.

Lunch sounds great as well.

We can do lunch any weekday starting at noon or you can come by my house on the weekend. Either way works fine with me. I'll PM you my info ...

When I initially installed mine many years ago I did it as follows and note I also had replaced the flex joint in the middle with one of those aircraft sealed units. Note this is a bit different but was used by my racing mentor who had won many races over his career and it worked very well.

1. Before I took the old unit off I removed the plastic cover at the trans and had someone shift from 1st to 2nd then 2nd to 3rd then to each of the other gears. I made a drawing of which way things moved at the console, especially noting where 2nd gear was at the trans when the stock shifter was in 2nd.

2. Installed the new linkage, front and rear parts, and the new J-West shifter and tightened the rear set screw. I DID NOT TIGHTEN THE CLAMP BOLT THAT THE FRONT SHIFT ROD FITS INTO. I also loosened both stop bolts at the shifter.

3. Shifted through each gear from under the trans at the rear to make sure all was well.

4. If all shifted well, I put the trans in 2nd gear at the trans end and had someone hold it in gear while I moved the shift handle into the 2nd gear position and locked the clamping bolt. I also adjusted the stop bolt for the 2nd gear position at the same time.

5. At the rear I shifted into 3rd gear and had someone hold the linkage while I adjusted the other stop bolt.

6. I then had a person inside shift through all gears while I watched the linkage at the rear to make sure there was no binding. Then I tested it from inside.

7. I started the car and shifted through all gears with the rear wheel in the air to make sure all worked with the engine running and it did.

This was repeated when I switched from the short geared transmission to shorter geared transmission and visa-versa and takes about 10 to 15 minutes.

Note that the shifter should hit the stop bolts inside the shifter housing before the shift linkage at the transmission runs out of travel, otherwise the trans can be damaged. I also had a setup at the rear similar to what Jim sold and also what Chris is starting to make so there was no slop at all at the rear.

Thanks John. I am going to utilize your procedure as outlined. Nice job.

The stop bolts need to be all the way out while you do the adjusting, otherwise they can interfere with the adjustment. Once everything shifts as desired, you screw the stops back in until they just barely touch and then lock them in place.

I always found that putting the trans in 2nd before doing any adjustments on the lever works just fine if you are by yourself.
That way, you know exactly where you want your shift lever to be (center and forward) and everything else basically falls into place from there ...

Thank you, I forgot to mention to make a drawing of what happens at the rear when someone moves the shifter 'cause if I remember correctly it is backwards to what you would think? It has been a long time but I still have the drawing in a small file of handy notes about things such as wiring connectors and such.

I put the car into second back at the transmission and then slid the (not tightened) coupler on to the shaft. I made sure it was centered side to side then moved the shifter forward until it stopped, i.e., the inside of the shaft was bottoming out in the coupler. I tightened the coupler. Then tried selecting all the gears and everything worked.

I would have thought I had to slightly back off bottoming out the shaft in the coupler, you know like more "centered". This bothers me.

Anyway I then drove (nervously) down the street and got a bit of grinding when shifting to second and third. Actually this could be happening at events, but you don't hear or feel it.

I'm am going to tighten my clutch cable a bit and see if that helps. My syncros are all good or at least they were when we put in the TBD, about 20 minutes of hard racing ago.

The question about clutch adjustment is: where does the clutch engage at when in 1st gear? I used to like mine to engage at 50% of outward pedal travel and that included the pedal arm hitting the stop which meant it was at 100% travel. I have driven other cars that the drivers liked theirs to engage at 25% out and even 75% out! Note I said engage as with a cable clutch mechanism and the nylon bushings in the pedal cluster feeling the release point can be hard. Also since I imagine you have a heavy duty racing type of clutch disk it might be dragging a bit?

Lastly how often do you normally adjust the cable and is it double nutted tightly? I have seen one of the nuts work loose and I can not figure how that ever happens and generally the cable will slowly stretch over time, even the super cables such as Terry.