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Gearshift Improvement Kit
for Stevens Esprit (pre’98)
by Lotusbits.com
Pre ‘98MY Stevens Esprit’s suffer from deterioration in the gear shift quality as time goes on, sometimes resulting in difficulty or even inability to select gears. Even on cars that haven’t gone quite this far, owners are often disappointed with the quality of the gearshift.
Given the long length of the cables that operate the gearshift and the design of the mechanism, any free play or excess friction in the path between gear-stick and gearbox can lead to problems. In order to restore the shift quality, all sources of friction or free play need to be minimised.There are a number of areas that contribute to the problem:-
• Deterioration in the bushes at the base of the gear-stick where the cables attach.
• Damage to the shift cables themselves (heat damage or crushing of the protective sleeve)
• Free play in the rod ends that join to the translator assembly
• Seizure of the translator bearings due to dirt and water ingress
• Seizure or free play in the rod ends of the tie rod assembly (rod ends) that anchor the translator to the support bracket (exhaust cradle).
• Seizure of the cross shaft support bearing (early cars only).We are developing a set of solutions to replace or upgrade the problem components and are pleased to be able to make the first kit available now.
Work of our own ’89 SE turbo has shown that big improvements to the shift quality can be made by replacing the translator bearings and rod ends. On our vehicle the translator bearings had nearly seized, causing the gearshift to become heavy. Further more, the cable end ball joints (rod ends) where exhibiting so much free play that much of the cable motion was lost before even reaching the translator.
Our kit provides specially ordered, UK made stainless steel rod ends for the cable ends and the translator tie rod. These 4 rod ends are corrosion resistant and are massively superior in quality, durability and function to alternatives being offered by some other Lotus parts suppliers. The kit also includes 2 replacement translator bearings featuring double water seals to help keep the dirt out. Finally the kit includes stainless steel A2 rated nylock nuts and locking nuts to fix the new rod ends in place on the translator body, cable ends and on the tie rod.
The complete kit is available for £65 including UK p&p. (Discount available for Club Members.) If you would like to order a kit please contact malc@holmessato.freeserve.co.uk. Payment can be arranged via Paypal or by cheque
Esprit gearshift kit – fitting update
Care points during fitting.1. On some translator bodies, the owner may find that the studded part of the rod end may not fully fit through the mounting hole in the translator body. This is due to a small section of the stud that is not threaded near the base of the stud that has a fractionally larger diameter than the threaded section. Some translators may have a build up of dirt or even a small tolerance issue that means this small section will not easily go into the hole.
In order to avoid this problem I recommend that the holes in the translator body are cleared in this area using a 6.5mm HSS drill bit. This can be done by hand since the hole only needs to be cleared in the area where the un-threaded section of the stud is interfering with the edge of the hole (to a depth of no more than 2mm).
2. Take care not to over tighten the nylock nuts! Due to the length of the stud being limited to 12mm (this is standard for M6 studded rod ends), the stud will not always protrude through the nylock fixing nut fully. Don’t be tempted to over tighten to try to achieve this. The thread is long enough to reach the nylock section of the nut, but not to go all the way through it. If you are in any doubt use thread lock on the threads to insure a reliable fix for the nut.
We looking for a used gearshift (gear-stick) assembly and an early gearbox cross shaft extension from a Stevens car to help us develop the next steps in our quest for improved shift quality! If you can help us out, please let us know.
LEW Verdict
This is something that all Esprits need to look at at some point during there life time. The translator lives in a very inhospitable place, where heat, water and dirty attack it regularly. Also it's hard to notice just how bad your gearchange has become due to how slow the processes is. You'll get use to how bad it is without realizing it.
LEW recommends looking closely at the condition of your translator and changing the parts if they need doing. It will make the pleasure of driving your Esprit all the better. This is something you shouldn't overlook.
If you have any comments, feel free to e-mail us at admin@lotusespritworld.com
Gearlinkage
Kit |
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LotusBits
Gearlinkage Kit |
Third-Party
Seller
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Prices: £65 |
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