New here, and some of my 147 mods...

[johnl]

Baz,
Not sure what bushes you are referring to. All I know is that the ball and socket seemed to be the source of at least most of the unwanted free-play in my shifter mechanism. Before I 'shimmed' the shifter the play was substantial, it was like the lever wasn't attached to anything until it was moved several centimetres in any given direction. After 'shimming' nearly all that slop was eliminated.

Ideally, when I can find time, I want to either modify an Accord / Prelude shifter mechanism (others might adapted, but I'm familiar with these ones and they are very good), or make something from scratch if I can't adapt a Honda part. I'd also like to replace the plastic Alfa cable ends with something made from metal. I want to be able to feel the metal gearbox gubbins through the lever, I want a 'click click' shift action, I want to be able to feel the dogs engage...

The best shifters I can recall using were in RWD cars. Ford made some very good ones (Escort for one), Mazda MX-5 (not that I've ever driven one, but have sat in and snicked the lever around). The best I can remember would be Fiat 124 Sport (as fitted into the old Nota clubman style car I used to own), which had a ZF gearbox. I doubt it's possible to make a cable shifter as good as those, but with some modification the shifter in my Accord wasn't far off...

Regards,
John.

[Bobulon]

Baz,
Not sure what bushes you are referring to. All I know is that the ball and socket seemed to be the source of at least most of the unwanted free-play in my shifter mechanism. Before I 'shimmed' the shifter the play was substantial, it was like the lever wasn't attached to anything until it was moved several centimetres in any given direction. After 'shimming' nearly all that slop was eliminated.

Ideally, when I can find time, I want to either modify an Accord / Prelude shifter mechanism (others might adapted, but I'm familiar with these ones and they are very good), or make something from scratch if I can't adapt a Honda part. I'd also like to replace the plastic Alfa cable ends with something made from metal. I want to be able to feel the metal gearbox gubbins through the lever, I want a 'click click' shift action, I want to be able to feel the dogs engage...

The best shifters I can recall using were in RWD cars. Ford made some very good ones (Escort for one), Mazda MX-5 (not that I've ever driven one, but have sat in and snicked the lever around). The best I can remember would be Fiat 124 Sport (as fitted into the old Nota clubman style car I used to own), which had a ZF gearbox. I doubt it's possible to make a cable shifter as good as those, but with some modification the shifter in my Accord wasn't far off...

Regards,
John.

Dredging up an ancient post but was curious if John is still around, did you ever get to doing this mod on your 147?

[johnl]

Bob,
Since then my shifter has since been through a few iterations.

1) A modified Accord shifter. This was far better than the awful stock porridge stirrer, but not without some relatively minor problems, i.e. could have been a bit better.

2) A shifter built largely from scratch, and better again. This shifter used a recycled universal joint (from a steering column) to provide slack free precise articulation, but it was crude and ugly. In effect it was a protoype more or less designed as it was being made, with numerous adjustements, revisions, cutting apart and welding back together. But it worked very well.

3) A more refined version of the second shifter.

This current shifter has a shortened shift action in both longitudinal and lateral shift planes. The longitudinal and lateral lever throws can be independantly adjusted to be somewhat shorter than the stock shifter, or quite a bit shorter, or substantially shorter. Longitudinal and lateral throws are adjustable for distance of throws, and the gear knob can be adjusted for position (i.e. in the horizontal plane and in height).

While adjustment of lever length does affect the distance of gear lever throws, it is not the only thing that does. Length of shift throws can be adjusted independantly from changes in lever length, within the shifter mechanism. So, a shortened lever throw can be had with a short lever length, or with a long lever length.

There is zero free play in the shifter itself, but there is still a small degree of free play in the shift action (way less than with the stock shift action...). This is entirely generated in the cables and in the gearbox. I've set up this shifter to give a very 'tight' gate, but not with an overly stiff action.

The ends of my shift cables have been modified to use all metal 6mm spherical rod ends in place of the stock plastic joints (a worthwhile modification). These rod ends attach to the shifter with 6mm bolts (and to modified levers at the gearbox end), but the shifter could easily use ball posts to fit the stock cable ends.

I've been lazily thinking of perhaps making a few copies of this shifter to see whether or not there might be any interest, but life keeps getting in the way. Expressions of curiosity are invited...

Regards,
John.