Evening all,

Got my quickshift kit through the post this morning. Was very impressed seeing as they only sent it out yesterday.

This guide isn't meant to make the job look easy - it's for the people who don't know their way around the engine bay. Hopefully it will be of some use


STEP 1:



Here are the contents of the kit. The supplied instructions are fairly crap for the audience I'm targeting with this guide. This kit has been vastly improved by using an aerospace alloy adaptor (the shiny bit). The last kit I had used a more complicated item which had some welding done to it. Some instances of the welds failing seems to have caused GE to change the design.


STEP 2:



This is the area we'll be working in. There is not a lot of space to say the least. It may be possible to do it from underneath - those of you with, er, slightly bigger bones will probably have to because I struggled in some parts of the installation.


STEP 3:




First thing to do is take the metal cover off the end of this rod. This rod is being completely removed and is replaced by the new item in the kit.

The metal cover simply unclips off the rod like this:




STEP 4:



Now get a screwdriver, a long thin flat head. Use this to lever the rod off the gear selector ball joint. The pic above shows the driver I used - we are removing the right side of the rod. I found this was done easiest by using the gearbox casing as a fulcrum like so:



With some effort, the rod will pop off the ball.

STEP 5:

Then do the same to the other end of the rod. Couldn't get the camera in while yanking it off, so you'll have to use your imagination. All I can tell you is to lever it off. You may well end up bending the original rod, but once you sample the quickshift in action you will soon chuck the original stuff in the bin. After yanking the rod off, you should see the exposed ball:




STEP 6:

Now, grab the quickshift kit. On the unattached rod-end, there is a small clip.



Take it off:



Remember how it comes off/goes back on. You need to attach the rod end to the gearbox ball joint. Make sure you press it down very firmly for it to locate - otherwise you WILL NOT get the locking pin back in.

WARNING: Getting the clip back in will test your patience (unless you're a lucky bugger). It is a very fiddly thing to get back in. DO NOT DROP THE PIN. You may not see it again.

Hopefully you will see something like this:




STEP 7:

You should be able to roughly position the quickshift kit now, it'll look similar to this:



Now you need to attach the other end of the quickshift to the rest of the gear linkage. The kit will need to rest roughly in this position relative to the old rod's position:



Now, take one of the bolts out of the sandwich plate - like I've done in the pic above. If you take both out, you'll make life a bit more difficult for yourself.

STEP 8:

Now offer up the adaptor plate up to the ball joint on the linkage. The larger hole (in the bigger lump of alloy) needs to go OVER the ball joint:




Then, insert the bolt you took out earlier and line up the bottom plate for the bolt to drop through it. Then offer up the nyloc nut and tighten.

WARNING: Again, this part may test your, by now, lacking patience. TAKE IT EASY and you'll get the nut on in no time. For the larger, less lithe among you who will have opted to do this from underneath the car - be happy, it'll be a lot easier for you!

Here are a couple of new pics to try making it clearer where to fit the kit, and how it fits on the linkage:





Make sure all bolts are nice and tight, and that the locking pins on the rod ends are secure. When you're sure they're good, grap a cup of tea and pat yourself on your back. You have just fitted a quickshift kit all on your tod.



The more eager among you will jump straight in and take your prized possession for a blast. Revel in the joy of snick - snick gear changes

Have fun. Don't crash.

Huw

EDIT 30/07/05

After months and months of crap quality gear changes on mine, I decided to take the quickshift off for Snetterton incase it prevented me from getting 2nd gear again.

To cut a long story short, while trying to take it off, the adaptor plate wouldn't come off the original fulcrum so had to remove the fulcrum as well.

Turns out, the welding that holds the ball (see step 5) on the original fulcrum had broken, so the ball was turning. The quickshift is clamped to this, and so it was moving a little as well

Welded it all back into place and re-tried the quickshift, was better but not perfect. I then slackened the bolts again and twisted the adaptor plate a little. It's much better now - not perfect, but much better. Handled Snetterton almost faultlessly.