Ordering this kit from patrick motorsports. It's designed for the wevo gearbox but with just one or 2 cuts and welds it should work for my sideshift.

Anyways I pulled the shifter out of the car today. Underneath is some sort of retainer for the shift tube. Not sure what you call it but it really looks almost useless except to hold the shift rod somewhat in the general area of the shifter so it doesn't pop off.

My question is...

Wouldn't changing this or welding in a spherical bearing to limit movement greatly improve how the car shifts?

Jwest and Patrick Motorsports both make something like what I am describing for the firewall. Why not also for the bushing right below the shifter?

Doesn't the ball and cup on the shifter move up and down already so can't you lock this tube into a horizontal plane just how it is on the back. Seems that with the Jwest kit he went to great lengths to lock the rear tube in the transmission in this horizontal plane and take out any slop.

If you look at the patrick motorsports website and the wevo shifter there is a piece that looks like what I am describinh but again uses a plastic retainer with space for the rod to move.

http://www.patrickmotorsports.com/part/571/

The side shift shifter assembly has no ball, no cup, and no bushing. If you're converting to a sideshift setup from a tail shift, you have to replace the early shifter with the later pieces, or you'll end up with a reversed shift pattern, among other issues.

The Cap'n

He has a 916 transaxle!
Sort of a sideshift 915 using an early style front linkage.

Nathan,
You already have a WEVO 915 shift tower.
I think your system should be fixable without buying a lot of new parts.

Early front linkage should have a bushing in that bracket. Without it your shifting will suck bigtime.

Part # 914 424 224 00

I was just going to get the Patrick Motorsports wevo kit. It's not to expensive and should be almost plug and play. $620

Sure I could get it done cheaper but not much cheaper.



Part # 914 424 224 00

There is a bushing in the front Mike but it's very large and just kinda there to hold the rod in the general area. Just seems to me that welding in a bushing like on the firewall would make the rod only move forwards and back and twist. Right now it can move up and down.



Weld something like this in it's place.
http://www.patrickmotorsports.com/part/595/

It may not be the right bushing in there. It should not be tight.

And exactly how was I supposed to know that? Sucky questions, no matter how many words they contain, generate incorrect answers. Not a single word in the request for help that could possibly lead to a good answer. No year, no engine/tranny information, NADA! GIGO!

The Cap'n

Which it needs to. Moving the shifter forward/backward will move the rod up/down as well as forward/backward.

A tight bushing would prevent you from moving your shifter ...
Andy

Thanks Andy that's what I was wondering. Seems that you have the same sort of arrangement inside the transmission but the ball is allowed to move up and down inside the cup instead of the cup having some play in it like it does in the shifter.

You have a bushing on that ball, right?

I think I recall seeing a cup bushing, but it may need replacing, which may solve much of the play in the system.

Yeah it has the bushing.

I will get it figured out. Just trying to understand how it all works.

Have to wait til next week to order the Patrick Motorsports kit. My girlfriend crashed her car and the insurance check hasn't come in so I had to pay 4 grand out of pocket so she could get her car back. At least the money should be back in my checking account soon. Always something this summer it seems.

why not have chris fab up a shift shaft using 914 steering ujoints ?
I see in the picture your car in another thread, it has two of the stock funky joints.

I would like to figure out how to do some stuff myself. This looks like an easy project for me to take a stab at.

Had more money in my checking then I though. Went ahead and ordered the parts. I didn't need the shifter so they took 150 off the final price of the kit. Not a bad price at all.

Took the shifter off and on about 10 times trying to adjust that cup position til things felt right. Still got alot of slop but now 3rd and 4th are straight forward and back. Everything is pretty notchy which is a bit weird but otherwise it's working.

Makes me feel like this is actually a fixable problem.

Only thing I am having a problem with now is getting it into 5th gear. I can live with that til the parts show up. It will go in but not if I shift quickly. At least I can hammer thru the first 4 gears and have some fun.

Things are looking up!