Replacement Shift Cable Kit - Similar to Bob B.

[JusNoGood]

Hi JC

I hope all the medical procedures are going well.

To answer one of your questions. I've not actually come across a car with a short shift fitted yet!

I really want to get one of your short shift kits. Just a little bad timing at the moment... I've got building work going on at my house and garage and I've spent a small fortune on the M100 already....oh yes and I'm relocating my daughter to Vancouver (Simon Fraser University)...

So I'm wondering whether I could justify buying one by me saving money getting it shipped to Canada. It looks like I'd pay 5% tax instead of 10% plus other bits and bobs. Do you have any experience of sending stuff to Canada JC? I'm wondering how long it would take and whether it could get caught up by customs.

I'll be over there for three weeks so plenty of time for it to arrive.

Regards

Justin

[Brit-Car-Nut]

Justin,

Honestly, I have modified the short-shift kit a lot to make it a seamless connection to the cables I sell. I tried to offer a kit that would work with the different versions of cables that were available over the years and it just didn't work out as I was always having to make something special because the 5 different versions (before the ones now offered by SJs) all require a compromise in one way or the other.

Can you identify which version of cables you currently have in the car? I will look in the parts bin and see if I have the pieces for that series cables.

I can give you the email address of an owner that has an original "Dave's Short Shift" kit that he never fit and then bought a set of my cables with the matching short-shift kit.

Shipping to Vancouver will probably take around 2 weeks and I can declare whatever price you want me to declare to avoid taxes. It won't cost much less for shipping since the USPS considers Canada to be "International" and they charge about the same for BC as they do for the UK. Duty / VAT is based on the value, so I can declare a low value so direct to the UK might be less stressful (as far as making connections) than trying to get it to a moving address in Canada.

If you can tell me which cables you have: SE, S2, AB, Bob B or the SJ cables, I can at least let you know if I have any parts left to match your cables.

[JusNoGood]

HI JC

Fair enough regarding the postage etc.

What is the best way to tell which wires I have?

I've been looking at the all model parts guide and someone has scribbled "Twist and lock obsolete - use s2 cables with new bracket" but I'm not smart enough to know what that actually means

My car is IB10, so it was originally made as a SE in Oct-Dec 1989. It then stayed in the factory and had a number of S2 upgrades - the ones I have found are mainly cosmetic (wheels, hood, the leather on the seats) and also some fuel/exhaust related (O2 sensor, Evap fuel system, cats ). Everything I've seen under the covers has been SE, so the design of the seat under the covers is SE, wiring system is dated 89, the bonnet stay is a pre-production design. So along with all that and it only having 35,000 on the clock I would expect it to have SE cables, but I'm not 100%


Regards

Justin

[HJ2]

Post a picture of the cable end at the transmission and we'l be able to tell you

[JusNoGood]

What is the easiest way to get there, from the engine bay?

Looking at the parts manual it looks like the transmission is all covered up.So I'm assuming removing the interior trim wont help too much.

[dapinky]

Justin,

The quickest way to asses which cables you have is to look at the fixings onto the metal bracket at the rear/top of the gearbox - SE ones will have plastic fittings (twist to lock adjusters), whilst S2 one will have metal fittings (adjusted with locknuts). I wouldn't expect your car to have AB cables, only something from the factory - but you never know!!!!!

As an idea, I've got a couple of photos of my old car where I have indicated the bits and where to find them (they are standard SE cables). As you see, the easiest way to take a picture is to remove the engine , but i'm sure that it isn't strictly necessary.

engine bay.jpg

engine bay 002.jpg

The green box is where the cables join the selector box, the arrow shows the area where the bracket will be.

[JusNoGood]

Thanks Dave.

And thanks for showing me the heater valve at Castle Coombe too. I replaced my rusty old one a few weeks ago with the Volvo one you suggested and now I can turn the heater off - very handy in this weather

[esprit888]

Hi JC
I've got building work going on at my house and garage and I've spent a small fortune on the M100 already....oh yes and I'm relocating my daughter to Vancouver (Simon Fraser University)...
Justin

SFU, awesome choice, beautiful campus setting, my daughter was lucky enough to be accepted to SFU, UBC and UVIC and has decided on UVIC which should save me some money

[JusNoGood]

Hi JC
I've got building work going on at my house and garage and I've spent a small fortune on the M100 already....oh yes and I'm relocating my daughter to Vancouver (Simon Fraser University)...
Justin

SFU, awesome choice, beautiful campus setting, my daughter was lucky enough to be accepted to SFU, UBC and UVIC and has decided on UVIC which should save me some money

Great to hear

Daughter is doing a 1 year placement there as part of a UK Uni exchange. We've got three weeks booked to do a tour of the local area before she moves into her digs...then I'll have to do multiple trips to my most hated place in the world (Ikea )...Do you have Walmart? I hope not

[Brit-Car-Nut]

See newer post closer to the top for current prices and availability.

[JusNoGood]

IMG_5745.jpg

Is this what you need to see JC and is the pic good enough? Its a upside down pic. I took it from behind the air filter box pointing to the area Dave has highlighted with the green box

I cant buy now but if you still have one a little later I will take one (not expecting you to reserve it). Just got to recover from the expense of building work at the house and relocating my daughter to Vancouver

[Brit-Car-Nut]

Sorry Justin,

I can't make out which cables are in that picture. The abutment bracket that is more toward the center of the engine bay would give me a better view, but I can't see the actual cable in your picture. It is awfully rusty at the crossgate that you are showing.

The cable running over everything has blocked any chance of identifying the cables. Having the camera a bit higher (looking downward) and more near the firewall "looking" toward the center of the car might give a better view.

How are the cables connected to the abutment bracket?

gearbox-end.jpg

Maybe someone else can identify what cables he has?

[JusNoGood]

Ok. I've taken a few hoses out so I can get in there a bit better.

Certainly is manky in there! I hope I'm taking pictures of the right thing

IMG_5756.jpg

IMG_5751.jpg

[Brit-Car-Nut]

The picture shows an original standard SE cable set.

I think I would want to clean up everything in that area as it looks like a lot of road salt?

As I mentioned earlier, I know someone that bought a Dave's Short Shift kit many years ago and never installed it. He also bought a set of my cables with short shift kit years ago as well and has never installed it either.

He wants to sell the Dave's kit, so I can contact him and if he is still interested, give him your info via email, or send you his info via email..

I still worry that by changing the leverage, you stand a good chance to break one of your cable housings and will then have wasted you money.

[JusNoGood]

Thanks JC.

Not sure what it is tbh. I've only really driven it in the dry so I think that mess has been caked on there a while. The front of the engine bay looks relatively tidy. The rear looks like its not been cleaned in its whole life. A lot of the electrical cables and protective cable covers are in pretty poor shape too. Nice little job for me this winter. I've bought a heater and replaced the garage doors with an electric one which seals to the door and doesn't leave a big gap, so hopefully I can make it a bit warmer in it this winter - I really struggled at the start of the year when you were helping me diagnose the window motor issue.

"I still worry that by changing the leverage, you stand a good chance to break your cable housings and will then have wasted you money."

Do you mean I should source the cable housing before starting the job of fitting the short shift cables?

[Brit-Car-Nut]

To change the shifting system, different levers are developed which reduce the throw but add more stress on the cables since the fulcrums are shorter and thus require more energy to move them.

The SE cables have plastic attachments that are now 20+ years old and plastic gets brittle over time and snap ring grooves have been known to break.

Each version of cables are different, but the original SE design is more prone to failure.

A short-shift kit designed for SE cables will not work correctly with my cable kit since I use spherical bearing attachments while the SE cables us a simple bushing. In SE cables. the pins rotate in the bushing as designed, but the pins do not "attach" the the spherical bearings so they rotate in the hole in the bearing instead of making the bearing rotate on their outside diameter, this reduces the smooth feel of the bearing.

I have tried many ideas as to how to correct this, but with the spherical bearing it is best to use a "rod end stud" to get full use of the bearing.

This is why I ended up making several versions of my kit to try to get the best results with the cables being used.

If your cable(s) break, you will have to replace them or patch them if possible, but I only know of two cable kits now available: My spherical bearing kit or SJ's clevis ended kit which has no bearings or bushings at all. I know my cables don't work correctly with the Dave's kit and I would think SJ's kit would be less fluid too.

Honestly, it would be best to get my heavy duty, spherical ended cables and the matching short shift kit, but I recognize they are not inexpensive and I know that a lot of owners are still using one of Dave's kits with the stock SE cables. That is why I suggested you might arrange to buy the original kit that was never installed.

I am not trying to push anyone into a shift cable kit, I just know we are changing the engineering design and I know a lot of SE cables have broken due to age and stress.

[JusNoGood]

Thanks very much for taking the time to explain it JC.

tbh I dont mind spending a bit extra if it means its a smoother change and will be a more robust solution. Always keen on prevention rather than wasting hours parked at the side of the road. Normally I'd jump to it but as I explained it's been a bit of a year for necessary spending for me. Oct/Nov I should be back on top again

"Honestly, it would be best to get the heavy duty, spherical ended cables and the matching short shift kit, "

Is that what is in your kit?

Cable-Shift2.jpg

[JusNoGood]

Just been reading your fitting instructions....and I think I need to change my question to...do you know where would I get the "heavy duty, spherical ended cables "?

[Brit-Car-Nut]

Thanks very much for taking the time to explain it JC.

tbh I don't mind spending a bit extra if it means its a smoother change and will be a more robust solution. Always keen on prevention rather than wasting hours parked at the side of the road. Normally I'd jump to it but as I explained it's been a bit of a year for necessary spending for me. Oct/Nov I should be back on top again

"Honestly, it would be best to get the heavy duty, spherical ended cables and the matching short shift kit, "

Is that what is in your kit?

Justin. That is a picture of my kit. It is actually an early picture. I have changed a few things since then to make them easier to assemble and make them even more durable

[Brit-Car-Nut]

Just been reading your fitting instructions....and I think I need to change my question to...do you know where would I get the "heavy duty, spherical ended cables "?

You can get pricing and other info from the newest post I have made with prices.

I have removed any earlier prices so I don't confuse anyone. Kit prices have not changed for a while but shipping is always shifting.

email me and I will send you the PayPal ID to use to purchase.