Bob's cables together with Dave's (now Bob's) Shortshift

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Bob's cables together with Dave's (now Bob's) Shortshift

Postby HJ2 » Sun 02.10.2011, 09:44

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 :P )
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)




Image

Image

Then I raised the car so i wouldn't brake my back during the operation. :mrgreen:
As you can see Every Elan should have its own dog. Here's the dog of the blue Elan in question:

Image

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.

Image

Image

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...

Image

Image

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

Image

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.

Image

The it's time to remove the pin on the gear lever.

Image

It's welded with a few spots, but if you place it in a vice you can conveniently break the weld without damaging anything.

Image

(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 :lol: 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 :oops: )
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 :poke:

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. :cheers:
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)
Last edited by HJ2 on Tue 04.10.2011, 21:24, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Bob's cables together with Dave's (now Bob's) Shortshift

Postby rip » Sun 02.10.2011, 11:14

HJ2 wrote:You can see where the old cable failed:


I'm glad you think so.

You've fallen into the old Haynes trap of taking them too close. If it was not for the plenum visible in 1 of them 1 would not have a clue what you were shooting.

& I can't see a damaged cable/connector anywhere.

Fortunately, it is 1 of those jobs which is easier to do that explain. :-D
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Re: Bob's cables together with Dave's (now Bob's) Shortshift

Postby HJ2 » Sun 02.10.2011, 11:19

Wel... It looks like i posted most pictures in a too high resolution so a part fell off the page!
The details are there my friend :-)

I'll try to correct this tonight as i am now off to the garage to finish the monkey business on my dials! :P
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Re: Bob's cables together with Dave's (now Bob's) Shortshift

Postby bobbrown » Sun 02.10.2011, 13:46

Old cables seem to have failed here, guide tube has become disconnected.

cable failure.jpg
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Re: Bob's cables together with Dave's (now Bob's) Shortshift

Postby JonT » Sun 02.10.2011, 17:33

Inspired by this thread I thought I'd try and fit mine. Unfortunately I've got stuck. No matter what I try, I can't get the old selector pins off the forks at the gearbox end :banghead: Am I just a wuss? I've got a spanner on them and levered (in the right direction) with as much force as I can manage, but they just won't budge. Any ideas? Tried plus gas and not got any further.

cheers,

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Re: Bob's cables together with Dave's (now Bob's) Shortshift

Postby rip » Sun 02.10.2011, 18:12

HJ2 wrote:Wel... It looks like i posted most pictures in a too high resolution so a part fell off the page!
The details are there my friend :-)

That would explain it. I can see them on my own laptop :D I could only see the LHS of each pic earlier.
I thought the forum only displayed max 800x600, anything higher appeared as an attachment?????? :shock:
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Re: Bob's cables together with Dave's (now Bob's) Shortshift

Postby HJ2 » Sun 02.10.2011, 18:31

@ rip: They're hotlinks ;-)

@ John: I removed the pin from below ! (Car on axle stands, be safe!)
Just use a socket and a ratch and a very, very long extension.
Then, have someone from above guide the socket so it stays over the nut, and the square part of the pin stays in the square hole of the lever on the control box, or else you only get 3 rotations and then the square parts rotates freely, keeping you wondering how many times round till the pin is in your socket :poke:

If you can't get it loose and you're afraid of breaking something: Remove the selector box (take care not to damage the seal) and place the square part in a vice and work from there. You're almost getting there, so hang on!
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Re: Bob's cables together with Dave's (now Bob's) Shortshift

Postby JonT » Sun 02.10.2011, 18:41

HJ2 wrote:@ rip: They're hotlinks ;-)

@ John: I removed the pin from below ! (Car on axle stands, be safe!)
Just use a socket and a ratch and a very, very long extension.
Then, have someone from above guide the socket so it stays over the nut, and the square part of the pin stays in the square hole of the lever on the control box, or else you only get 3 rotations and then the square parts rotates freely, keeping you wondering how many times round till the pin is in your socket :poke:

If you can't get it loose and you're afraid of breaking something: Remove the selector box (take care not to damage the seal) and place the square part in a vice and work from there. You're almost getting there, so hang on!

Good ideas - Thanks :cheers: I hadn't though about going in from underneath - I've got some nice big, safe ramps which make that easy enough. Had a bit too much beer this evening to try it now though :drunk:
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Re: Bob's cables together with Dave's (now Bob's) Shortshift

Postby saska » Sun 02.10.2011, 19:38

JonT wrote:
HJ2 wrote:If you can't get it loose and you're afraid of breaking something: Remove the selector box (take care not to damage the seal) and place the square part in a vice and work from there. You're almost getting there, so hang on!

Good ideas - Thanks :cheers: I hadn't though about going in from underneath - I've got some nice big, safe ramps which make that easy enough. Had a bit too much beer this evening to try it now though :drunk:

I've done both cars by removing the selector box, putting the arm in a vice and removing the nuts. Makes keeping the square part of the pin engaged and getting force without damaging anything expensive much easier. Both of mine took a lot of force to remove -- they were well seized.
The seal is available from SJs if you mess it up or I probably have a new one somewhere, though I make no promises that I can find it.
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Re: Bob's cables together with Dave's (now Bob's) Shortshift

Postby JonT » Sun 02.10.2011, 19:51

If I can get the selector box out, another option is nut splitter/dremel. Any clues for removing it or is it obvious when I go back and look at the car?
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Re: Bob's cables together with Dave's (now Bob's) Shortshift

Postby HJ2 » Sun 02.10.2011, 20:01

I looked for a write up on removing the selector box. It's somewhere in my posts but i can't find it!
Fom what i remember it's pretty straight foreward.

Remove cables, remove bolts and break the seal (it can be stickey!)
If you brake the seal, don't seperate selector box and transmission more than a few mm's and gently feel your way in removing the paper seal with your fingers.
If you just rip it apart, chances are that you'll brake it!


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Re: Bob's cables together with Dave's (now Bob's) Shortshift

Postby hatters » Sun 02.10.2011, 20:49

Thank goodness my Elan has had the new upgraded cables fitted .They were done just before I bought it together with the Hi pec front brakes
It looks like a swine of a job to me
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Re: Bob's cables together with Dave's (now Bob's) Shortshift

Postby HJ2 » Sun 02.10.2011, 21:00

Squeeeeek!

Does anybody know how to resize pictures already uploaded to Tinypic.com?
This tread would look a lot better with correct picture size!
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Re: Bob's cables together with Dave's (now Bob's) Shortshift

Postby dapinky » Sun 02.10.2011, 21:42

HJ2 wrote:Remove cables, remove bolts and break the seal (it can be stickey!)
If you brake the seal......



I broke the seal easily :oops:

too muck oomph (after removing the 4 bolts) and in a hurry due to failing light in a layby with car stuck in 5th gear.....

.....i know it's not directly anything to do with the thread as such, but the selector box still had to come off for my job.

Once i got home (having replaced the box with the damaged gasket still in situ due to lack of facilities half way between Hereford and Gloucester) it was weeping a tiny bit of oil.

Next day I decided to fix it properly and fit the short-shift.....

....cleaned up both faces of the selector box and fitted it with a smear of RTV silicone instead of a gasket - (only intended as a temporary until i could get a new gasket) - it still hasn't leaked yet, so another temporary fix has lapsed into semi-permanence. :oops: :oops:
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Re: Bob's cables together with Dave's (now Bob's) Shortshift

Postby HJ2 » Sun 02.10.2011, 22:18

I places 7 short shifts.
In 2 cases the selector box had to come of because of the nut wouldn't cooperate
In one of them the seal broke, but I spot-repaired it with RTV without any issues.

Key is to brake the seal, but only letting it separate for a couple of millimetres, for example by turning a flat screwdriver between the gearbox housing and the pivot pin housing on the selector box.
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Re: Bob's cables together with Dave's (now Bob's) Shortshift

Postby rip » Sun 02.10.2011, 23:15

The selector box seal is not subject to any stress or severe temperature. It only needs to have a little softness to prevent leaking.
A replacement can easily be made from an old cereal packet.
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Re: Bob's cables together with Dave's (now Bob's) Shortshift

Postby JonT » Mon 03.10.2011, 21:20

LEC scores again - thanks for the ideas :cheers: . I'd never have thought about taking the selector off - in fact it came off easily enough with a bit of fiddling for the bolt under the trashcan and left the seal in tact. Pins on the selector arms were very stiff - even clamped in a vice took a lot of force, so definitely the best way to have got them off. All back together now, just the cable adjustment left to do tomorrow.
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Re: Bob's cables together with Dave's (now Bob's) Shortshift

Postby JonT » Tue 04.10.2011, 20:50

Got there. Self centering between 1/2 and 3/4 seems a bit weak but I can't remember what it was like beforehand. The change does seem more precise, but need to go for a drive really and see what it's like in anger.

/sorry for the thread hijack!
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Re: Bob's cables together with Dave's (now Bob's) Shortshift

Postby HJ2 » Tue 04.10.2011, 21:27

The bad part after installing Bob's cables...
Now i'll have to find some pennies to buy a set for myself! :cheers:
Definately worth the pennies!
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Re: Bob's cables together with Dave's (now Bob's) Shortshift

Postby rip » Tue 04.10.2011, 22:37

JonT wrote:Got there. Self centering between 1/2 and 3/4 seems a bit weak but I can't remember what it was like beforehand.

I had that with my AB cables. One of the fittings at the gearbox end was fitting too tight on its spigot. A little filing followed by some tidying with fine wet & dry then a blob of grease freed things up nicely.
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