MatraSport Forum

What's the purpose of this??




I've had trouble with my gear-shifting lately, so a got a new set from simons. That didn't help. I could only get it in a couple of the gear. But when I removed the thing I could use them all again.

That thing is from a 1.6 gearlever. On a 1.6 you have to push the lever down to engage reverse. On the bottem of the lever is a pin which hooks under your thing when the lever is pressed and reverse engaged.

Well that explains why I didn't remember having ever seen it... :)


If you have trouble "reaching" some of the gears, I advice you to have a look under the car.
Remove the rubber gaiter at the bottom end of the gear leaver, and inspect that everything is ok.
The "Top hat" bush (that transfers movement from the leaver to the rod going to the rear) can be worn, or one of the "ears" in the end of the rod can have broken (this can happen if you forget the spacer that goes in with the top hat bush)

If this is all right as well, Id try to adjust the shifting rod that goes transversely at the front of the gearbox.   

At least thats how it is on the 2.2

Hi guys,

I seem to be having more or less the same problem as flew.

I can only get the car into 3rd and 4th gear. The car was not used during the winter and the first time I took my 2.2 for a spin I was not able to get it into reverse.

Last year it was difficult to get it into reverse and I could not do any quick shifts from 2nd to 3rd. I seemed to have to hit 3rd more or less exactly right. There was also lots of movement in the stick.

I ordered a gear set from Simon's and have had it installed at my regular workshop/garage. BUT it did not help!

Does anyone have any ideas for what to do now? Would it help to get the workshop manual?

I hope there is not anything seriously wrong...

Probably nothing that's not repairable, but it sounds like you will have to split the gearbox and check syncros and mechanism in there - or get someone else to do it. But first, have a good look at the mechanism, checking that everything works all right. Have your wife operate the gear stick while you take a careful look at what's happening down there. Remove the air filter box to get a good view of it all. The pivot joint on the gearbox could also be flexing, and I don't remember if the "kit" from Simon includes the bearings for that or not.

- Anders

Hello boys, everything sounds very known to me  ;) on my old silver 2,2 I had the same problem. Gear lever was OK, adjustable bars were without big clearance and all seems to be OK. But shifting the reverse or 1st and 2nd gear was sometimes very difficult. And where was the problem? On the gearbox, there is a small bar cca 8 cm long, fixed on the gearbox. This is a pin on which is fixed special "L" piece (at simons catalog part Nr.09037 for 2,2 or Nr.09039 + Nr.09038 for 1,6) to which are conected both adjustable bars. When you are changing gears, except of 3rd and 4th, this "L" piece is turning left and right on the pin. After all the years, there is no vaseline but some muck between pin and this special "L" piece and the concequence is, that the "L" piece is not moving fully to where it has to and it means that you have problems to shift the gears. When I demounted it and cleaned, it starts working properly. Try this before demounting the gearbox ;)

I agree, Michal. That's the pivot joint, I mentioned. Labelled 'E' in this diagram:

(http://dinsen.net/murena/gearshift/murenalinkage.jpg)

On my 1.6, I was unable to get any gears.  If you remove the gearlever, you wil find that the lever has a moulded-on nylon ball that fits in a nylon socket.  The ball and socket wear, allowing up and down movement of the lever.  If you split the socket in two, by bending back the tabs on the metal holder, you can file the edges down and make it a tight fit again.  Doing this restored all the gears on my car at no expense, although things were further improved by replacing the ball and socket joint at the rear end of the long gearchange rod.

Hi and welcome aboard, Pete. Thanks for sharing your experience.

I happened to take a look under my car this evening to check the joint of the long arm to the gear stick, and I wondered whether a problem like yours would be detectable from below or on the gearstick itself?

The biggest problem with the gearlinkage on the Murena is - IMO at least - the fact that there's a lot of joints in the linkage. Also, the long rod under the car can twist a bit, and just a few mm there will mean a lot on the top of the gearstick where you have your hand.

I think it was Matra-Hans who told us about a modification he had done on his car, fitting two springs on the A-bar on the middle of the long B-rod. I'd like to see a photo of his modification, but I think that if you fit two - pretty hard - springs going to either side fixed to a hole drilled in the A-bar in the position where it pivots and the other ends of the springs to the support brace under the engine, then that could render a good improvement. That would make the twisting of the B-rod convert better into sidewards movement of the top of the A-bar where the D-rod is fixed.

I have noticed that, on my gearbox at least, the rod going into the gearbox (C) can twist a bit from side to side. I don't know if this was the way it was designed originally, but I'll take a look at this one day because it's the source of most of the sloppyness on the sidewards movement of the stick on my car.

Now, if someone could come up with a cable driven system, then that would probably make the best possible gear change on this box. Some claim the box is to blame, but I just don't think so - the box is fine and has excellent feel on the 1-2, 3-4 movements - the problems occur in the linkage on the transversal movements of the stick.

Cheers,
Anders

You can check for play simply by pulling upwards on the gearstick.  Mine had almost a centimetre of vertical movement before repair.

In the later Murena's they changed the Nylon for metal.
Theay have a better gearchange because of it.
Also check part c on the drawing.
The later Murena's have a rubber to protect water running in.
The nut and rubber are also mounted on J5 Peugeot.
They are also the cause of sticking gearchange because of filth in the nut if the rubber is not there.

tomake things clear
252104 and the rubber above it is a modification set.

(http://img117.imageshack.us/img117/5416/baksmallfq3.jpg)

My gearbox definetly doesn't have the rubber, so it could be an earlier generation. Car is a 1982 model. 2521.04 is probably worn on my gearbox.

The two "JOINT torique" and "JOINT bague selec" - is that rubber O-rings?

Thanks a lot! :D

Cheers,
Anders

Joints is seals.
The long number for the rubber is the old Simca number.
If at Peugeot you order 2521.04 for J5 you get the kit (if they still have it).
I saw Simon has the seperate parts in the catalogue.

Thanks, I thought so. My french is far from perfect, but almost five years with Matras and french workshop manuals (I quickly found out that the best ones available for my Espace's were the ones from ETAI) have taught me a good deal more than my french teacher in school managed to :D


Yes, I also noticed that. I have mailed Simon to ask him what goes with the bearing - it's not too expensive from him so I'll try him first.

- Anders 8)

Yep, My French is getting better to.
Every morning I greet my Murena with Bon Joure mon amoure, do some French kissing with her (especialy helpfull if the locks are frozen), and make a prayer that nothing wil fall of this day ;D
I don't know if it helps, but better be sure.

HAHAHA!!!! :D

I'm sure it helps, cars have feelings too!! ;D

Simon didn't have the bits as a kit, but he had all four parts (rubber gaiter, bush and the two seals) in stock, so they are ordered now :)

For me, working the gears is one of the joys of driving. I like the automatic on our Espace too, but I really like "stirring the pot" on the Murena. So for me, these small bits are about the pleasure of driving... :D

This is not as easy a job as it would appear and the problem is getting the old bush off the gearbox. The size of the thread and 25 years of vibrations, dirt and corrosion means the bush can't be turned. I'm afraid it will require pneumatic tools or a lot of heating to get it off.

Anyway, here's a photo of the new part with copper washer fitted. There's an o-ring inside in the top which fits in a machined grove there.

(http://gallery.dinsen.net/d/8524-2/DSC_5804.JPG)

this is how the the old one looks now:

(http://gallery.dinsen.net/d/8520-2/DSC_5803.JPG)

Good news is that fitting the new bush down over the shaft proves that the new one will improve it a lot as there's no play at all in it.

I'll let it sit overnight. I have sprayed some rust remover around it in the hope it will penetrate down to the thread. But I' sceptical and think I might just as well fit it all back on and give up until I get the engine and gearbox out of the car :(

- Anders 8)

I didn't say it was easy, but if you manage to get it done it wil make a real difference.
Good luck.

Thanks, but I've given up. Agree that it will make a significant improvement, but it's just not possible to move the thing. I did manage to fit a good long spanner over it and give it a "sound beating" from below, but it never gave up.

I tried fitting the rubber gaiter, but had to give up on that too - it limits the movement of the shaft enough to make it impossible to get in reverse.

I think I'll take a week off work during autum to do the engine seals and gaskets, clutch and this one.

- Anders 8)

(http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41413000/jpg/_41413461_fawltycar203.jpg)

Must have been a frustrating day.
Lot of work and nothing done.
Sometimes the Murena give joy and pleasure, but sometimes it's a bitch.