Making A Quickshift Gearlever

[Paul_13 212 1 Cars]

I am planning to extend the bottom bit on the end of the gearstick, by using another spare gearstick shaft.

 

How much have people extended theirs before and how much did this affect the travel?

 

Does that make any sense to anyone?

[welshpug 1,661]

much easier to sort the L shaped quadrant than mess with the gearstick, you can have clearance issues to the exhaust if the stick sits too low.

[Henry Yorke 269 3 Cars]

I have one of these made by XSport historically (I got it from Dino). It gives me a fantastic gear change. You have to make sure it clears the exhaust heatshields etc.

 

If making your own then you can't just cut the shaft as it takes a lot of stress. IIRC you need to make a V joint (I forget the engineering name) to put the strength in before you weld

[Miles 331 1 Cars]

I think your's Henry must be the only one which didn;t break as they where all just butt welded headbolt's and one reason when I was there I stoped selling them but done as you have said and or with a brace inside will be fine, Around a 1" was the figure

[Paul_13 212 1 Cars]

WP, I can extended the L shape bracket as it is hitting my exhaust now.

 

I've got to sor the exhaust out but it's still gonna nearly touch.

 

Thanks Mile, i'll try an 1" and see how that goes.

[welshpug 1,661]

shorten the other arm

[Miles 331 1 Cars]

You cannot, again no room to make much differance at all

[welshpug 1,661]

I meant on the quadrant, how short do you want it?!

 

I have driven a 205 with a silly short shift and it was a plain nightmare trying to change gear quickly.

 

If you really want a decent shift get a Satchshift, but you can't have a centre console with it (Colin Satchels setup, see Alan Dixons 306 amongst a few)

Edited September 26, 2010 by welshpug

[Paul_13 212 1 Cars]

I don't want it to be be that much shorter of a throw, I've already cut an inch off the top end of gearstick.

 

 

 

^ in my previous post the first bit was ment to read I can't

[Paul_13 212 1 Cars]

This is how I got on:

 

Cut an inch out of here

 

Cut bottom ball off

 

Bit i'll be adding on

 

All welded up bit of welding to do.

[Baz 421]

I have one done like that, it's barely different to just shortening the shortened arm of the L-quadrant though tbh.

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

Paul, no offence buddy but I think you'll find that will break sooner or later. Its mad but the forces through a gear stick are higher than you think. I've previously modified and welded one and was suprised when it broke, but it is classic fatigue loading through many cycles.

[Paul_13 212 1 Cars]

I'm going to give it a go anyway, I put it in the vice lent on it quite hard it didn't break and gave it a few blows with the hammer again same result.

 

I can't do anything with the bottom quadrant bracket as it'll hit the exhaust manifold in one place and the downpipe bolts in the other. Trust me i've tried!

 

I'll see how it goes

[tomcolinjones 26]

I'm going to give it a go anyway, I put it in the vice lent on it quite hard it didn't break and gave it a few blows with the hammer again same result.

 

I can't do anything with the bottom quadrant bracket as it'll hit the exhaust manifold in one place and the downpipe bolts in the other. Trust me i've tried!

 

I'll see how it goes

 

How did you get on?

[Anthony 1,003]

Welded properly it'll be fine.

 

My car has an extended gearlever setup on it that's been extended both top and bottom, which works very well indeed (as people that have seen / driven my car will confirm) and it has stood the test of time as it was made 3-4 years ago now.

 

(nice thread revival btw!)

[petert 588]

Why not just take 13mm out of the short side of the bell crank like everybody else does? Works fine if you have a standard downpipe. The only time I've had clearance issues was with 4-1 extractors. The last thing you want is the gear stick further away from the steering wheel!

[tomcolinjones 26]

Has anyone used the compbrake lever? comes with a shiny red end that may entertain some people

 

 

it is a toss up between this and the smaller arm on the part that swivels on the subframe, quadrant is it? im guessing both used together would make the throw so short, you wouldnt know if you where changing into 3rd or 5th?

Edited January 6, 2011 by tomcolinjones

[hcmini1989 16]

Has anyone used the compbrake lever? comes with a shiny red end that may entertain some people

 

 

it is a toss up between this and the smaller arm on the part that swivels on the subframe, quadrant is it? im guessing both used together would make the throw so short, you wouldnt know if you where changing into 3rd or 5th?

 

Ive got one of these and a shortend L peice and works ok ,not as good as i would of thought ,allso its catching slightly on the exhaust ,need to twist the exhaust slightly ,

[pug_ham 244 3 Cars]

I've also got one of Miles' original extended gearsticks & it's lasted fine as long as its been on the car, three or four years iirc.

 

I swapped to it from a modiied quadrant & its so much better.

Has anyone used the compbrake lever? comes with a shiny red end that may entertain some people

 

 

it is a toss up between this and the smaller arm on the part that swivels on the subframe, quadrant is it? im guessing both used together would make the throw so short, you wouldnt know if you where changing into 3rd or 5th?

Several people have used them, I have one but as yet its not been fitted to a car because I haven't started to build it yet.

 

They had a tendency to snap though iirc on some batches.

 

Your can't use both the extended gearstick & quadrant together imo, the heatshield was in the way on my car but I wouldn't want to use them together anyway.

 

The extended stick gives the best results when made properly.

 

Graham.

[All Praise The GTI 3]

my 205 had one extended both ends. a little under the car allot inside so is closer to steering wheel looked funny but worked a treat. i got it off ashley peddle but i think was made by another forum member. it got some grief and never broke so was made well alastair has it now

[Baz 421]

my 205 had one extended both ends. a little under the car allot inside so is closer to steering wheel looked funny but worked a treat. i got it off ashley peddle but i think was made by another forum member. it got some grief and never broke so was made well alastair has it now

 

That was one of a batch that was done a few years ago, they're the b0llocks!