m400 gear linkage mod
Discussion
Hi guys
Just bought linkage kit from Jetstream £378.70+vat
Started it yesterday,test drove it today and works perfectly.
What a difference to my old sloppy gearchange.
Remove gear stick surround and hand brake covers.
Remove seat belt clip thing on both sides.
Peel back carpet or remove from centre consel.
Undo old shifter nuts on top of tunnel.
Undo old linkage nuts and remove linkage
Put gear surround back on.
You will notice there is a stainless steel rod, this has to be removed from the rear baulkhead later.
Mark out position of gear stick surround with felt tip,and remove again.
You will need to cut steel about 10mm inside felt tip mark so gear stick surround
covers cut out when all is done.
Now I was brave and cut hole out with small grinder, loads off old sheets covering everything
Ihad some water nearby just in case lol.
Jetstream supplied me with a cardboard template to position new gear assemberly and linkage bracket.
You will have to undo the four pozi screws on the top of the new shifter to separate the shifter from the top cage.
Place cardboard template on side of tunnel, Jetstream have notched cardboard out on the bottom so it
goes over chassis rails on floor so nice and easy really.
Mark out holes for brakets on both side off tunnel.
Check exact measurments of hole positions by measuring distance between holes on brackets.
Drill 9mm holes.
Bolt up cage from shifter to make sure holes are ok, then undo and take out again.
Have a nice cupper.
Its a bit easier for me this one as I have a four post lift but still possible with ramps.
Get under car and remove nuts that hold old cables from brackets.
You will see that the stainless rod is to long to pull through and remove from tunnel.
Iwas brave again and cut rod with grinder and removed.
Undo old shifter cables from gearbox end.
I ended up cutting cables with grinder to make it easy to get them out.
With a mate feed new cables through hole that you cut out around gear stick.
Then try and feed cables through tunnel and up through engine area,think I fed cables up where the metal water pipes run. 3 ltr might not be the same as my 2.5.
With the cables pulled through as much as you can push cable bracket into position in tunnel, don't bolt up yet.
If you have air ducting pipe going through tunnel make sure you push it to drivers side of tunnel
so it doesn't catch gear linkage.
Drop new shifter in hole and connect cables to shifter arms,make sure you remove pin on ball joint first, replace pins.
Bolt in cable bracket and shifter cage,
Screw shifter to cage with those 4 pozi screws.
Connect other end of cables through bracket on gearbox.
If like me you didn't take note of what cable goes to what hole in gearbox bracket, if you move
gear lever back and forth, this cable connects to gearbox linkage nearest to left side rear wheel.
If you put gear stick in nautrol position and gearbox in nautrol you can work out adjustment on cable at the gearbox end.
On my 2.5 the other cable that does the left to right movement goes through a 2 inch threaded tube.
best way to do this is to remove the gearbox bracket and rotate this on cable,make sure you have marked how far you need to thread cable through. took me 2 goes.
Bolt up gearbox bracket and away you go.
I lifted rear of car up and got a mate to rotate rear wheels to see if I was getting gears,
Think I was lucky as I started car on jack and all seemed ok.
never had to do any adjustment to cables.
Just a note
you really need to put in place some heat protection around new cables as they run a bit close
to turbo.
Another is when talking to Tuxmen he advised me to be careful of the small rubber band that is on the end of the new cables can slip and cause bad gear selection.this can be sorted by silicon tubing and
jubilee clips.
Old brackets with holes at rear baulkhead are not used and be cut off if you wish.
Hope this is a help
steve
Just to add
some cutting or trimming of gearbox surround will be needed as new gear stick position is more centrol
on top of tunnel, haven't done mine yet but it looks like the hole needs to be bigger as it catches on
left side.Mine is trimmed with fabric so easy for me to redo.
Just bought linkage kit from Jetstream £378.70+vat
Started it yesterday,test drove it today and works perfectly.
What a difference to my old sloppy gearchange.
Remove gear stick surround and hand brake covers.
Remove seat belt clip thing on both sides.
Peel back carpet or remove from centre consel.
Undo old shifter nuts on top of tunnel.
Undo old linkage nuts and remove linkage
Put gear surround back on.
You will notice there is a stainless steel rod, this has to be removed from the rear baulkhead later.
Mark out position of gear stick surround with felt tip,and remove again.
You will need to cut steel about 10mm inside felt tip mark so gear stick surround
covers cut out when all is done.
Now I was brave and cut hole out with small grinder, loads off old sheets covering everything
Ihad some water nearby just in case lol.
Jetstream supplied me with a cardboard template to position new gear assemberly and linkage bracket.
You will have to undo the four pozi screws on the top of the new shifter to separate the shifter from the top cage.
Place cardboard template on side of tunnel, Jetstream have notched cardboard out on the bottom so it
goes over chassis rails on floor so nice and easy really.
Mark out holes for brakets on both side off tunnel.
Check exact measurments of hole positions by measuring distance between holes on brackets.
Drill 9mm holes.
Bolt up cage from shifter to make sure holes are ok, then undo and take out again.
Have a nice cupper.
Its a bit easier for me this one as I have a four post lift but still possible with ramps.
Get under car and remove nuts that hold old cables from brackets.
You will see that the stainless rod is to long to pull through and remove from tunnel.
Iwas brave again and cut rod with grinder and removed.
Undo old shifter cables from gearbox end.
I ended up cutting cables with grinder to make it easy to get them out.
With a mate feed new cables through hole that you cut out around gear stick.
Then try and feed cables through tunnel and up through engine area,think I fed cables up where the metal water pipes run. 3 ltr might not be the same as my 2.5.
With the cables pulled through as much as you can push cable bracket into position in tunnel, don't bolt up yet.
If you have air ducting pipe going through tunnel make sure you push it to drivers side of tunnel
so it doesn't catch gear linkage.
Drop new shifter in hole and connect cables to shifter arms,make sure you remove pin on ball joint first, replace pins.
Bolt in cable bracket and shifter cage,
Screw shifter to cage with those 4 pozi screws.
Connect other end of cables through bracket on gearbox.
If like me you didn't take note of what cable goes to what hole in gearbox bracket, if you move
gear lever back and forth, this cable connects to gearbox linkage nearest to left side rear wheel.
If you put gear stick in nautrol position and gearbox in nautrol you can work out adjustment on cable at the gearbox end.
On my 2.5 the other cable that does the left to right movement goes through a 2 inch threaded tube.
best way to do this is to remove the gearbox bracket and rotate this on cable,make sure you have marked how far you need to thread cable through. took me 2 goes.
Bolt up gearbox bracket and away you go.
I lifted rear of car up and got a mate to rotate rear wheels to see if I was getting gears,
Think I was lucky as I started car on jack and all seemed ok.
never had to do any adjustment to cables.
Just a note
you really need to put in place some heat protection around new cables as they run a bit close
to turbo.
Another is when talking to Tuxmen he advised me to be careful of the small rubber band that is on the end of the new cables can slip and cause bad gear selection.this can be sorted by silicon tubing and
jubilee clips.
Old brackets with holes at rear baulkhead are not used and be cut off if you wish.
Hope this is a help
steve
Just to add
some cutting or trimming of gearbox surround will be needed as new gear stick position is more centrol
on top of tunnel, haven't done mine yet but it looks like the hole needs to be bigger as it catches on
left side.Mine is trimmed with fabric so easy for me to redo.
Edited by steveobes on Sunday 6th December 18:47
Does this mod enable you to change gear faster? I have a standard 3R gearshift and I don't have any problem with selection but my tendency towards mechanical sympathy means that I have to change gear quite slowly. It feels that I need to change gear slowly to allow things to mesh together.
Does that sound like what you had before? And can you now change gear quicker?
Thanks!
Does that sound like what you had before? And can you now change gear quicker?
Thanks!
Jetstream did mine earlier this year, and whilst it's a big improvement in terms of sloppiness, I'm a little disappointed that I still can't change quickly on track. As said, I think it's down to the speed of the clutch (I'm still on the original).
I also think that my new linkage requires adjustment now that it's run-in. I still have problems selecting occasionally and reverse is a big problem - It takes about 3 goes to find reverse gear.
I also think that my new linkage requires adjustment now that it's run-in. I still have problems selecting occasionally and reverse is a big problem - It takes about 3 goes to find reverse gear.
My mistake, on initial read I actually thought you had just fitted the full M400 linkage same as what i have?... I guess you have fitted part of the kit to a 5 speeder?
What I was staying to say was that once the linkage is properly sorted as both you and me have done, the shifter mechanism isn't a restricting factor in fast gear changes.
What I was staying to say was that once the linkage is properly sorted as both you and me have done, the shifter mechanism isn't a restricting factor in fast gear changes.
Edited by andygtt on Monday 7th December 11:36
Yes Andy mine is a 5 speed,you would have thought after that long essay I wrote
I would have put its a 5 speed box lol
Not sure what you have done to your set up, cant seem to find it.
Have you a link to what you have done.
Don't know if there is much more you can do to improve the speed apart from the 400 linkage
on the 5 speed,
I do know that even the slightest of movement on any of the connections translates
to play on the gear stick though.
I would have put its a 5 speed box lol
Not sure what you have done to your set up, cant seem to find it.
Have you a link to what you have done.
Don't know if there is much more you can do to improve the speed apart from the 400 linkage
on the 5 speed,
I do know that even the slightest of movement on any of the connections translates
to play on the gear stick though.
steveobes said:
Don't know if there is much more you can do to improve the speed apart from the 400 linkage
on the 5 speed.
I don't think there is, once you have a nice direct change the thing slowing the changes down is the clutch.... I run essentially a normal M400 gear change setup, but the clutch is were my car differed from everyone else.on the 5 speed.
The AP clutch has relatively long pedal travel and is heavy a large and the weight is on its outside edge... my pedal movement is tiny as I run a triple plate unit so its also super light and smaller (7 1/4 inch)... in rotational inertial its effectively over 20kgs lighter... its the clutch that makes the big difference in speed of gear change for 5 and 6 speeders.
the downside of my clutch is the downshifts as I have to blip the throttle on downshifts on both road and track, not nice in the noble but I don't have a choice as the modified AP can't take the torque I run
Edited by andygtt on Monday 7th December 18:49
Jarcy said:
Jetstream did mine earlier this year, and whilst it's a big improvement in terms of sloppiness, I'm a little disappointed that I still can't change quickly on track. As said, I think it's down to the speed of the clutch (I'm still on the original).
I also think that my new linkage requires adjustment now that it's run-in. I still have problems selecting occasionally and reverse is a big problem - It takes about 3 goes to find reverse gear.
This is the same as my experience, its a big improvement over the 3R standard setup, but i thought it would be better than it is.I also think that my new linkage requires adjustment now that it's run-in. I still have problems selecting occasionally and reverse is a big problem - It takes about 3 goes to find reverse gear.
It also seems to be very sensitive to adjustment. Mine had stretched a little and i struggled to get reverse, one turn on a ball joint and reverse is now not a problem, 5th/6th is. Annoying.
Matt
steveobes said:
mgbond said:
Nice one Steve, I'm going to have this fitted but will let Jetstream do it. Lol
Might be worth putting that description on the Wiki.
Thanks MartinMight be worth putting that description on the Wiki.
How do I put it up ?
I've asked if the moderator can fix
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