Dear all,
I thought I'd share some experiences I had with installing of Bob's Shift cables combined with Dave's short shift (well... Now Bob's short shift anyway
)
Unfortunately on the way I got overexcited and stopped taking pictures entirely, so use a little imagination.
I will update this post regularly to correct it if I suddenly remember further details, or somebody on the forum gives me a pointer
First of all Bob (after payment) soon sent me a well packaged box that arrived already in a couple of days.
Unpacking the box is a small party, if one's an engineer at heart (like me) and well made mechanical part make your heartbeat raise a little.
All parts are well designed and cleanly manufactured. However if there is one comment I can make that would be that not all parts are cleaned thoroughly and some metal debris is present. One only could wish that this was the issue with other suppliers of machined bits, so just this detail was a pleasant surprice
So step one after unpacking was a visual inspection, soon followed by just a little cleaning.
NOTE: The pictures are too large, but all info is there!
Just hoover over the picture, right-click, and select: 'view image' (to be corrected when ever I'm up to it)Then I raised the car so i wouldn't brake my back during the operation.
As you can see Every Elan should have its own dog. Here's the dog of the blue Elan in question:
I started to remove the old cables at the engine side of things and my friend started on the other side: removing the tunnel to gain access.
You can see where the old cable failed: The plastic counterpart of the 'ball joint' gave op, so pushing action with the cable was out of the question...
So next step: Take everything out: Pull out the cables through the transmission tunnel and remove the bracket on transmission side.
Then: fix the new bracket on the transmission side
Then put the new cables on your well organised workbench.
Now take care that you follow Bob's instructions very precise and take care that you screw the rod-ends in approx. 11 mm before tightening the nuts to keep the rod ends secured. No need for lock-tite here.
The it's time to remove the pin on the gear lever.
It's welded with a few spots, but if you place it in a vice you can conveniently break the weld without damaging anything.
(sorry no more pics from here on)
Make sure that all parts that need to be fixed on the transmission side are fixed and then connect the cables to the gear lever assembly
Now for the fun part: Stick your entire arm down the tunnel like you are giving birth to a calf
Hold the palm of your hand upward and gently feed the cables through the tunnel, both at the same time, and use your hand to lift the rod ends through the holes in the bulkhead. There is no need to use a cable on the old cables to feed them trough. If you keep them together, and feel your way through the procedure, this is actually relay easy! (OK, took me a while to learn by repairing my own cables
)
Don't push them to far, but just as far so you can feel / gab them from the transmission side of the tunnel.
Now it's the trick not to get the cables crossed! Grab the rod ends whilst a helper helps from the shift lever side and firmly bend them in the process so they make it through the corner. This is the part where your arms and hands get scratched, so wear proper gloves
Make sure there is enough room to get the cables in the bracket by removing the nuts from the threaded part.
Don't let them slide into the tunnel, or you can start all over again to get them back! Use a tie wrap on the cables to prevent this from happening, works like a charm.
Replace the pins on Dave's shortshift with the ones Bob supplies so the ball joints fit the short shift levers. Use appropriate washer so the ball joint moves around freely.
Last step is to adjust he lever position from the gear stick by finding the correct placement of the nuts on the bracket. and secure them.
This was a problem for me be course I had a custom tool made up (cheap home made welded crow feet as seen in my shifter tread)... size 22! (As for the S2 cables) but Bob's need 24....
The feeling of the new cables is very smooth and solid! Like Lotus supposed to engineer from the start as the car is now shifting like it should!
I'll keep you posted with long term experiences form my friend's car and update this tread if needed.
Feel free to ask questions!
Time required for installing the buggers:
* No experience: One day
* Experience, but not with installing shift cables: 6 hours
* Experienced: 2,5 hours (with assistant)