QuestionQUESTION: I recently purchased the Spitfire listed and need to know
if the shifter behavior is normal. It is not true
north/south shift but about 45 degrees off. I can't tell
if the hard shifting is due to this or the fact it does not
seem normal and is hard to get used to. Is this the
standard configuration or can the shifter housing be
rotated to allow this for some reason? If so is it simply
a matter or taking off the cover and rotating? Thanks for
any advice you may have...otherwise it runs fair and has
been a 30 year wait to finally get to drive one!
ANSWER: Gary,
In a car in good shape the shifter pattern is not a perfect North -South but off by a few degrees. Not much, just enough to to be noticeable.
There's no way to rotate the shift mechanism to change the pattern, but it is common for the shifter bushings to fail with age which will give quite a bit of slop to the shifting action.
You might consider pulling the shifter boot, then pulling the shift lever out of the car is a matter of pushing down and twisting the shift lever retaining ring.
Cheers,
Jim
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Thanks for the quick response....I was able to pull the gearbox housing off (good thing, the pressed paper or fiberglass was disintegrating so poly one on the way. I am having a lot of difficulty getting the round pop cover off. Any tricks to this? It only depresses enough to get about half way up the latch slot.
AnswerGary,
There might be some dirt/corrosion built up in the area where the cap sits. A small wire brush should help with cleaning the area.
Also, try moving the shift lever around as you push down on the retaining cap, that may help too.
Cheers,
Jim
