More Seine Gate Shift Question
 

I've just started to fit the Seine Gate shifter to my 1985 915 'box and have been stumbling at the first hurdle!

Fitted the carrier plate on top and the collar on my factory short shifter no problem I have been struggling with the adjustment.

Where it doesn't seen quite right is when selecting 5th, you have to really push it home or the cam on the right doesn't rotate enough to get past the ****er rod and wedges against the shifter rod to jam it in and stop you shifting back to 4th.

You have to give it a push when it's already in 5th and it moves enough for the cam to rotate past.

I've tried to shift the 915 top plate and the Seine carrier plate but can't seem to find the right position - Has anyone else had this or got any suggestions to help?

TIA

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1397674156.jpg

Alex,
I think I can help. It appears you're at the first step in the installation process: Fitting the Gate Shift kit carrier plate to the housing (on the car).

Before beginning, even as late as this step, one must confirm the gearbox shifts normally - all gears accessible, lever doesn't pop out of gear, etc. Did these symptoms only appear after installing the our carrier plate? Are the shift housing mounting bolts still installed (not loose)? Is the front shift shaft bushing okay and still intact? Excessive clearance (wear) at this bushing can prevent the proper selection of some gears. Temporarily remove the shift housing from the tunnel and take a look, or remove the rear tunnel plate and confirm fore/aft and side-to-side movement of the lever translates into equivalent movement of the shift shaft.

Since our kit only affects 1st/2nd gears, the mere act of installing just our carrier plate shouldn't prevent the lever from selecting 5th/Rev.

To confirm, when moving the lever from neutral toward 5th, the reverse lock pawl should rotate clockwise and allow the lever to continue and select 5th. If Rev. is the target, the pawl remains in the rest position (blocking access to 5th) and allows the lever to select Rev.

If all the above is good and to be 100 certain for your own piece of mind, remove our kit parts, and test drive your car again.

Hope this helps,
Sherwood
Seine Systems

Alex, I also experience this problem to a certain extent, which I blame not on my Seine kit, but instead on the factory short shift kit installed on my car. The reduced fore-aft throw from the short shift means that unless everything is adjusted just so, the lever doesn't have enough forward travel to allow the cam to flip into place. I had to fine tune the coupler adjustment to get mine to work fairly reliably. I found that I have to set the coupler so that the lever is farther forward than I would really prefer. The sweet spot is quite small - too far forward and it moves the lever into the 1-5 gate area while in neutral, which interferes with side-to-side movement. But too far back and the lock-out cam won't flip. In my case I had to set the lever about as far forward as I could w/o hitting the 1-5 gates.

Don't know if any of this applies to you or not.

Good answers guys, thanks for the quick replies.

The car shifted fine before and I have changed all the bushes.

It still shifts fine and I can get 5th but it gets wedged in 5th (as shown in the photo) because the 'pawl'.

I guess the top plate needs to move to the right to allow the 'pawl' to clear the lever.

I'll try to readjust to the right and forward as Arne suggested.

Devil is in the detail I guess - when I had it adjusted one way it gave a mechanical click from the two levers on the left moving upwards every time I selected 5th!!

Thanks

Arne points out another adjustment to confirm.

When the lever is in neutral, the lever should be vertical and rest midway between the shift housing opening (defined by the rubber buffer under the factory carrier plate. If it's not, loosen the clamp securing the shift shaft to the shift coupler just enough to allow any needed fore/aft adjustment.

Before loosening anything, add reference marks on adjacent parts so you have a known beginning as well as return point.

It took me a 2nd try after the initial install to align everything properly. I also had to adjust the shift coupler. What I "thought" was good was off by a spline or two and the difference was night and day. Adjust. Check. Rinse/repeat as necessary.

I too, had the same issue after installing Seine kit and new bushings. Not a fault of the parts but set up. As has already been said, you'll need to get it just right. I was catching the reverse pawl one out of ten shifts, not each time. In my case the adjustment needed to clear the pawl was to move the shifter a tiny bit forward, not left or right.

Put car in 5th. Loosen coupler just enough. Bump shifter forward gently. Use a sharpie and mark a line a couple of millimeters forward of where the couple clamps on the shift rod and you can judge your progress. -J

I love mine! Once you get it set, it is consistent. I installed and adjusted mine (welding strongly recommended) with the stock 74 915 in place. Later, I replaced it with a rebuilt 84 915. It bolted right in with no adjustment required at all. Shifts like a champ!

Had a play with it yesterday and you're right, it needed the rear coupler adjusting.
Managed to get it so that 5th didn't catch on the pawl and it all felt lovely.

Put it all back together and realised I had fitted the additional washer on the spring that you don't fit for factory short shift so no first & second gear. Idiot!!

Stripped it down and reassembled without the washer so can now get all gears. It is fine going up through the gears but it really doesn't like to downshift from 3rd to second and occasionally it just slightly buzzes on 3rd to 4th so I'm going to have to revisit the coupler (which I'm dreading).

It does feel great having the spring return though & I like the quality of the kit and the feel it gives, clever idea & really happy I bought it - just a bit of a ball ache to set up.

Can't wait to get it finished & start using it now.


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1397978918.jpg

I bought a used 915 shifter with the Seine unit welded to it.....I had an aftermarket short shifter and perished bushings.

After a complete whisperer bushing redeux I set the "new" shifter in place and adjusted it as I would normally adjust things after a bushing refurb, per instructions found on this board. It worked perfectly.

Great unit, absolutely love it.....wouldn't hesitate to start from scratch knowing what I know now.

Good luck Alex