Fith in five

[c.garde]

Thank you to John P. Clegg for a worthwhile comment.
Yes and No!
The purpose of the spring in question is to secure that the chosen gear will not jump out of position.
( this function also being assisted by a loose plunger and a small spring/ball arrangement in the interlock system )
IF this ( jumping out ) should happen ( with a spring too weak ) the system will have to go through neutral in which position the crossgate plunger will kick the selector back to 3-4 position .
To go directly from 5th to reverse or vise versa ) you will have to apply a deliberate push against the crossgate spring/ plunger . ( a friend of mine overshot the wish for a passive selection of 3-4 when in neutral. And he did in fact experience some accidental toothbrushing in his RH.car ). )
On my LH drive sprint my pull in the gearlever downshifting from 5th. will in fact assist the crossgate action to keep out of harms way. I goes into 3-4 position so smoothly.
On the other hand pushing out of reverse might have the opposite effect. But it does not . No problem at all.
On your Rh drive you can reverse this issue.
Summing up: I have updated to a completely different driving experience : No longer changing lane when going in and out of 5th gear is a nice thing. . So NO!: no 5th. in reverse .
I have yet to experience a dropping out gear. Something that actually DID happen when car was brand new. So maybe I have found a good balance ?
Hoping this will clarify. -and it would be nice to get feedback if anybody is introducing this simple and reversible mod.
Best regards C.Garde