A small thing, that makes a big difference.

[krede]

I have recently noticed, that lately, shifting gear has become somewhat more "laborous"..
So yesterday I decided to have a look underneath and see if I could spot the reason for this.
As it turned out, one of the "fork teeth" at the buttom of the gear lever had simply broken!!
How on earth I managed to acomplish this I have no ida, but broken it was, none the less.
Lacking a spare lever , I decided to attempt to weld it back togeather.
Attempt, because It appears to be made of "hardened" steel witch, Ive been told,one isnt really able to weld properly.
Well... I set the welder to give good high current, and the end result appers to work well enough.
For how long it will hold, Im not sure.
Anyway.. while I was at it, I decided that I might as well go ahead with a small "mod" of the lever that I have wanted to do for a while.

My car is of the type that has the choke throttle to the right of the gear stick and thus leaves percious little room for my meaty thighs .
I have of cause adjusted the gear rods to get the lever as far to the right as possible, but still the room left (for me) left alot to be desired, and made town driving tireing as I would have to move my right leg to be able to reach 1'st and 2'nd.. the latter was especially annoying when cornering.

The end result turned out like so :


It's not easy to see, but what I did, was to take a nice thick (5mm or so) piece of iron, and two iron tubes of 2-3 cm and 13mm in (inner) diameter.
I welded the tubes to the metal piece, one in each end, one up, and one facing down.
I then the lever in two, and shortned it to compensate for the new piece.
Finally I cut "crosses" in the tubes with an angle grinder (like you do in an oven baked potato... though If you use an angle grinder for this, I will strongly suggest that you keep the goggles on!) and cut matching grooves in the two parts of gear lever.
Slid the three things togeather, welded them all up.. filling in the grooves to give even more strength.     

The "shifting motion" and "feel" is exactly as before the mod...

Now.. I wasn't sure how it would work, so I did not spend any time on making it "bling".. also the uncertanty of the strength of the welds made me to go... well a little "over the top" 
So I dont expect to get any medals for the "artistic impression"..

But, as for improving 1'st and 2'nd.... its a straight row of 10's (even from the Canadian judge)
 
 

[Anders Dinsen]

Hi Krede, congrats on the modification and thanks for sharing it with us in a humorous tone!

Once it's covered up with the boot, then noone will notice any more. I don't know anything about welding at all, so I can't say if it will hold... but you've been careful enough it seems.

As for the fork teeth... that was a good find, I think. But could it be just the result of your matey overarms working the gears??? Ok, seriously... I guess that's just the result of 25 years of use? I think I'll take a look at mine next time I'm there.

Cheers!
- Anders

[krede]

But could it be just the result of your matey overarms working the gears???

Highly unlikely!! 
Even if my arms had the strength, I would never brutalize my precious Murena in any way.

I believe the fault to be the washer that fills the gap between the bushing and the fork "teeth"... Or to be more precise.. the ABSENCE of it!!..
It appears to me that It must have fallen out, or been missing all together.
As I tightened the bolt that holds the gear rod to the fork , the gap created by the missing washer has resulted in me simply tightening the bolt/nut to an extend that broke one of the fork teeth..(maybe my arms DO have some strength after all?? )
So... remember to check that the washer is indeed in its place..

Apart from that, I have been driving with the modified gear stick a couple of days now.. and I am very pleased with how much it has improved the driving experience...
Its a simple and quick mod to do...  and the consequences if it goes wrong are much less severe then if I tried to move the entire  gear stick assembly (witch I have also considered)

[Anders Dinsen]

As I tightened the bolt that holds the gear rod to the fork , the gap created by the missing washer has resulted in me simply tightening the bolt/nut to an extend that broke one of the fork teeth..(maybe my arms DO have some strength after all?? )
So... remember to check that the washer is indeed in its place..

Haha, you can't convince me you aren't a strong guy, Krede! Lazy, perhaps!? No, not even that!

Should the bolt really be tightened hard at all? Without having looked, I'd think that this bolt would be best fitted with a locking nut and tightened only enough as not to rattle.

- Anders

[krede]

Should the bolt really be tightened hard at all? Without having looked, I'd think that this bolt would be best fitted with a locking nut and tightened only enough as not to rattle.

I agree

[Bart_Maztra]

This bolt should be normaly tightend. There should be a piece of pipe in the eye of the rod. This pipe is slightly longer than the thicknes of the eye. This makes you cannot clamp the rod when you tighten the bolt.  The pipe has fixed washer on one side and a seperate washer on the other side.

[Anders Dinsen]

This bolt should be normaly tightend. There should be a piece of pipe in the eye of the rod. This pipe is slightly longer than the thicknes of the eye. This makes you cannot clamp the rod when you tighten the bolt.  The pipe has fixed washer on one side and a seperate washer on the other side.

That would be the infamous "top hat bush"

- Anders

[krede]

That would be the infamous "top hat bush"

Not sure... But if it is, It shouldn't be allowed to ruin anybodies day, as its hysterically easy to replace!