Dave's shortshift

[Monty]

Shortshifts feel great with AB's don't they Paul.

Massive improvement in precision, throw, and more robust to boot.

the gears are ggggggggggreat




I believe Dico fitted the shirtshifter with the selector still attached to the gearbox

[Dico]

Correct Mr Murph.
If any of the bolts were stubborn I wouldn't have hesitated in removing the selector, as Dave recomends. As it happens they it came apart very easily.

are Dicos mechanical ltd available for hire????......

I can certainly talk you through it Gareth .
Pauls hands were so fat we didn't have any other option

[theelanman]

when you comin round then......?
shall I stick the kettle on????

[Dico]

location : peak district


Errm

[Paul.P]

i was sceptical

Dave, i didn't mean i was sceptical of your handywork, meant i was sceptical as to how much of a difference this would make ( never had any experience before ), & i was more than pleasantly surprised

One thing i would say though, to anybody like me, with limited mechanical ability, the fitting instructions didn't mean a lot. Now that might just be me being thick, but i certainly couldn't of fitted it just following them ?, thats where THE SILVER BULLIT came in

[Monty]

thats where THE SILVER BULLIT came in

errrmmmmmmmm that should be Blank bullits or should that be bullets or may be bullshit

[Paul.P]

Tell you what Monty, he was like a speeding bullit, but very thorough with it, i was actually really impressed, much better than his laminate floor laying, according to his mrs

It was as though he bonded with Blacky, love at 1st site & all that, & then it hit me...........he's done lots more miles in Blacky this year, than he has in his own

[RichardK]

Dave ....you have PM

[DeeAitch]

Dave, i didn't mean i was sceptical of your handywork, meant i was sceptical as to how much of a difference this would make ( never had any experience before ), & i was more than pleasantly surprised

No worries Paul, that's pretty much how I read it
Glad you like it!

[paulwatkins]

Dave,
I finally got around to fitting the short shift kit (with the mk2 crossgate bellcrank lever) this morning I know, it's taken me long enough

Your instructions were spot on! Very easy to follow with excellent diagrams.

Tip: when removing the pivot pin from the bellcrank lever, spray it libirally with releasing fluid first, but before trying to hit it out, turn it with a set of grips, carefully applied to the head of the pin (at the bottom) to break the corrosive seal. Once this is done, it easily drifts out, without risk of damaging the cast lever.

The only issue I had for the whole job was removing the bottom right corner bolt on the selector housing. (Theres always one b*stard isnt there? ) Its a bit of a bugger to get to; the dustbin is in the way! You need a 12mm socket with a knuckle joint then a long extension bar. It also helps to remove the air filter to turbo hose to improve the angle of approach! Its a doddle with these tools.

Apart from that everything went well.

The difference the kit makes is incredible. Coupled with Dave M's solid shifter mounts and the new gear knob (which reduces the overall height of the shifter), the whole operation is now a lot shorter, firmer and extremely precise. It gives the gear change a much sportier feel.

I would recommend this to anyone who still has the old sloppy celery stalk shift! Its a superb upgrade.

Its not a difficult upgrade to do either. It took me 2 hours (inc the mounts). And if I can do it, anyone can!

Well done Dave! Whats next?

[Ekapol]

It gives the gear change a much sportier feel. .....

.... I would recommend this to anyone who still has the old sloppy celery stalk shift! Its a superb upgrade.

[DeeAitch]

The difference the kit makes is incredible.

Thanks Paul, glad you like it. The feedback from you guys has made it all worthwhile

[peter canepa]

It came in Today, can't wait to get it installed. Question, in other posts guys are talking, cables with new bushings etc. Are there some other parts I should upgrade (form Dave Bean here in US) while I have the thing apart?
Thanks
Peter

[tigerdog]

Are there some other parts I should upgrade (form Dave Bean here in US) while I have the thing apart?

Not from Dave Bean, but I can heartily recommend the AB replacement shift cables and delrin shift mount bushings to solidify the lever feel.

[DeeAitch]

Are there some other parts I should upgrade

You might want to chop an inch of the gearstick

Glad it arrived OK

[surfboardfiller]

A daft question as I could wait and see, but I have to know; Is there any chance a lighter version could be made for the Fast Cat?

[theelanman]

Dave
it could well be me having installed your shortshift but I find it very difficult to get across the box on the change down....
1 to 2 fine
2 to 3 fine
3 to 4 fine
4 to 5 fine

5 to 4 fine
4 to 3 fine
3 to 2 very difficult....pulling my shoulder out
3 to 1 as above
2 to 1 fine

the actual lever seems to have quite a bit of play in it too....

any ideas?????

cheers
G

[DeeAitch]

Hi Gareth,
Sorry to hear you are having a problem. Bit of a puzzle?
I’m assuming the shift was nice and light before, without any selection problems?

Firstly the reduced throw you get inevitably increases the force required to move the lever – should not be a pulling your shoulder out sort of increase tho’

If I read it correctly everything is fine except moving from the 3rd / 4th plane to the 1st /2nd ?
The force required for this should be almost exactly the same as moving from the 3rd / 4th plane to 5th / Rev plane.
You are working against 2 internal springs in the selector box, which are both pretty much the same spring rate. It will feel harder as your arm is pushing rather than pulling but the force required should be similar.

The excess movement at the gearlever concerns me. Is it only at the lever or is their similar wear at the selector box end? How about the cable eyes? Are the nylon bushes OK?
Worth taking the lever out to rectify this by replacing or shimming the ball & socket to reduce the amount of free play you have.
Does it feel like you can move the lever to the left a little without too much effort then it comes up hard against a stop? If so it might be hitting the support bracket before you are getting into the correct 1st / 2nd shift plane. The cables will need adjusting to move the lever to the right. Not too much now or you will get the same problem with 5th & Rev.

Can you select all gears by manually moving the selector arms from inside the engine bay? You should be able to do this easily without disconnecting anything, maybe you will need someone to release the clutch to allow the gears to engage OK.
Do this and check that the crossgate cable is not binding on any part of the selector mechanism when in 1st or 2nd. You have a Mk2 kit so the cable is in the same position as it was before and clearances are unchanged.

If you have no luck then I strongly recommend going back to the OE crossgate bellcrank until we can resolve the problem. The last thing you want is to put excess force into the cables.

You then have at least 3 options:

1. It is possible there is a fault in the new bellcrank I have supplied. Tolerances are tight to make it work properly. If you return it I will check it out on my car. If NG I will replace it FOC.
2. Run with the reduced throw on fore / aft only, return the crossgate bellcrank and I will refund you for it. (£25, which was the ‘upgrade cost’)
3. Return the full kit for a full refund as per my original offer (see page 2 of this thread) i.e. “a 'no questions asked' refund (less the cost of the original postage to you) on return of the lever”.

Best regards,

Dave

[theelanman]

Dave
Ive changed to the AB gear cables at the same time as Id broken the std one on the way back from oulton park ......
fitting the ABs was 'fun' too so Im wondering if its a bit of both???
I'll have a play with it 'n see what I can see
cheers
G

[DeeAitch]

OK.
You need to remove my kit from the equation and get the new cables set up correctly.
Please go back to the OE shifter, particularly the crossgate bellcrank as that is where your problem lies.
It is easy to swap this without removing the control box, now that you have done it once and freed everything off
I've got it down to less than 5 mins for the bellcrank - honest Guv

Once the cables are OK the shortshift should be fine.

Cheers,

Dave