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Moving the gearstick back mod
- Thread starter DrR
- Start date
C
clio-lord
?
The Boosh!
ClioSport Admin
Elise, Duster
Vague thread is vague.
I've heard of this before too, would be interested to find out how its done
C
clio-lord
buy a type r if u want to move the gear stick i say. unless you buy a sadev
hardly practical advice is it lol
hardly practical advice is it lol
realnumber 1
ClioSport Club Member
Is it that easy?
realnumber 1
ClioSport Club Member
Might have to get mine on my dads pit and have a look.
Mk1 MX-5 (x3), Westy
Yep! Just a 13mm socket needed. But...
You do need to do that ^^^
Seems about 1:1 ratio, so if you chop 1" off the selector shaft (solid one, male part of the assembly) it'll move the gear knob back about an inch too.
You can just jack up the nearside of the car and get to it from there - it's about level with the front wheels and at the midpoint of the car.
If you do end up rotating the shaft a little (which would mean your gears are out of sync and you lose the ability to get 5th, or 1st and 2nd without lifting the knob, which also means you can't get reverse), pop the 'box into 1st and hold the gear lever top left (someone to help is useful!) then tighten it up - that should do the trick.
Last edited:
172cup
good to know, i was starting to think i was short-armed....
any pics, vid?
let me get this straight, the car interior doesn't change just the gear sticks tilts 1 inch towards you??
182cup & 172 racecar
Depends on how much you cut off,we did ours in two little bits just to make sure we didn't cut too much off(you can't stick it back on).
I have slightly shorter arms than Jay and was having trouble selecting 1,3 and5th when strapped tightly.Now it's easy.
TrackCar & F30 330d
172cup
nice one, i really wanna give it a go, sounds genius.
182cup & 172 racecar
Anybody else tried this yet?
TrackCar & F30 330d
I noticed the difference just pushing mine all the way on. But i'm just over 6foot so it was never really a huge pain reaching the stick.
I might chop mine off a bit to bring it even closer
I might chop mine off a bit to bring it even closer
182cup & 172 racecar
I think if you go too far back,you will have to file some of the plastic bit on the left,this make sure you can select reverse.
shiftspark
ClioSport Club Member
R53 GR86
Not yet but will give it a try before next weekend.
Clio T 314hp c43 AMG
172cup
Sorry to being a thicko lol but Id love to see some pics if anyone gets down to it 
172DD Cup
i put two little marks on the two sections of the selector so i could marry them up again when refitting my gearbox. obviously you'll have to bear in mind there's no point marking less than an inch from the clamp as you're cutting this bit off (not the clamp end obviously). might give this a go next time i'm under the car. i tried to push it as far on as possible last time but as has been said it still sits too far away.
172cup
i hate overstretching for 3rd and 5th gear, drives me mental :dapprove:
Mk1 MX-5 (x3), Westy
It really is. I'll do it after work if it's dry, will get some pics
Last edited:
Mk1 MX-5 (x3), Westy
Ok, here goes...
Tools:
- Jack and axle stand(s) - I did it by only lifting one side (passenger) of the car, but it's a bit of a squeeze.
- 13mm socket/ratchet
- Copper grease
- Maybe a wire brush if there is a lot of rust
- Hacksaw (fresh blade very handy!)
- Something to scratch a line with (not essential but worth doing it you can)
- A friend who can hold a gearstick in position (handy but not essential).
Time:
Took me about an hour however I didn't mark the position before I started (schoolboy error) and was faffing around taking pics/working out what to do next throughout.
It's not a hard job to do, but a bit frustrating with only axle stands and a jack, since there is not a lot of room to move and you'll be hacksawing under the car for a good 10 mins - what you need to cut through is ~15mm solid steel bar!
Here's what you are working with (paint FTW, haha). The bit you need to undo is the red blob, cut down the grey arm, then re-join - moving the gear knob closer to you. I cut off about an inch in the end but I checked and there is scope for more, maybe 1 1/2".
Here's where you are working, looking under the car from about where the nearside/passenger door is.
And again looking from the front of the car (easiest to work from here I think, especially if you are right-handed).
Before you start, have a look at the clamp and you will see a split in it. If you can scratch along this split and then maybe 2" along the gearbox shaft that will help with re-alignment at the end! If not then don't worry, it can still be done fairly easily.
Undo the nut (13mm), if it's seized/manky give it a good going over with a wire brush then you should be able to get the socket on no problem. Pull it right out and copper grease it up. You can see the silver bit on the selector shaft (male bit) where the linkage (female bit with pinch bolt on it) clamps on. (Those are terms I've made up, probably nothing like the 'proper' names!)
I started with a hacksaw then got bored, so took a grinder to it - I can't really recommend this, since once you are about 1/3 the way through it will start to grab and try and rip your hand off After nearly s**tting myself a few times, I then found that you can angle the selector shaft towards the offside/drivers side and slightly forwards, pressing it against a nice solid bit (think it's one of the mounts for the dogbone). This will allow you to get more purchase with the hacksaw without the shaft flopping around all over the place (that's what she said).
Once you've removed the desired amount, re-assemble. Now, I like to know what's going on and why things are behaving as they are, but if you're not bothered skip to the next bit!
Since you are now upside down, the whole gearbox is flipped. The photo below is looking from around the passenger seat. From neutral, pull the bar towards you to go into 3rd, down and towards you for 5th, up and away from you for 2nd, etc. I found the easiest way to re-align everything was with the box in 1st - so the gearstick sits up against that 'lump' on the side of the housing. If you have someone to help you can put the box into 1st, then ask them to hold the gearstick to the left, and it should all go back together easily.
If you have lost some gears once everything is nipped up again, loosen off a little so the two shafts can rotate around each other but aren't too loose, then rotate the linkage as below. Small adjustments are all it takes, I went past and then back too far before I got it right.
Here's how it sits now, showing 2nd and 3rd. Certainly feels a lot more comfortable. Plus I can shift 0.0001s faster now and become a trackday hero!
Any questions just shout, although I'm off home now and probably won't be back at a PC until after the weekend...
Tools:
- Jack and axle stand(s) - I did it by only lifting one side (passenger) of the car, but it's a bit of a squeeze.
- 13mm socket/ratchet
- Copper grease
- Maybe a wire brush if there is a lot of rust
- Hacksaw (fresh blade very handy!)
- Something to scratch a line with (not essential but worth doing it you can)
- A friend who can hold a gearstick in position (handy but not essential).
Time:
Took me about an hour however I didn't mark the position before I started (schoolboy error) and was faffing around taking pics/working out what to do next throughout.
It's not a hard job to do, but a bit frustrating with only axle stands and a jack, since there is not a lot of room to move and you'll be hacksawing under the car for a good 10 mins - what you need to cut through is ~15mm solid steel bar!
Here's what you are working with (paint FTW, haha). The bit you need to undo is the red blob, cut down the grey arm, then re-join - moving the gear knob closer to you. I cut off about an inch in the end but I checked and there is scope for more, maybe 1 1/2".
Here's where you are working, looking under the car from about where the nearside/passenger door is.
And again looking from the front of the car (easiest to work from here I think, especially if you are right-handed).
Before you start, have a look at the clamp and you will see a split in it. If you can scratch along this split and then maybe 2" along the gearbox shaft that will help with re-alignment at the end! If not then don't worry, it can still be done fairly easily.
Undo the nut (13mm), if it's seized/manky give it a good going over with a wire brush then you should be able to get the socket on no problem. Pull it right out and copper grease it up. You can see the silver bit on the selector shaft (male bit) where the linkage (female bit with pinch bolt on it) clamps on. (Those are terms I've made up, probably nothing like the 'proper' names!)
I started with a hacksaw then got bored, so took a grinder to it - I can't really recommend this, since once you are about 1/3 the way through it will start to grab and try and rip your hand off
After nearly s**tting myself a few times, I then found that you can angle the selector shaft towards the offside/drivers side and slightly forwards, pressing it against a nice solid bit (think it's one of the mounts for the dogbone). This will allow you to get more purchase with the hacksaw without the shaft flopping around all over the place (that's what she said).Once you've removed the desired amount, re-assemble. Now, I like to know what's going on and why things are behaving as they are, but if you're not bothered skip to the next bit!
Since you are now upside down, the whole gearbox is flipped. The photo below is looking from around the passenger seat. From neutral, pull the bar towards you to go into 3rd, down and towards you for 5th, up and away from you for 2nd, etc. I found the easiest way to re-align everything was with the box in 1st - so the gearstick sits up against that 'lump' on the side of the housing. If you have someone to help you can put the box into 1st, then ask them to hold the gearstick to the left, and it should all go back together easily.
If you have lost some gears once everything is nipped up again, loosen off a little so the two shafts can rotate around each other but aren't too loose, then rotate the linkage as below. Small adjustments are all it takes, I went past and then back too far before I got it right.
Here's how it sits now, showing 2nd and 3rd. Certainly feels a lot more comfortable. Plus I can shift 0.0001s faster now and become a trackday hero!
Any questions just shout, although I'm off home now and probably won't be back at a PC until after the weekend...
172DD Cup
great guide, thanks. one suggestion for when you're cutting though, what you should do is insert the selector rod back into the clamp about an inch (or whatever you want to cut off) and tighten the clamp up, then it'll be held in position and you can cut against the edge of the clamp as a guide
182cup & 172 racecar
Even easier if you take it out altogether and put in a vice,then you can also just file around the freshly sawn edges to make it easier to slip in.
182cup & 172 racecar
An inch is a lot to cut off,we did ours in small bits at a time just incase.
172 Race Car
Lol, I was going to say that. Why crawl around under the car trying to cut it off. Its only 1 more bolt under the rubber boot to remove the thing
