[Bob Childress]

So here begins the tale of the CAV shift mechanism upgrade with the boring perfunctory parts first. The stock shift mechanism looks pretty much like what a big manufacturer would produce and put in a street car (see pictures above). It has a number of stamped steel pieces, custom injection molded bits, minimal welding, and no machining. And, at first, it was fine because I did not know any better. The shift rod was well supported from the shifter to the rod end in the bulkhead, to another rod end on the motor mount, and then to the ZF. Selecting gears was a little vague and felt more like an old Porsche than a Cobra. Slowly over time as the plastic and rubber parts wore down the shift pattern evolved from vague to Mr. Magoo. The big plastic and rubber donut bushing was the first thing to finally crack and get so loose that the shift pattern looked like this: