any cable shifter designs

[Keith Stafford]

Hey guys, I'm in the process of designing a centre cable shifter and I'd love to see any designs the community have,... Pix of both the gear lever mechanism and the mechanism on the box end. My box is a Renault un1 013. Also any advice you have.

Thanks in advance.

K

 

[Mike Pass]

I am a little puzzled as to why you would want a central gear shift as the original cars had a right hand shift, the right hand shift is easy to use and most cars with left hand drive change gear with their right hands. I have been driving my GTD with right hand shift for many years and I do not find it a problem. Secondly to feed the linkage back from the central position takes you into the area at the front of the engine which is very congested with belts, cooling pipes and handbrake mechanisms. I am planning to change my cable shift to an original rod type shift. I also use the UN1 013 Renault 21 turbo box.
However if you do go ahead with the central gear change you could copy the GTD gear lever and gearbox end set ups as it does work OK if not brilliant. The Renault UN 1 box is not exactly famous for it's slick and fast gear change anyway!
I am not at home at the moment but will post some pics when I get back next Tuesday
Cheers
Mike

 

[Graeme Stebbing]

Hi Keith, Maybe one of these is useful, bit of a mixture but bound to see something suitable.
graeme

 

[Keith Stafford]

Many thanks guys.

Graeme, I bought my cables from (from mem) John ketchall, and i looks very similar to yours.

Mike, I have driven LHD cars a few times and get used to right hand shifting fairly quickly, I just prefer shifting with the left hand. I have an electric water pump in the front bay so have no heater hoses in the tunnel. I suppose it depends on how you define a true copy. I have fitted corsa EPAS so have already deviated......life would certainly be easier had I not decided on central shift! Love to see your pix when you get a chance. K

 

[Robert C]

Keith,

I am in the same boat as you. I have a GTD that is left hand drive here in the states and want to convert it to center shift. The original builder made it left sill shift, which is a little tricky to get used to. I have been searching for a set up for a while. I have bought an MR2 shifter assembly, but want to see the best way to set up the rear end. Let me know what you decide to do.

Good photos Lambo..thanks

Robert

 

[Paul fortin]

I have a gtd40 left hand drive centre shift Renault 5 speed I will take pics of the shifter and the hook up to the transmission .

 

[Keith Stafford]

Hi Guys, sorry for the delay, doing a bathroom at home, sucking all my time and energy,.... anyway.

Paul, would love to see the pix, am interested in the local and remote mechanisms, want to get an idea of the best way to do this.

Robert, I have a few sketches, I will pop them into cad drawings and post some PDFs at that point. I may try out a part-wooden prototype.

K

 

[Paul fortin]

my shifter pic wont load send me an email i will email them too you and see if you can load them sorry.

 

[Robert C]

That is a nice tight little set up.... I like it.

What do you guys think is the best method for getting the cables measured properly? I know I have to make a hole in the firewall anyway, so I am thinking of doing that first. Then, just run the tape measure and go. Any thoughts?

 

[Howard Jones]

I like to use a length of rubber hose, wire, or even rope the same diameter as the shift cable and then run it the same path that you intend to run the cable. Cut it to length and then measure it. You can even mock it all up by taping your rod ends onto the end of the plastic tubing or whatever and then put the entire system together to check fit.

I used a old length of cable TV cable.

 

[Keith Stafford]

Thanks Howard, I have gtd cables so hopefully they fit. If not I'll revert to the TV cable technique. K

 

[Russell]

Keith
my 013 had the gear shift protruding out the back, can you load a picture of your box so we can be specific on what we are suggesting.
Cheers

 

[Keith Stafford]

Good idea Russell, see the pix below of the box, the red cables you see are the GTD ones, just set in place to check the lengths. K

 

[Mike Pass]

Here are a couple of pics of the cable setup at the rear of my car which I assume are the standard GTD bits. Sorry I can't get to the front bit as it is hiding in the sill.
Cheers
Mike

 

[Paul fortin]

My cable goes in on the left side the other pics look like they go in on the right side? Why is that?

 

[Keith Stafford]

Paul, the selector bar, that is moved to select the various gears runs through the box and out the other side, I guess whoever did the car simply used the other side. I've seen some where one cable is to the left, the other cable is to the right. K

 

[Keith Stafford]

I'm pretty happy with designing the mechanisms at the rear (box) end of things, the main concern I have is the movement at the gear stick, transferring cross-gate stick movement to a pull push action on the cable going to the box, any advice or direction welcome. K

 

Use a Mazda MX5 shifter, the mounting plate may need some modifications. You can pick up these shifters on e-bay quite cheaply.

 

[Robert C]

Keith,

I am using an MR2 shifter as it was already set up for a mid engine car.

As for the cable set up in the rear, I saw a photo this weekend of setup that had one cable down the one side controlling the rotation of the shift lever (i.e. 1st to 2nd)while the other cable was run down the opposite side and came in perpendicular to the gearbox controlling the lateral movement of the shift bar. No bell crank was needed in the rear to do the translation. The link is below. I think I may try this approach.

http://www.gt40s.com/forum/gt40-tec...elp-adjusting-cable-shifter-dallas-texas.html

 

[Keith Stafford]

Thanks guys, I'll have a look at both the MX5 and MR2 shifters. K