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PostPosted: May 31, 2011, 12:21 pm 
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Joined: September 11, 2008, 11:48 am
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Location: Utah
I am looking to build my own cable shifter for my middy, I realize it would be easier and cheaper to just get one from a junkyard but I like the feeling of building as much as i can custom for my car.

So I would like to know who else has built one for themselves and how you did it (if you don't mind sharing) and if your happy with the results. I really like the way Alan built his for the Tiki ( viewtopic.php?f=36&t=3914&start=30 )and have been thinking about building something similar.

What's everyones thoughts, opinions, and insights?

Thanks,
Jeff


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PostPosted: May 31, 2011, 12:42 pm 
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My opinion is there are some things not worth mucking around with that are complex to build when you can buy something cheap and extremely reliable.

If you want to do your own thing then get a standard shifter and "bling" it yourself with some billet and hiem jointing etc. but use the proven bits/geometry from it.

I know thats not what you want to hear but ....


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PostPosted: May 31, 2011, 1:13 pm 
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Just use the stock shifter/cables. Why waste time, creative energy, and $ redesigning something that works?

All I had to do was reverse the approach direction at the trans with two bell cranks. The donor cable was the right length.


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PostPosted: May 31, 2011, 1:38 pm 
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Location: Minnesota
Kurt's Midlana shifter looks really nice.


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PostPosted: June 1, 2011, 1:35 pm 
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Location: Utah
Thanks for the responses I know I should just take the easy way out and buy some used shifter for cheap I really don't care about the "bling" factor I can get what ever knob I want and it will have a boot covering it I guess I just like the feeling of doing it myself, I'm not sure why I have singled out the shifter to build myself but for some reason it is hard for me to let it go.

Glen I do like the way Kurts shifter turned out it is similar to the way Alan did his, hopefully one of them will chime in and give some feedback as to how it turned out. I might just have to buy Kurt's book when he finishes it to see how he did it. :D


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PostPosted: June 1, 2011, 6:50 pm 
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Joined: April 16, 2011, 11:05 pm
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Location: Melbourne, Australia.
By the time you buy a junk yard shifter, replace all the sloppy worn out plastic bushes with real bearing bronze, and get some custom length cables made up, it is still going to be a fair bit of work.


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PostPosted: June 2, 2011, 2:47 pm 
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Warpspeed wrote:
By the time you buy a junk yard shifter, replace all the sloppy worn out plastic bushes with real bearing bronze, and get some custom length cables made up, it is still going to be a fair bit of work.



That's a good point. Knowing how I am I would just keep the worn bushings and "get to it later"


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PostPosted: June 2, 2011, 6:15 pm 
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Location: Melbourne, Australia.
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Knowing how I am I would just keep the worn bushings and "get to it later"


Yup, fit both box and shifter to the car both positioned exactly right.
Then get the custom length cables professionally made up, and move onto the next phase of construction somewhere else.
It will probably work just fine as it is.
But a nice light smooth slop free shifter cannot be beat.


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PostPosted: June 3, 2011, 10:40 am 
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I use 2 triangular quadrants for the cables, red is a wide fine thread nut I weld on which I simply weld a bolt onto the chassis and thread the quadrant onto and thats the pivot - you can't get simpler than that.

I can then use any cable shifter by running the cables from the shifter to one of the green attachment points, then another cable from the other green attachment point to the box and by flipping the cables and quadrants around I can change the cable to push or pull to the box and by changing the distances from the red pivot to the green cable attachments, I can change the throw distance of the shifter to suit me or the box.

Image

If I remember I'll take some pictures.


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PostPosted: June 3, 2011, 12:05 pm 
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Location: Utah
cheapracer wrote:
I use 2 triangular quadrants for the cables, red is a wide fine thread nut I weld on which I simply weld a bolt onto the chassis and thread the quadrant onto and thats the pivot - you can't get simpler than that.

I can then use any cable shifter by running the cables from the shifter to one of the green attachment points, then another cable from the other green attachment point to the box and by flipping the cables and quadrants around I can change the cable to push or pull to the box and by changing the distances from the red pivot to the green cable attachments, I can change the throw distance of the shifter to suit me or the box.

Image

If I remember I'll take some pictures.


I really like the idea of welding in a nut and use a fine thread bolt that's simple and very effective. I would love to see some photos.


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PostPosted: June 3, 2011, 1:18 pm 
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Location: Columbia SC
I remember designing a non cable linkage a few years back for an Alfa
164 transaxle. It wasn't easy and I was going to try and mock it up.
The Lancia Scorpion had mechanical linkage using a FWD transaxle.
worked well with good bushings. To make a long story short, the development seemed a lot of work. Double links sliding bushings.
Never liked the feel of cable shifters but they work well.

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PostPosted: June 3, 2011, 3:49 pm 
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I don't mind a good cable shifter, but the bad ones can be frustrating. I usually like to replace any rubber NVH busings directly in the linkages with metal and then use solid Nylon or Delrin bushings under the shift block assembly. Europas have one of those long, complicated mechanical linkages and the feel is terrible even when everything is tight. When I swap out the engine & gearbox I'll definitely be going to a cable set-up to improve shift quality and feel.

One other little trick with cable systems on a used transmission is to make sure that all the little plastic or metal blocks & fittings are replaced with new parts. It was one of the first things we usually did with the time attack cars after buying them. Between that and eliminating the rubber bits and making the base mounts solid, the shifting would feel like an entirely different car.

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PostPosted: June 3, 2011, 5:39 pm 
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Location: Melbourne, Australia.
cheapracer wrote:

I can then use any cable shifter by running the cables from the shifter to one of the green attachment points, then another cable from the other green attachment point to the box and by flipping the cables and quadrants around I can change the cable to push or pull to the box and by changing the distances from the red pivot to the green cable attachments, I can change the throw distance of the shifter to suit me or the box.

Image


Now that is a very very ingenious idea I have not seen before.
For the main supporting ball joint, I would probably use a self aligning bearing of some kind, plenty of different styles to choose from.

The parts of your custom gear linkage system ideally need to be fairly well balanced, otherwise the weight of the parts may cause the gear lever to try to flop over one way.
Bumps or G forces may even result in jumping out of gear in extreme cases.
So try to keep all the parts light and symmetrical, or maybe add a deliberate balance weight if complete symetry is not possible.
That will also improve the feel.


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PostPosted: June 4, 2011, 3:23 am 
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Warpspeed wrote:
cheapracer wrote:

The parts of your custom gear linkage system ideally need to be fairly well balanced, otherwise the weight of the parts may cause the gear lever to try to flop over one way.
.


There isn't enough weight in the system to worry about, even in steel.


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PostPosted: June 4, 2011, 12:37 pm 
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Sorry forgot my camera so used my phone.

This is an old and rough proto setup sitting on a chassis in a corner rotting away, the cables come from the shifter from the lower right hand corner (note the 'U' brackets for the outer cable) and away to the box to the left top corner turning 90 degrees at the quadrants - note the difference in distance from the pivot to the shifter cable attachment compared to the longer distance to the gearbox cable attachment, this shortened the otherwise to long shifter throw.

It of course also saves the hassle of buying 2 special extra long cables for mid engine setup using 4 standard cables instead.


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