Hi, I tried fitting the DIY short shift mod yesterday and somehow I've messed up and ended up with a gear selection problem. I think Ive damaged, twisted or bent the gear linkage that attaches to the ball joint on the gear selector arm but wanted a second opinion. The problem started when I took it for a test drive after fitting the new ball joint, and even after moving it back to standard the problem persists. Basically selecting 1st 3rd and 5th is fine. However selecting 2nd 4th, 6th is a problem - at low rpm just pottering around the gears engage fine, but give it some and changing from 1st to 2nd or 3rd to 4th and it wont engage the gear, you have to wait about 1 second from actually selecting 2nd or 4th to lifting the clutch again else you end up without a gear engaged. I am going to remove the battery tray again and examine the cable to see if there was evidence of damage, grease it up a bit including the ball joint and perhaps even remove the rubber jacket protecting the linkage that attaches to the selector arm. But I guess none of that would explain why even when returned to standard selecting 2nd or 4th is now a longer throw than it was originally. Sorry for rambling, would really appreciate some advice.
Well in case anyone is interested its the gear linkage. I moved the rubber jacket back and found the cable was bent, I straightened this out and gear selection felt normal again, however looking a bit further revealed I've snapped the plastic casing that seems to keep the cable straight (you can see this in the picture with the blue glove if you look closely - so the cable here should not be exposed, instead covered in the plastic tube/shield). Thought this would be OK and a quick test drive seemed to be fine at first but after 10 mins and a couple of quick gear changes from 1st to 2nd it gave me the same problems as this morning. Car is fine when just pottering about but slow to engage 2nd 4th and 6th when giving it some. Hope this is of some use to someone in future. Daft mistake. Lesson - dont bend your linkage - I did this because I didnt screw the nut in tight enough and had to rive the ball stud out the linkage arm. I also read today that it is possible to remove this arm from the ball stud easily but couldn't get it to work. 20170717_182038 20170717_182846
