RHD / Right Hand Shifter

[Frank Catt]

As you know, I have been trying to post pictures in the past without success, so am trying again in super low resolution this time. For those of you who enquired, this is the shifter system we have installed to the two SPFs ( Mark 1 and Mark2) seen in the major shows in the UK, based on accurate reproduction parts of the original cars. Frank

[Frank Catt]

Add one more pic for detail

[Fran Hall RCR]

Nice job Frank...

[Pedro]

Nice!

[Rick Muck- Mark IV]

Frank,

That is all wrong. Are you blind?

Send the cars to my house and I will fix what you have done wrong. I will ship them back ASAP. Shouldn't take more than two-three years tops!

And how DO left-handed people (like my #1 son) shift a RHS car? I managed to get by with a LHS Fiesta in the UK many years ago. After missing a couple of shifts early on, my wife offered to "shift while you clutch".....smart arse that she is!

And still no-one has sent an SPF GT for my critique!?!?

Rick

[Steve C]

Frank...Looks great....You must be using two "passenger" seats /narrow drivers seat to allow room for shift and rod? How bout some pics of rod as passes though firewall and at the ZF. Steve

[Kim Petersen]

Frank:

I'll echo the others: Fantastic job! What you've done is exactly what I'd like to do for my SPF Mk I. Not knowing the mechanics involved, is a similar installation possible for a LHD center console shifter?

Kim

[Alan in Nevada]

More importantly, to me, will the shifter mounted next to the sill on a RHD SPF GT40 offer significantly better function due to a more favorable geometry to the ZF transaxle?

I know Frank's operation probably doesn't get many requests for center-console shifter installations for RHD sports-racers, but is there anybody out there with experience on this with the SPF GT40's? Or any mid-engine sports-racer with the same general layout?

Hi-Tech/SPF, are you out there?

[Daryl Adams]

The original MKIII cars had center shifters, so it must have been figured out. I just watched Tiff Needell driving a MKIII in the "Ford GT40- the story" DVD, and he commented on how nice the center shifter and gearbox felt. My old Mangusta has a bit more clearance for the linkage since its contained in the center box structure, but it works just fine once properly adjusted. It has only one universal joint in the linkage. In the GT40 I would think they might have needed an additional universal joint and trunnion to help sneak the shift rod around the engine.

[Mike Drew]

Originally Posted by daryl adams

My old Mangusta has a bit more clearance for the linkage since its contained in the center box structure, but it works just fine once properly adjusted. It has only one universal joint in the linkage.

Darryl,

That seems highly unlikely. One U-joint wouldn't allow the linkage to deviate to the right side of the engine, then back towards the centerline of the car.

The Pantera has (and needs!) three U-joints in the system--one just aft of the shifter, one at the outermost point in the system (about halfway back), and the third one just ahead of the gearbox input. How can the Mangusta get away with just one?

[Murray Cowley]

Nice job Frank, looking at the pics there seems to be a very short throw of the lever for the gears or is the angle of the phots.? How did you manage to do that?

[Frank Catt]

Murray, all of the parts used are exact copies of the original gt40 parts, therefore the change gate is exactly the same, useing the ZF gearbox. This of course is fitted to the SPF mono chassis, again a precise replica of the original, so all of the clearances etc work just as in the 60s, and nobody complained then ! The change set up we have just installed works faultlessly, , Frank

[Daryl Adams]

Mister Drew, you are correct. Once again my prose has failed me. I meant to say that the Mangusta has but one universal joint in the shift rod between the shifter and the ZF's actuator. The rod is, of course, connected to the shifter and to the ZF's actuator with u-joints, so there are indeed three in total. I wondered if there might need to be an additional u-joint to get around the engine in the GT40. (That would mean a total of four.)

[Alan in Nevada]

Originally Posted by wealdenengineer

. . . . all of the parts used are exact copies of the original gt40 parts, therefore the change gate is exactly the same, useing the ZF gearbox. This of course is fitted to the SPF mono chassis, again a precise replica of the original, so all of the clearances etc work just as in the 60s, and nobody complained then ! The change set up we have just installed works faultlessly, , Frank

I suspect the "straight shot" from the sill mount to the engine compartment will be the simplest, most straight-forward and trouble-free. Of course, not every SPF wrencher is going to have the wherewithal to exactly copy the original gt40's shift linkage.

Does anybody know what support or provision Hi-Tech Auto is providing SPF and its wrenchers for the shift-linkage installation?

[Richard]

It's hard to tell are the pedals in the same order as a LHD car? If they are I might consider changing my order to a RHD car although it would be strange driving from that side. Most US tracks are run counter clockwise sorry that's anti clockwise for our friends across the pond, right? So that would make the apexes a little tougher? Parallel parking might be easier if you could see out the back. A question for those people that already have cars, how hard would it be to get a wire from the rear view mirror to the rear of the car for one of those rear view mirrors with a little TV screen built in and a tiny camera in the tail section? It would sure be nice to be period correct. Just a thought.

[Murray Cowley]

Richard try this
rear view camera set up

[Alan in Nevada]

Originally Posted by RWoerz

Most US tracks are run counter clockwise sorry that's anti clockwise for our friends across the pond, right? So that would make the apexes a little tougher?

Good point. Not only that, in a light-weight racer a driver in the RHD position on a high-g left corner is less desireable than if he is in LHD, as in that position his weight counteracts body roll. And there's more corners to the left than to the right on said typical American tracks.

[Ron Earp]

Originally Posted by RWoerz

Most US tracks are run counter clockwise sorry that's anti clockwise for our friends across the pond, right?

Is this true for road racing or NASCAR?

I SCCA road race and all the places we go around NC run clockwise when viewed from the top: VIR, CMP, Road Atlanta, and Roebling.

Lowes and Rockingham we also run but those run counter clockwise. Our local dirt ovals run counterclockwise. But if roundy round is the only ones that run counter clockwise I don't think I'd worry about setting my car up for round tracks.

I honestly don't know the answer to what most tracks run but just judging on emperical evidence I'd say that the Southeast tracks you'd be interested in running run clockwise.

Ron

[srf#42]

Lime Rock, Watkins Glen, Mosport and Road America are also CW tracks. NHIS is CCW, but it's part NASCAR/oval.