147 TS (05) Gear shifter sitting to the left after replacement

[ugame]

Workshop "fixed" it.

Said they had to "make a new hole in the shifter."

Now it sits a little to the right but much better than it was and livable.

1st and 2nd being the left most gears now have a little slop reintroduced.

Everything else is nice and tight.

No longer crunches reverse which is a bonus.

I'll leave it there. Sticking to the facts.

[bazzbazz]

Said they had to "make a new hole in the shifter."

Errrr, don't suppose you asked WHY? 

[ugame]

Said they had to "make a new hole in the shifter."

Errrr, don't suppose you asked WHY?

I left a little confused as to why.

These guys know these cars inside and out and always do great work. I wont hear a bad word said about them.

I'm not sure why this job didn't go by the book.

Helps with my decision re the 147s future once its served its job getting my boys through to P plates though.

I'm over it.

[Citroënbender]

I feel a bit disappointed in the outcome, it's the sort of kerfuffle that drove me initially to acquire more tools, documentation and start doing my own work.

[ugame]

I feel a bit disappointed in the outcome, it's the sort of kerfuffle that drove me initially to acquire more tools, documentation and start doing my own work.

Yep I hear ya. I dont mind getting oil under my fingernails. Spent 3 hours the other week doing a 10 minute job on the GTV lol. I found it amusing and fun.
But on big jobs on the daily driver, I'm more than happy to spend good dollars on OEM parts, fitted by experts.

Toyota Camrys are looking nice these days. Or Honda Civic Hybrid. 

[Citroënbender]

Honda? The eighth gen Accord Euro was a cracking car on the road, it polished the efforts of substandard pilots nicely.

If you're going to turn Japanese, what about a grey import Century or newish Lexus? 

A customer of mine bought a Priapis, loaded it up with TRD nonsense and then decided it was still unbearable, returning to his preference of Benz.

[ugame]

Honda? The eighth gen Accord Euro was a cracking car on the road, it polished the efforts of substandard pilots nicely.

If you're going to turn Japanese, what about a grey import Century or newish Lexus? 

A customer of mine bought a Priapis, loaded it up with TRD nonsense and then decided it was still unbearable, returning to his preference of Benz.

This is possibly a topic of another thread so I may create one when the time comes.....but my rationalisation at this point is....

1) Car that will drain my wallet the most WILL be the Porsche when it inevitably needs attention (all cars do); thus
2) The daily cars need to be cost effective to run, and if hybrids, can even offset the porsche a little lol.

So in the coming months, I'll be looking to cull my fleet from 4 down to 3, and it possibly wont include either Alfa

Sell the beetle, and both Alfa's, and that leaves me room for a nice daily family car (near new used), and a cheap shitty banger, but one that doesn't require a new timing belt every 3 years.

I'll possibly semi Baja the beetle, have some fun with it, and then sell it as they go for more when they look rough and ready oddly lol.

I'll go into what cars im considering in a new thread when the time comes, as I always like bouncing ideas around.

[ugame]

Well having now had chance for myself, and both boys to drive the car significantly to judge, the net result of all this is, the car drives wonferfully.

A confusing method which I will be investigating further, but the result I was after in the end.

Reverse is now a breeze (this was becoming a real issue before) and the selection is precise and tight as you'd expect.

I'll add this too after my sentiments in posts above.....
I drove the GTV in today.....

My god these cars are going to be hard to let go of if that's what I ultimately decide to do.

[poohbah]

Mate, I reckon you will instantly regret selling any of them. But that aside - keep the beetle. You know they are only going up in value.

Completely understand you (reluctantly) selling the Alfas to buy a reliable hands-off daily. In which case why not replace them with a near new Giulietta? From all accounts they aren't any more onerous to own than most modern cars. Though it will cost more than most things Japanese/Korean on annual maintenance no doubt.

[ugame]

Mate, I reckon you will instantly regret selling any of them. But that aside - keep the beetle. You know they are only going up in value.

Completely understand you (reluctantly) selling the Alfas to buy a reliable hands-off daily. In which case why not replace them with a near new Giulietta? From all accounts they aren't any more onerous to own than most modern cars. Though it will cost more than most things Japanese/Korean on annual maintenance no doubt.

You have no idea how tempted I am to "just keep one of them maybe?" lol

That wouldn't change outbound costs much. When one needs attention, the other is temporarily neglected. That's the issue in owning 2 really.

Sadly MY beetle isn't an "investment" really. The Superbeetle as they are known, was churned out in Mexico until 2003 (yes that's correct), very much unchanged.

So in that guiuse, they're everywhere. Good ones can be had from $5K to $10K and really wont creep up much.

The cheapest way to make some money off a ROUGH one is to do this:


Which isn't a bad thing at all

Re Giulietta, I like them...but....
I have a friend at work who purchased one from new.
He eventually sold it as he was fed up of sensor errors and electrical issues.

He now has a Mazda 3 which he LOVES and came with all the fruit including HUD. 

Anyway....we'll see.

[johnl]

The cheapest way to make some money off a ROUGH one is to do this:


Which isn't a bad thing at all

Do the SuperBugs lend themselves to this sort of cutting back as easily as earlier model Beetles do? I'd be sureprised because they aren't like 'real' Beetles because of their monocoque chassis, quite different to the 'platform' chassis of the old Beetles, which (I'm sure you know) was a major reason why they were easily turned into beach buggies, Purvis Eurekas, Kelmark GTs, and about a thousand other kinds of kit car and 'specials'. You could just take the body off the Beetle, and pretty much just drive off in the the rolling chassis (couldn't do that with  Super Beetle).

Regards,
John.

[Kay_147_GTA]

Hi ugame

I have actually just changed one of those shifters myself recently, was a PITA to change but yeah certainly shouldn't be sitting on the left.

If you have a look through this thread you'll see me having a rant about a floppy gear change.

Whereabouts in Melbourne are you?

[ugame]

The cheapest way to make some money off a ROUGH one is to do this:


Which isn't a bad thing at all

Do the SuperBugs lend themselves to this sort of cutting back as easily as earlier model Beetles do? I'd be sureprised because they aren't like 'real' Beetles because of their monocoque chassis, quite different to the 'platform' chassis of the old Beetles, which (I'm sure you know) was a major reason why they were easily turned into beach buggies, Purvis Eurekas, Kelmark GTs, and about a thousand other kinds of kit car and 'specials'. You could just take the body off the Beetle, and pretty much just drive off in the the rolling chassis (couldn't do that with  Super Beetle).

Regards,
John.

You are 100% correct but they can be turned into a soft roader.

Crank up the rear torsion bar (of course there isn't one in the front, but that rides high anyway), throw on chopped guards/fenders, and add offroad tires, and you have the beginnings.

[ugame]

Hi ugame

I have actually just changed one of those shifters myself recently, was a PITA to change but yeah certainly shouldn't be sitting on the left.

If you have a look through this thread you'll see me having a rant about a floppy gear change.

Whereabouts in Melbourne are you?

Im in perth.

[Cool Jesus]

A little late into this thread, but I call bullshit on your workshop leaving the shifter as they did. Glad your happy with there work, but they should have known better, fair dinkum. I've also just done the gear cable and housing on my 147 and its upright and just perrrrrfect, after years of swooning around that gear stick in a witches cauldron
As frenchy mentioned, there's the adjustment on the cable ends at the gearbox end. Can't remember if you need to lock the stick in place or not but definitely should not be hanging over to on side when out of gear and there's absolutely 'see how it settles', she'll be right anything with Alfa. Remember Italian designer vogue cars here beautifully frustrating design between demitasse'.
I'm sure its described in the workshop manual, I won't bring it up now since its back at the shop, but if you need it, let me know.

Edit: Oh snap, there was a second page. WTF they made a new HOLE? Are you sure about your mechanics ability here? I have no trade qualifications, just self taught experience and I'm fairly sure that I would never go making modifications to make a part work. Its either the wrong part or I'm doing something wrong. Don't read me wrong here ugame, if your happy then that's what counts, just that long term joy from that sort of professional standard is of concern. I'd hate for you to loose faith in this beautiful marque which has an undeserving reputation.