MK3 Short Shifter

If you are not sure it's good to ask, this is a picture of an engineer tap, it cuts threads in metal etc they look like the link bellow, i only put the link up because you can see what they look like.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HSS-METRI...hash=item2119695044:m:mTzz1dLMa0ZPTeg7GFqrDUQ

You have to use a tapping bar something like the link bellow
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-E...454868?hash=item43fabc5314:g:k4QAAOSwOtdYTbcB

If you are wanting an 8mm threaded hole you need to drill a 7mm hole, then you screw in the tap, you have to keep it as straight as possible while turning, you need to turn it back a quarter of a turn every half turn to clear the threads and also use some grease to stop the cutting edge getting blunt.

Hope this helps

 

To make things easier. On my car I just drilled a 8mm hole, just wide enough to pass the stub through and used a lock-nut to keep things together. Is pretty awkward to tap the hole there. I have 50k miles with this and never had an issue so definitely can go without the tapping.
S.

Sent from my E6653 using Tapatalk

 

Thanks for the help Ian, appreciate it. I'll give it a go.

 

Either mine or Bulardas's way is good, i just like the belt and brace's way of doing it, i even thread locked it as well

 

Hello,

I'll try to help you with all the questions.
The most important point is the pivoting point of the gearbox. If you draw a line between the original stud and the gearbox pivoting point, the closer you install the new stud, the shorter the longitudinal throw will be. Going 25mm will then make it even shorter. But to have a decent shifting, you want to have a square shift motion of the shifter inside the car. Keep in mind this mod only changes your longitudinal shifting, not the lateral one. So if you go very short on longitudinal you will have a lot of movement left to right and very short front and back.
If you move the new stud from that imaginar line we discussed in the first sentence, you move your shifter more towards back or front. Means you will have all the gears a little more to the front or more to the back. The risk here is to go too much in one direction and you will get to the limit of the cables.

But most will be limited by the amount of material you have on that plate and you will see there are not that many options. Keep in mind you need to have same material all around the hole, so you can't drill that on the edge of the plate.

Regarding the drilling. If you plan to tap the hole, you definitely need a 7mm vertical hole and then tap it in at least 2 if not 3 passed (different sized for M8). Tapping is a medium involved job where some past experience is needed especially due to the strange position will be hard to get it done right if is the first attempt ever. If you just go for the easy version with the lock-nut only, make sure you drill as close to 8mm as possible and if the stud doesn't pass through, you need to re-drill easily until it passes. Also it would help to add a shim on the back for more contact or at least a flanged stainless lock-nut.

Hope it makes sense.
S.

 

Would you be able to edit this post? You've said 'drill a 10mm hole but should have said 7 or 8mm' depending on whether the hole is to be tapped. 10mm is not correct in either scenario.

I have an R26 and did this mod over a year ago. It certainly does transform the driving experience. However, it's rather more involved on the mk2 linkage because it's a cast part rather than a plate, and therefore it needs to be milled before it can be drilled and tapped. I bought the part from Andrew Jeffs on here as I didn't really have the ability to mill it myself.


It certainly seems to be a much easier job on the mk3 as you don't need to remove it from the car. At a guess I'd say it should be easily possible with in an hour.

 

Ping up a foto of what you've already drilled, maybe can salvage this mod, as often is the case these things are 'easy' but only after you've done it first time

 

Just buy the CAE shifter ;-)

@-Jamie- I assume the CAE uses the original link point? Ie there's no need to do both mods?

 

I done mine yesterday, best mod for little money going, I never measured but I got it just so the linkage fits just snug. Has reduced the throw by 30mm which I'm really happy with.

 

Looks pretty easy to be honest.
Do you just drill the lever in place?

Can anyone tell me if this mod made the gear change feel notchy? I absolutely hate gearboxes feeling notchy. I always thought the gearthrow was similar to the Clio 200 which is short enough anyway!

 

Yes drill in place, also I wasn't keen on tapping the ball stud to arm, thread' not long enough, so I simply drilled a hole and bolted the stud with nut and locktite. Gear change for me not at all notchy

 

Not want to be duff in any way, but I would like to see how Space Cadet's story will end up with the MTec kit... Really caught my attention.

S.

 

Did you fit this? Regards

 

Yes, the CAE uses the original link point...

 

Without fotozzzz, all of the above never happened

 

Well I'm about to dig this up from the dead. I'm thinking about getting an M-Tech shifter (for lack of not wanting to F**k up a stock part). Reading the installation instructions, it says "remove the ECU"....is that really necessary or is there a way around that? I guess I'm just paranoid of electrical gremlins after I do something like that

 

ECU is easy part, just 3 multi pin connections. It's the whole battery tray that's bit of faff, all do-able on drive though

 

Thanks for the advice. I'll be having a look under the bonnet tomorrow afternoon. What about removing the battery, does it still mess up radio codes if I remove it longer than 10 minutes?

 

Nope, and if didn't already know the tyre pressure sensors sort themselves out if you mix up their locations

 

I have a mtech short shift if anyone is interested was only on the car for 1000 miles if that.

 

@Meg16_Beth

 

Well I messed this up on my 275. Gears 1 3 and 5 certainly feel shorter and as I expected. 2 4 and 6 initially felt shorter. perhaps not as short as 1 3 and 5 and close to the standard feeling. Half way through my test drive however I decided to boot it in 1st, then going into 2nd it didnt seem to engage. 2 4 and 6 now all feel longer than standard, its like the gear feels like it engages like it did standard, but I need to almost forcefully move the gear stick and drag the selector cable anothher 2cm back until it finally engages gear. Guessing I installed it too far forward or back against that imaginary line between the pivot and the ball stud.

Going to have a look at it again, if possible Ill refit it, else ill return to standard.

Feeling in 1st 2nd and 3rd is nice, but I found I had to slow down my gear change, 'rushing' it made gear selection either not possible.


e/

I returned it to standard. The shift into 2 4 and 6 feel as described before. Oddly the throw seems a little longer into 2 4 and 6 than before but it is much smoother. Where Id get a notchy entry into the gears I now get a smooth transaction, but it definitely does not feel like it did before I did this mod. Did I somehow mess up the linkage?

Image to illustrate what I did - Would be good to know what I did so wrong.

 

Added to my other thread, just in case anyone digs this up.

 

I've done something worse. The clip arrangement on the socket head that holds onto the ball joint. I've broken 3 out of 6 of the pegs on that thing. How do i replace that "head". Zoom in on it to see what I'm on about

 

Not sure if you can replace just that section as its attached to the metal rod. So could be a case of replacing the whole linkage.

Can you google linkage replacement? Ive seen a few videos in my searching today where people have had busted connectors like yours and bodged them but I wasn't after a solution to that

 

I tried bodging it with zip ties. Should've locked it in place with some kind of malleable sealant. Will probably replace that cable in a couple of months time

 

Was hoping you might respond Jamie. do you know if replacing them is difficult? I think the difficult bit will be realigning the gear stick and getting the trim around the gear mechanism/cables will be different. Unsure about getting it through the firewall.

Also having problems sourcing a part number so might have to remove the trim and look at the cable. I checked the parts sticky against my vin but don't see it. Also all the 250 or 265 vins I checked all have different part numbers so unsure if they are different.

 

Ok, so new cable arrived from Genuine Renault Parts in about 3 days. I removed the small panel on the center console to the left of where the clutch pedal is and was able to get the part number (I had seen on ebay that the part number was on the cable in that position).

I got my center console out and currently have the cables lifted out of their brackets and have disconnected the linkage from the gearbox. Its still attached to the gear stick. I think im at the point of no return here, I could well end up having the car towed to a garage once this linkage is out.

Its bloody tight where the rubber 'bung' thing in the middle forms a seal between the cabin and engine bay, I am not sure if I will be able to remove it with the dash still in place, even if I can I honestly dont know if Ill be able to get the new one back through again.

 

Had the old one out and and new one in in about 30 mins excluding time taken to remove battery and trim. Short shift mod works great, lesson is don't tug your cable too hard else it'll break. £2 mod turned into about £200 thanks to my own stupidity and needing tools to solve the problems i created.

 

Hi Mike, my gear lever end rod broke off, some years back on a mk2, tried several times to attach it, just kept coming off, if I'm not mistaken that is part of what is called the gate system, (I may be incorrect) I also had to replace whole gate system because a few fingers on a tiny clip broke off, can't believe you can't buy just a clip! Glad yours is sorted though.