Gear linkage pivot

[phil]

Hello all,

Ive recently had an "expert" sort my sloppy linkage out, all things replaced and alot better, but still had a slight rattle, I found time to have a look myself and found that the pivot bush which is fixed to the bell housing had quiote some vertical play in it, I have removed it and as you will see in the picture it has a brass centre bush which slides all the way through a plastic sleeve / bush which is solid.
As you also will see, the bottom of the fixed bracket is quite gouged. Ive looked at R Dent and it shows a rubber bush with two Delrin spacers, would I be better off with this set-up, or is what I have correct?  Not really sure if someone has "bodged" this sometime in its past?

Any thoughts please?

Regards     Phil

[BDA]

Your fixed bracket is worn. That's giving you some slop. You need to fix that bottom hole. If you check the parts manual here (http://www.lotus-europa.com/manuals/tcparts/f/tcfb.pdf), #13 is a rubber bush and #14 are "spacers". I would trust r.d. to have a good, and likely a better substitute compared to the original.

Good luck!

[2483R]

Your setup is similar to the one I have used for years. In my case, I had a center bush machined from delrin. Here is a picture of my setup.

The bottom of the fixed bracket is gouged because the pivot bracket slides down the bush and contacts the fixed bracket. Drill a small hole and insert a screw through the side of the pivot bracket and that will cure the problem.

The advantage of such a setup is more precise shifting. The disadvantage, as you mentioned, noise. The stock rubber bush absorbs a lot of vibration which then turns into noise.

I have also found because the shift bracket is so close to the exhaust the heat tends to breakdown the plastic center bush. The center plastic bush does not wear out from shifting but rather from constant heat cycling from the exhaust. If you use ceramic coated headers this may not be a problem.

You can convert back to the stock rubber bush setup. But for me, I prefer solid shifting. When my current delrin bush supply is depleted I will try a double rod end setup.

Ron
2483R