Good day, bad day!

[TimS]

Good day in that after months of getting nothing done to the car, I am finally having my new windscreen fitted today. It's been a bit of a saga as the first one delivered by Uroglas had a corner smashed in transit. Luckily I signed for it as uninspected and got a new one shipped out. It's being installed today.

Bad news is that I went to get the car out of the garage for it to be fitted and can't get reverse gear . This may have something to do with the fact that I recently took apart the gear lever to have a look at the top hat washer to see if this was the cause of the very long sloppy gear change. I decided it wasn't and that most of the problem must be wear at the back, as the car has covered some miles, and bolted it back on. Something must have fallen out of alignment, so I guess it's up on the jack again this weekend!

[TimS]

Well, at least the screen came out!  If anyone needs a screen fitter in the North-West I can highly recommend one!

[Jon Weywadt]

Where did you get the window moulding? The one I got from Simon does not fit very well and folds in the corners. 

[TimS]

Where did you get the window moulding? The one I got from Simon does not fit very well and folds in the corners. 

Hi Jon

It is the one that was already fitted to the car. We managed to reuse all of it. The surrounding trim is not, as I thought,  a "T", but is more flat. The fitter warmed and stretched it then fitted it back in with some bonding agent. The window is bonded in so the rubber seal is not really for waterproofing. It's still quite old and may shrink back but for now looks very neat.

[Jon Weywadt]

Where did you get the window moulding? The one I got from Simon does not fit very well and folds in the corners. 

Hi Jon

It is the one that was already fitted to the car. We managed to reuse all of it.
--

That was pretty lucky. On mine there was no rubber moulding, so I bought the part from Simons. It is a piece of crap in my opinion. I has a self stick on the back against the window, that does not stick very well even on a totality
clean window.
I plan to remove it and fill the gap with black marine sealer. That was what I had before and it made sure the window was completely sealed.

[suffolkpete]

Does your car have the type of gear lever that you have to press down to get reverse?  As you will have found, if it has, there is a U-shaped piece of metal above the base of the lever with the detent.  Remove and discard this and weld up the telescopic part of the lever as it restricts the lever movement and you don't have to have a lot of lost motion before you start to have trouble getting gears.  Otherwise it's just a question of carefully inspecting all the ball joints and pivots and identifying any sloppiness.   I found that the large balljoint right at the rear of the car is prone to wear.  Also the nylon cup in which the lever sits can wear.  You can take this apart and split it into two to file the faces down and tighten it.

[TimS]

Jon, you may like to try these guys as they stock all the rubber trim I have ever seen,
http://www.woolies-trim.co.uk.

In the end we had a one inch gap at the centre between the wipers where the long trims met that we filled with black sealant and it looks fine.

Pete
I've got the one without the detent. I'm not sure why I can't get 5th and reverse  ow, but it's symptomatic of the wear and play in the system. Oddly, the nylon ball is quite tight in the housing, I think most of the play as, like you say, at the rear cup on the long rod. I'm going to take it off and try and tighten it a turn to see if that helps. I think that the whole rod wobbles around a lot, especially about the middle mounting under the car.

[roy4matra]

Pete
I've got the one without the detent. I'm not sure why I can't get 5th and reverse now...

You didn't say 5th and reverse originally Tim, only reverse and that can make a difference.  If you can't get 5th and reverse there are two common problems.  One is the 'L' shaped lever is seizing up and restricting movement across the gate, and the other is one or more balls have come out of the synchro and is jamming the selection.

... but it's symptomatic of the wear and play in the system. Oddly, the nylon ball is quite tight in the housing, I think most of the play as, like you say, at the rear cup on the long rod. I'm going to take it off and try and tighten it a turn to see if that helps. I think that the whole rod wobbles around a lot, especially about the middle mounting under the car.

You should not adjust anything until you find the cause.  The long rod is meant to move around and is part of the design.  Too many try to restrict it but this is wrong.  The bottom of the gear lever must swing left and right, the opposite of the gear lever at the top, and as it moves sideways it moves the 'L' shaped bracket to lift and lower the large arm on the gearbox.  Some seem to think the long rod rotates on its axis but it does not, and you should not try to make it do so.

You can test if the fault is with the linkage or in the box by simply operating the large arm on the box directly.  Reach down from above in the engine compartment and move the lever from side to side to select 3rd and 4th (as the lever should by default rest in that plane).  In neutral, push the lever down against the spring and then move it left and right to select 1st and 2nd.  Finally, lift the lever against the spring and move it left and right to get 5th and reverse.

If you can get 5th and reverse this way but not from the gear lever, then it is the linkage and probably the common seizing of the 'L' shaped lever that is most likely the problem.  If you cannot select 5th or reverse from the lever directly, the problem is inside the box and is possibly the synchro that has jammed.

Roy

[TimS]

Thanks Roy, I'll give it a try. Hadn't realised I couldn't get 5th until I pushed it out of the garage for another test after I emailed you.

[TimS]

Well, fixed the gear change. In the end talking the main tube off and putting 2x360 turns on the ball joint at the end took a lot of the play out of it. I also took off the smaller rod that selects reverse and took a turn out which makes 5th and reverse selection much more positive.

The main problem was the ball and socket joint at the rear was lifting up off the ball as the small metal locking pin was doing nothing. It's now bent back into place and makes a difference  but this really needs something stronger.

There a still a lot of loose movement in the gear lever which will always be there due to the loose design. I wonder if it is possible to fit a small spring at the base of the gear lever to hold it place and was this what the hole at the front of the rod was for once?

[suffolkpete]

Altering the length of the rods only adjusts the position of the gear lever and doesn't address the real problem of play in the various ball joints.  I would replace the rear ball and socket.  The ball is welded on to the vertical lever but can be ground off to reveal a mounting hole.  Try somewhere like Car Builder Solutions for a replacement.  I bought my car as a non-runner because no gears could be selected, but replacing that rear joint and tightening the gear lever seating fixed it.  Replacing that other ball joints also makes a difference, but that one seems to take most of the strain, that's probably why it's bigger than the others.  The gear change on these cars is never brilliant, but it is acceptable if properly maintained.

[TimS]

Thanks Pete, that's where most of the play seems to be. I'll have a look.

[Jon Weywadt]

Thanks Pete, that's where most of the play seems to be. I'll have a look.

You should also have a look at this topic on modifying the gear shift:

http://www.matrasport.dk/forum/index.php/topic,118.0.html

I have plans to modify mine to use steering cables from an outboard motor. They can be had at http://marineparts-24.de. I paid 30€ each. The hard part is making a mechanism that works well at the shift lever. But it can be done. Somewhere I have pictures of one. I will try to find them and post here.

[TimS]

Yes, I've had a read of it.  I worked out today that I've taken out 2/3rds of the lateral play in the gear lever. I now need to try and get to this L piece to see how that is moving.

But as I can get all the gears at the moment, it may have to wait until after Beaulieu.

[TimS]

Put the car on a dyno today and found out I still have 111BHP! Not bad for  a 30 year old car. Now to find the few missing HP.