Setting up the transaxle shifter?

[Alex]

Go easy on me, I've never done a transaxle before

I've got my shifter mounted inside and the cables hooked onto the mounting bracket. By using a coupler I can extend the rod ends backwards and hook them onto the transaxle, buuuuut I have no idea what to adjust and how to adjust (I should preface this by saying my clutch is not installed - can I still setup the shifting w/o the clutch installed? ... even if I can't, assume the clutch were installed so I can reference this later on)

Now what?

For example, do I want to pull both of the levers on the transaxle back to their rearmost position, then pull the shifting cable as far back as it will go, then basically spin the rod end onto the cable and stop at the point when it hooks onto the transaxle ballstud? That seems the most logical way to set up that portion of it?

Then how do you adjust the shift portion inside the cabin? What am I trying to accomplish? (for example, with my manual clutch in my cobra it was as simple as put the car on flat ground and keep adjusting the cable until I could no longer get the car in gear, then loosen it a bit from that point so it could get back into gear, and then lock it in)

Thanks

 

[Seymour Snerd]

I haven't installed mine yet either, but I can give you the abstract answer which I suspect is enough of a guide. What your are doing when you adjust the cables is positioning the shift pattern with respect to the pivot point of the shifter. In other words, the fore/aft adjustment moves the entire shift pattern that way, and the lateral adjustment similarly left to right

So a starting point would be to make sure the transaxle is in neutral, and then adjust the fore/aft cable until the lever is where it should be for neutral, probably in the center of its total travel. Likewise for lateral, except here you may want to choose a gear that represents the "center" of the pattern (eg. 2nd for a ZF), put it in that gear, and then adjust to get that where you want it. As long as you position the pattern such that you can get to each gear, you're nominally done. After that you are adjusting for "taste" in the same sense that you adjust pedal or seat position.

The preceding assumes the cable-end adjustments are the only ones. If you also have choices about where on a lever the cable attaches, those determine how wide or how long the shift pattern is. There the first requirements is to find the position that makes the pattern at the shift know small enought to fit into the total travel of the lever. After that, you are playing with amount of lever swing vs. force required, just as you do in selecting a slave cylinde size for your clutch. So closer to the pivot quicks "quicker" but higher-for shifts, and vice versa. This is more of an issue for the fore/aft motion than the lateral motion, althought they need to be kept "in balance" . Typicall the left/right swing is about the size of the fore/aft swing, but it's your car so whatever feels good to us.

Depending on how everything is position inside, sometimes the gearbox doesn't want to go into a gear without the wheels spinning. This can me mitigated if someone can rotate the stub axles while you shift. But usually you by playing with the stub axles you can find an internal position where all the different gear positions are available without "spinning."

 

[Allan]

I start by putting the trans. in reverse by using the levers on the back, without the cables hooked up. Once it is in reverse I adjust the cable ends so that they fit over the rod ends without having to force them on.
Take the cable ends back off without changing the adjustment I just made then put the trans. in 6th gear. Push the cables in so that they will go on the ends. Usually the cable ends go right on without adjustment but if they need a little adjustment I make it so that they go on the rod ends without any force. Then I'll go back, check reverse again and all the gears.
You shouldn't have to make any adjustments inside where the actual shifter is, all the adjustment should be in the back.

You can do it without the clutch but it might change some when the pressure is in the system from the clutch and press. plate.

 

[Alex]

I start by putting the trans. in reverse by using the levers on the back, without the cables hooked up. Once it is in reverse I adjust the cable ends so that they fit over the rod ends without having to force them on.
Take the cable ends back off without changing the adjustment I just made then put the trans. in 6th gear. Push the cables in so that they will go on the ends. Usually the cable ends go right on without adjustment but if they need a little adjustment I make it so that they go on the rod ends without any force. Then I'll go back, check reverse again and all the gears.
You shouldn't have to make any adjustments inside where the actual shifter is, all the adjustment should be in the back.

You can do it without the clutch but it might change some when the pressure is in the system from the clutch and press. plate.

That makes sense for an initial (or perhaps also final) setup.

Btw, um, not to sound stupid ( ), but where is reverse and 6th gear? Is one pull the upper lever all the way up, then move it all the back, and the other push teh upper level all the way down, then move it all the forward?

That's basically how I set mine up and I ~think~ I have good shifting in 2-6, but 1st feels a bit odd (or maybe that's just my imagination - it goes into it, but just feels a bit different than other gear changes), but I can't find Reverse yet using the shifter

 

[Allan]

That makes sense for an initial (or perhaps also final) setup.

Btw, um, not to sound stupid ( ), but where is reverse and 6th gear? Is one pull the upper lever all the way up, then move it all the back, and the other push teh upper level all the way down, then move it all the forward?

That's basically how I set mine up and I ~think~ I have good shifting in 2-6, but 1st feels a bit odd (or maybe that's just my imagination - it goes into it, but just feels a bit different than other gear changes), but I can't find Reverse yet using the shifter

Yes on the reverse postition, top lever all the way up ( you'll feel it pop over the cam in there) and back. You know it's all the way up when you can't move the lever forward like in the other gears. Yes on 6th gear.

 

[Alex]

Gotcha - thanks about reverse - I didn't realize it was that far up (the furthest up I went was when you could still push the lever back or forward)

edit: Okay, yea, I didn't setup reverse properly, that's why I couldn't find it with the shifter - by going ALL the way up and actually into reverse, I found that my coupler for the bottom lever was way too long and didn't allow it to pull all the way forward. I'll fix that up later and give it a whirl to see if that improved the feel of 1st and let me find reverse finally.
​

 

[Alex]

Okay, some progress but a bit of a mystery happening to me I can't figure out at the moment.

I put it in reverse and set the cables to that. I then undo the rod ends, put it into 6th. The top rod end slides right on the ballstud, the bottom does not (too short). I play around with it and the bottom one keeps frustrating me.

So I try a different idea - I put it into reverse, then set the rod ends based on that. If I use the shifter, I have R, 1,2,3,4,5, but I can't shift into 6th - it feels like it's physically locked out. However, I can manually shift the transaxle into 6th, and when I do this the shifter moves itself into 6th. If I go to the shifter and push it back into N, then try for 6, I can't do it.

If I do the reverse - set the rod ends based on 6th gear, I have 1,2,3,4,5,6, but no R. I can manually shift the transaxle shifter into R, which moves the shifter into R, but if I pop the shifter into N and try for R it's a no go.

Hmmm, obviously I'm close, but something's stumping me.

Also, one thing I noticed is that the amount of adjustment on the rod end is different depending on which cable I hook on first. For example, with my current rod end/coupler setup, if I put it in R, hook on the top lever first, then hook on the bottom, I find my coupler is way too long on the obttom lever and I can't hook the rod end on. However, if I hook on the bottom one first then it's the exact right length.

 

[Alex]

Okay, Alexisisisisisisisisisis at work again (the first person to point that okay gets a swift kick in the groin )

When I was setting the cables and had the transaxle in reverse I stupidly left the shifter wherever it felt like being, as opposed to putting it into the reverse position. No wonder I was having so many problems - I put the shifter into R, put the transaxle into R, hooked the rod ends onto the transaxle, spun the couplers on to join the rod ends with the cables, and bam, R,1,2,3,4,5,6 all work like butter now. (at least I think they do - this is the best I'll be able to do without the car actually running). :idea:

 

[Alex]

Does anybody have any side-profile pics of how close the engine crank pulley sits in relation to the rear wall?

I'm currently trying to guestimate how to run my shifting cables while accounting for exhaust and engine pulley.

Securing the cables on the interior is pretty easy

But at present this is the best I can get at the back and I have a feeling it will interfere with the pulley?

 

[Cam]

not the greatest pic but you can see how the cables come back from the underside. they're the 2 in the black thermal wrap. they get pretty close to my exhaust and cable shift said keep em at least 2" away. Figured i wrap them in case they move, although they didn't.

 

[Alex]

Yea, I can see them.

Judging from my pics though would you say that my cables would be pulling into the crank pulley on the engine, or I should be okay like that? Or too hard to tell?

 

[Cam]

I'd think you can make it work with a few more clamps. I bent mine to a 90 in about 1 foot and it still shifts smooth.