shifter's free play. How to reduce it? or eliminate it?

[kmckmc]

Hi.

about the shifter's free play. how can it be improved?

Please advise.

Cheers,

[Sy V]

These

http://www.lotuselancentral.com/forum/v ... php?t=4846

and this

http://www.lotuselancentral.com/forum/v ... php?t=8739

(or Dave's equivalent)

[Enright]

And don't forget the 4 x solid (delrin) gearlever mounting bushes.

[Sy V]

Bollocks, I forgot to fit mine - I hesitated after the pictures of your knackered gearstick mount and then forgot.

[Enright]

No worries - it's dead easy to retro fit them.
There's no need to remove the centre console.
It just takes a bit of fiddling to get the gaiter out of the way first.

After you undo the 4 x allen bolts, there should be enough room to work to replace them, and they do make a noticeable difference.

I'm just going to get mine welded up again, and the welds should help beef it up a bit.

[John_W]

Even with the changes mentioned above, there is still some slop in my gear-lever. It comes from the white nylon bush into which fits the extension which controls the "left-to-right" movement of the gearchange (arrowed). The nylon has presumably worn over the years.

I don't suppose anybody knows if this part is available?

Dave also mentioned a while ago that he was experiencing sloppiness caused by wear in the white nylon cup around the ball-joint pivot of the lever (also visible in the picture I've nicked from Enright13). I think he said this part was not available.

John

[DeeAitch]

Even with the changes mentioned above, there is still some slop in my gear-lever. It comes from the white nylon bush into which fits the extension which controls the "left-to-right" movement of the gearchange (arrowed). The nylon has presumably worn over the years.

I don't suppose anybody knows if this part is available?

Dave also mentioned a while ago that he was experiencing sloppiness caused by wear in the white nylon cup around the ball-joint pivot of the lever (also visible in the picture I've nicked from Enright13). I think he said this part was not available.

John

I don't think the nylon bushes are available on their own - you would need to buy a complete lever assy. I think they are still available from Lotus.
Wear on mine (circa 100k miles) was high so I've shimmed the bush OD which effectively reduces the clearance to the ball, not perfect tho'. I've recently had an approx. 40k mile shifter in my hands which was almost perfect

Details in here somewhere

[tweetdriver63]

I haven't ever seen this specific problem mentioned before, so...

Anybody having problems with a lot of free play in their shifter in the fore/aft direction: If you've checked and the plastic at the gearbox end of the (OEM) cross-shaft cable isn't broken, or if you have AB cables, pull the shift lever and check the connection at that end.

I had this problem with AB cables installed. I could move the shifter in the fore/aft direction at least an inch (measured at the top of the knob) without any effect. It made shifting sloppy, specially shifting down from 3rd to 2nd, as I had to move the lever back to get out of 3rd, then forward to be able to move it left before moving back into 2nd. (This is a problem I had before I got the AB cables, but then it was due to the deteriorated bushing in the cable end where it goes over the pin on the gearbox lever.

This time, after inspecting everything at the gearbox end, I removed the console and pulled the shifter out as far as I could (I had taken the cables off at the gearbox end, but not loosened them at the bracket). I thought I might be faced with needing to replace the shifter. What I found was the nut securing the cross-shaft cable to the shift lever had worked loose. When I tightened it down and put everything back together, the freeplay was gone (really just reduced to less than 1/4 inch). What a huge difference in shifting!

[kmckmc]

In my S2, I replaced a new shifter assembly, and the shifter's free play did not improve. Please note my S2 still has the original gear cables. But I do not really think that by replacing new cables, the situation will help.

So, I suppose, there is not much we Elan M100 drivers can do.

[rip]

In my S2, I replaced a new shifter assembly, and the shifter's free play did not improve. Please note my S2 still has the original gear cables. But I do not really think that by replacing new cables, the situation will help.

So, I suppose, there is not much we Elan M100 driver's can do.

AB's have a brass bush on the left/right cable instead of the S2's rubber one. I am sure this helps to firm things up..

[lotusgirlmarie]

My nylon bushes are knackered as well. Was actually contemplating hor to go about a remedy. I have a few too many projects on my plate though.