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Spitfire Spit Mk2 shifter feel question

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jdubois

jdubois

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Ok, so I'm working through this here new Spit. Made a lot of headway. Replaced the thermostat, plugs, wires, points, dist cap, flushed the coolant, changed the oil and filter, bled the brakes, reset the timing, sync'ed the carbs, lubed all the lube points (except the trunnions, gotta remember what I used before to get oil in through that grease fitting.) All good, the car is now running smooth as glass, and had a good time putting about 60 miles on her today.

But now I'm wondering about the shifter. The gear engagement is very sloppy, and the gears are very close together. It's extremely easy to engage fourth when you mean to engage second. Third and forth aren't straight up and down, but at an angle from each other. And there's so much left to right slop when in gear that it's hard to even tell from the feel of the shifter if you're in gear.

It's not like there's anything wrong with the gearbox itself, it shifts smoothly, without any noise, and when in gear, it's solidly in gear, doesn't slip out or anything. It's more like something in the remote control shaft assembly is all worn and sloppy.

So, I guess in the end my problem is one of inexperience. Are early Spit shifters just sloppy by design like an old VW, or should it be crisp and positive like my TR3's shifter? Is there something in there I can fix, or do I just get used to what I've got?
 
Yep, some little plastic parts that degrade over time. My guess six bucks will make it like new. (Been a long time since I rebuilt one but not much of a job).Bob
 
Uh, Bob, it HAS been awhile since you've done this! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif The kit is now $35.00 from The Roadster Factory, p/n 519770. Yeah, it is mostly a bunch of little plastic bushings and some metal sleeves.

It's one of those items on a Spitfire that I consider a "normal maintenance item" -- along with u-joints and front and rear trunnion bushings, as you're often due to replace such every 25,000-50,000 miles. But once you install the bushing kit (about .5 hours for the kit itself to be installed in the gearshift extension and however long it takes you to R&R the gearbox cover and everything that keeps you from getting to it, like carpets and the dash brace/radio bracket), you'll not believe it's the same gearbox!

I would never name him, but I once sold a GT6 Mk3 to a good friend and a person fairly well-versed on TR6s. He loved the car, but about a year after I sold it to him he was very concerned that he might have to rebuild the gearbox. I drove it once around the block...and told him to order p/n 519770, which cured the problem!
 
Excellent. I saw that the WSM said I could remove the gearbox cover in situ, so I was hoping it was as simple as pulling that and replacing all the bits. I think I'll wait until this winter, when I plan to pull out the seats and carpets anyway.
 
The gear box pattern on the early Spitfire transmission was skewed to the right. First gear would be where 3rd normally would be and 3rd was out towards the passenger door. And that was after installing new parts in the shift linkage. Takes some getting used to, and be careful on down shifting from 4th to 3rd.
 
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