Shifter Repair, me too...

[Dougieb]

Wow!!! Thanks, Seabeelt for the pic. That position of a clip is totally different than what I thought. From the previous pictures that I have seen on this thread, I thought it went sideways inside the slot. This makes more sense now.

I went back and looked at the pictures Azygoustoyou put earlier and I see it now. Thanks to both of you.

Some of the other pics apparently do not have a clip in it. I am going to order a complete kit to do the shifter and just go ahead and replace everything. Then I don't have to worry about what is worn out and what is going to wear out soon.

Sounds like a good Saturday project to me!!!

Thanks,
Dougieb

[azygoustoyou]

I have a shorter shifter, it was cut and rewelded with new never used inserts from IAP if your interested. $25 shipped. PM me if you want it.
I'm having a custom shifter made.

[Wheel]

Well, finally ordered and received the new shifter parts and spent some time today rebuilding the shifter mechanism. I removed the console and access plate from above and removed the 3 bolt cover underneath the car. I did not have to remove the driveshaft or flex-coupler (guibo) in order to remove the gearshift assembly. I had my wife manoeuvre the assembly from above while I lay under the car to take it out. It was a bit of a pain twisting and rotating the assembly, but do-able. I had to rotate the driveshaft in order to get the guibo in the right orientation to get clearance.

I found the C-spring clip laying broken in 3 pieces and the hole in the plastic cup was worn. I ended up replacing the plastic cup, the two steel concave washers, the compression spring, the C-spring clip, the 8mm nut and the rubber shifter boot. It is all back together now and the shifter is much tighter.

I used Kleen-flo White Grease as a lubricant. I replaced the 8mm hex nut with a nylon lock nut as per the advice of others, although I am pretty sure the original hex nut was a lock nut (1982 Spider 2000). I say this because the hole in the nut appears elliptical rather than circular. Anyways, I did not want to take a chance and have to do it over again.

I installed the C-spring clip from the bottom as suggested earlier in this topic. I wasn’t exactly sure which way to install the clip as there are photos in this topic forum that show the clip installed from both the top and the bottom. Does it matter? Hopefully I have it installed correctly.

The gearshift ball has one crack or split in it, but this seems to be normal according to others.

I took her for a test drive. Wow, shifts like a new vehicle. It doesn’t feel like I am reaching for the glove box when shifting into 5th gear anymore. Reverse works nicely as well, have to push down to get in gear, just like it should.

Here are some more photos that hopefully will be helpful to the next person. Thanks to all who have contributed to this topic. I couldn't have done it without your help!!

John

[anggrazi]

does the transmission need to be removed to fix the shifter nut?

You have got everything wrong.
the metal nub that you have listed as "belongs here" does not belong there. It belongs 180° from there. I can see your donut and it has a small metal nub in the middle of it and that is the part that belongs in the "belongs here area" . There is a nut at the bottom of the shaft and I think that it is about to come off allowing for the play in your shifter. You can only gain access to it from under the car, by removing the three screws that hold the plate on. Get yourself a NYLOCK nut to use inplace of the old nut so it does not come loose again. NYLOCK has a layer of nylon on the nut to tighten the nut for good.

Good Luck

[pjnats]

In a word, no. ; ) If you re-read what pope wrote, it is very self-explanatory. I don't have a lift, so I just jacked up the car high enough and I was able to remove the plate and secure the shifter with the nylon nut that pope talks about. Be sure that you have the clip that was also discussed in this forum; it's what helped really tighten up my shifter.

Pete

[wikkid]

Surprising that this stuff is coming up separately from threads on installing one of mbouse's short shifters. Useful stuff, I would think.

[124Germ]

Surprising that this stuff is coming up separately from threads on installing one of mbouse's short shifters. Useful stuff, I would think.

Do you happen to have a link to that older threat? If not I will try and do a search to find it, I hope it has pictures.

Thanks
Jeremy

[narfire]

Mike's shifter entails taking the chromed sleave off and sliding his shifter on and tightening two small allen screws. Put the knob of your choice back on and good to go. If you have a shaped knob, the screws allow you to align the shifter to your tastes.

[donerehart]

This is a great thread...thanks for all the posts...to go at it this week...

[rodman]

Thanks for this thread as i am installing the shifter this week in the new transmission i put in the spider when i put the motor back in last week... This would make another good thread as a sticky thread. I believe we need a stickey thread section for threads like this one...,..


Rodman

[hank]

THIS IS JUST WHAT I NEEDED. Where did you get your kit, including the c clip?

[Wheel]

A number of the Fiat part suppliers stock these parts.
Try this link for an example:
http://www.autoricambi.us/cgi/commerce. ... egory=TR05