Dave's shortshift

[Elanlover]

Hi Dan, I know Elan mods and improvements can add up quickly but I can't tell you how smart a mod the cable upgrade is. I really don't trust the OEM cables at all. The Elan I bought this spring had only 1800 miles on it. 2 months into driving it the cable broke. Now, I understand that 15 years of sitting around can have its effect but the car obviously wasn''t driven much, the cables weren't exposed to a lot of engine heat and the car was expertly stored.

If you can in any way hold off doing the mod until you can buy the cables I'd recommend it. There's no comparison and you'll likely never have to worry about cables again. Just my 2 cents worth (whihc I'll happily donate to your cable fund ).

[DAdragna]

Al right................here I go again...

Dave,

Who is the contact for the AB cables? Is there a person in the US who distributes them....or perhaps one who has an extra set for sale? It is not always lack of funds but rather the lack of ability to control them!!!!!!

Dan Adragna

[algirdas]

Dear Dan:

I got my cables through WillB, an LEC member. Just look for one of his postings and shoot him off a PM. Very pleasant to deal with.

I have not installed them as of yet, but they appear to be of the very best quality. I know that they are pricey especially with our ever-weakening dollar. I'm hoping to combine them with Dave's shortshift kit and some Redline lubricants and have a nice shifting Elan.

Sincerely,

Algirdas

[Houdini]

The AB cables are fantastic! No comparison to stock, you'll never have to worry about being stranded again. The combination of the AB cables, solid mounts, and short shift is nothing short (no pun intended) of making a hugh difference in the fun factor of the Elan.

[DeeAitch]

I've been running S2 cables for over 3 years now with no issues, but I do have a lot of mechanical sympathy - in other words my shift speed is not what it was
I believe the S2's are improved over the SE cables in the design of the clip retaining them to the abutment bracket - a plate style as against wire. From what I've seen the failure mode is the plastic breaking where this clip seats, possibly due to age? Maybe the S2's are better in this respect.

Sorry, don't have any info on the Isuzu cables - they are not available over here - but I've heard that the adjustment is at the gear lever end which, if true, sounds to be a real pain. Try searching on the isuzone site.

For the AB cables please see here for details. As posted above WillB is the UK distributor for these in UK. A quick search for him on LEC followed by a PM will get details
From what I've read and seen of these the routing and adjustment is critical so you will need to take care to get this right - access is a pain on the Elan even for OE cables - although someone (Stevo ?) did fit a set of AB's to Stef's car at Donny in under an hour this year - however Stef does have special motivational attributes
If you do go for the AB's please note the pictures posted by Monty. There are a lot of succesful installs of my kit with AB's now but you will need to pull back the bellows to clear the fore / aft lever as this is a bigger Dia than OE. Monty is hopefully doing it this weekend

[Dico]

He's pulling back on something now he's single, but i've never heard it called bellows before

[Monty]

He's pulling back on something now he's single, but i've never heard it called bellows before

hopefully i`ll play with the bellow tomo`s

[Monty]

Pulled back my Bellow for the 1st time

[niall]

Hi Dave,
Am I too late to take one of your spare sets please?
I would not like to miss out on this excellent mod.
Best wishes,
Niall

[DeeAitch]

Am I too late to take one of your spare sets please?
I would not like to miss out on this excellent mod.
Best wishes,
Niall

There are 3 sets left. You have PM.

Thanks for the pics Monty. Looks much better with it pulled back!

[niall]

Thanks for the PM dave.
I have paid by paypal but due to the site problems, have not yet been able to send you a PM.

[niall]

On second thoughts, perhaps I have but it won't tell me so nor tell you so!

[Doc Fizzix]

Hello yaw'll


I had some free time today so I thought I would install Dave's short shift, as many have commented the kit is top of the line and all I can say now is:

"who the hell needs Bill with quality kits like this one made by a true Elan owner"

Now for the instillation:

Let me start by saying that I have the AB cables already installed.

After receiving my kit I sat down and read through the instruction sheet and decided that I could easily do the installation in the car without having to remove the gear lever box as suggested in the instructions BUT I am very familiar with the motor and tray since I have done so much work. The fro/aft cable lever adapter was not a problem and within five minuets the fro/aft with counter weight was installed. The bellcrank lever was another problem, to start with, getting it out of the car was not the problem, the swivel pin pops out through the bottom of the bellcrank lever once the circle clip is removed and then the lever can be removed from the car. Once on the work bench I drilled out the lever and was then ready for reassembly. One comment on the bellcrank lever adapter, the new cable pin points down through the lever arm as opposed to the original pin that pointed up. Once I had the bellcrank lever back in the car I noticed that there was no way I was ever going to get the cable under the bellcrank lever so I came back in the house and re-read the instructions and then also read through the whole short-shift thread thinking that maybe I missed something. After re-reading the whole thread I read a section that Dave recommended installing the cable on the bellcrank lever before installing the lever back onto the gear lever box. This suggestions really helped but now the lever was under way to much tension from the cables new position and the movement of the cable was no longer smooth. After tightening everything up and trying the shifter I noticed that the fro/aft felt great but the cross-gate was very sticky and would not return to center on it own. I returned to the engine bay to check things out and study things more carefully, after tearing things apart again I came to the realization that there was no way that my AB cable would work properly positioned under the bellcrank lever arm, the cable mount bracket on the trany was just at the "wrong" angle for the short-shift, the only way to correct this was to adjusted the cable mount bracket in order to take the stress off the cross-gate cable.

I have two ideas for possible fixing this problem and I might be able to give Dave a possible suggestion for changing the kit, I want to try and return the cable pin to the original position (pointed up),this means making a new part. Tomorrow I want to go to my mechanics shop and use his lathe and then I will post the results.

[DeeAitch]

Thanks for the feedback Doc - sorry you are having problems
Did you see Monty's pics above? He has confirmed that he had no self centring before fitting my kit - was yours OK?
To date I have reports of 5 successful installs with AB's so something is amiss.
On my car, and all the others I've seen, the new position (pointing down) results in 2~3mm clearance which is what I planned. If you simply reverse the pin so it is pointing up, keeping the reduced throw, then the cable will definitely hit the fore / aft shaft.
IMHO to get it out of the way completely and have the pin pointing up you will need to re engineer both the bellcrank and the abutment bracket, which is the way Bill went originally. I will be interested to see your ideas tho'

[Elanlover]

For what its worth, I have the AB cables fitted and definitely have cross gate-gate centering. Its not as quick to center as it was with the iriginal cables but it definitely does center. Havind said that, i do recall having to adjust the AB cables a bit to get the centering to work. On the initial install, they didn't center but repeated adjusting eventually got me there.

I'll be installing mine over the next few weeks at some point (when the Christmas madness dies down) and will report back as well.

[Doc Fizzix]

If you simply reverse the pin so it is pointing up, keeping the reduced throw, then the cable will definitely hit the fore / aft shaft.
IMHO to get it out of the way completely and have the pin pointing up you will need to re engineer both the bellcrank and the abutment bracket, which is the way Bill went originally. I will be interested to see your ideas tho'

I have check with my orginal idea (reversing the pin) and the fore/aft will not interfear with the cable (unless I am missing something big). I could be way off but let me finish my diesign change and I will then post the results.

I really think I have a fix

[Doc Fizzix]

For what its worth, I have the AB cables fitted and definitely have cross gate-gate centering. Its not as quick to center as it was with the iriginal cables but it definitely does center. Havind said that, i do recall having to adjust the AB cables a bit to get the centering to work. On the initial install, they didn't center but repeated adjusting eventually got me there.

I'll be installing mine over the next few weeks at some point (when the Christmas madness dies down) and will report back as well.

I did have problems when I installed my cables but after re-positioning the cables I fixed that problem and it is not an issue and the cables are now smooth as can be.

read here for my fix: http://www.lotuselancentral.com/forum/v ... 3&start=20

[Doc Fizzix]

I will be interested to see your ideas tho'

Ok, dam thing did not work

My idea was to make a new pivot pin that was taller and had a shelf for the cable to sit much higher off the lever on the pivot pin, after making the new pin I was sure that it would be tall enough for the fro/aft lever to not interfere when shifting into 1st and/or 2nd. After testing, it was just was not tall enough and the fro/at still hit the cable, I am now convinced that the fro/aft lever will always hit the cable with this set-up so under (pin pointing down) is the only way to go. (I am sure Dave knew this would be the outcome but thanks for letting me try, you can laugh out loud now)

So, now I had to go back to putting the cable "under" the bellcrank lever, what a bitch! I ended-up having to bend the mounting bracket and then even bend the cable in order to get it to work, when I was all done, the shifter snaps back to center on both sides and feels smooth once again. Now, once I get my radiator back and in the car I can take her out for a drive

[Doc Fizzix]

Just for what it is worth, I have noticed that the shifter does not center as well coming out of 5th & reverse as when it is coming out of 1st & 2nd, it is easy to understand why this happens after looking at the set-up and watching how it works, when the bellcrank lever is coming out of 5th & reverse the lever has to push against the whole set-up and the counter weight's mass (lifting against gravity) and then when the lever is coming out of 1st & second the counter weight and gravity works with the lever to drop things back to neutral. This is not a problem but just something I observed so I thought I would share

[DeeAitch]

I am sure Dave knew this would be the outcome but thanks for letting me try

Yes, been there, but no harm in getting a second opinion

you can laugh out loud now

Nah, would never do that

I ended-up having to bend the mounting bracket and then even bend the cable in order to get it to work

I can't recommend this course of action - take a slap
I'm assuming this was with the bellcrank removed from the control box? Should be easy if you first loosen the cable retaining nuts and bracket bolts as described by ESM earlier

when I was all done, the shifter snaps back to center on both sides and feels smooth once again

Is this a result? Cue relief mode for Dave.
Pleased you got there in the end? How does the shift feel now - bet you can't remember what it was like before, after all the pain, so please take it off again to find out
Should be a doddle to fit second time around