wonky gear lever

[ricarbo]

I've got something wonky here, I think. I've just put the engine and gearbox back into my Sprint, after a quick gearbox rebuild which was started over 20 years ago. To my surprise, the hole in the gearbox for the gearlever is not directly under the hole in the body, but to the left. The gearlever is not central to the body, I'm pretty sure it used to be This means I cannot fit the spacers between the frame and resilient mounting, because lifting the gearbox makes the nylon dome at the top touch the bodywork.
I've checked
The engine mountings are the right way up, with the standard mounting on the exhaust side as are the spacers. The special mounting on the inlet side.
I took off the support bracket that the resilient mounting fixes to thinking I maybe had it in backwards, but no, it will only fit one way and anyway it is symmetrical, meaning the bottom of the gearbox is centred ok. Therefore the gearbox must be tilted to the left, so the top is not directly above the bottom. I can see no other possibility.
I've reused everything that came off the car 20 years ago. Nothing replaced other than internal bits of gearbox and engine and the odd lost nut & bolt (thank goodness for Namrick, the nut and bolt store, just round the corner).
I suppose this means the exhaust side engine mounting needs replacing, yet it looks fine to me. I attach some pics, in the hope some kind soul will point me in the right direction.
Many thanks
Richard

[richardcox_lotus]

Your engine is looking to be very horizontal. Mine is chanted over 1 or 2 more degrees than that (and the gear lever cones through just fine)

[pereirac]

Did you use the correct ending mounts? They are not the same on both sides and there should be some spacers between the mounts and the engine block? That might explain why the engine is not slightly slanted. It was a Lotus fix to stop the carbs from hitting the bonnet, if I remember correctly..

Carl

[Geoffers71]

Isn't the engine mount on the exhaust side upside down? It has to be 'U' shaped as a safety measure in the event the rubber fails. Don't know if that will make a difference.

[Grizzly]

This explained the engine mount sides better.....

Note one engine mount has a taper on the bottom edge, that is the carb side mount. (had to go check that one )

Have you checked the Gearbox mount too? mine separated and one first glance looked ok but when i'd drive it the gear selector would jump all over the show.

[Grizzly]

Isn't the engine mount on the exhaust side upside down? It has to be 'U' shaped as a safety measure in the event the rubber fails. Don't know if that will make a difference.

On a stock chassis.....The U bit is bolted to the engine and the centre plate bolted to the Chassis so the U goes on the top so if it fails the motor doesn't fall through (the centre plate catches it).

On a Spyder chassis it's fitted the other way round (four engine holes bolt to the chassis and the two chassis holes bolt to the engine (if that makes sense) so the U is underneath.

[Geoffers71]

Ah yes I see I have a Spyder chassis so mine is the other way up. Sorry

[ricarbo]

Well thanks everyone. I'll try changing the engine mounts for new ones.
atb
Richard

[elanner]

So the question is whether the engine/gearbox is rolling or yawing, right?

From your pictures it looks like it should roll a little more to the exhaust side, to allow Weber air box clearance, which is only going to make the gear lever problem worse.

Are you sure it's not yawing? Do your chassis and cross member have holes drilled for both 4 and 5 speed gearboxes and you're using the wrong holes? (Is that even possible? My chassis has holes to accept 4 & 5 speed cross members, but the cross member only has holes for a 4 speed box, so it's not possible to get it wrong.)

If it's a roll problem wasn't it obvious when you were attempting to fit the spacers, or bolting the gearbox mount to the cross-member? Wouldn't the left to right clearances have been noticeably different?

Nick

[Grizzly]

Do you have the correct Inlet side engine mount fitted? Does it have the lower corner cut off like the picture i attached above of the mounts (the one on the right is the inlet side)

It's common for people to just fit two standard Ford mounts which is wrong.

This is not the best picture but you can see the Inlet side is raised.

All that said i'm not sure how that would effect the gear selector position? just my opinion but i'd be looking at the gear box mount (some thing defiantly not right there)

[ricarbo]

Well, I took the mounts off for a better look. They don't look too much like the ones Grizzly posted, so it's clear it's time for new ones. If you look at mine, the bottom of the plate that bolts to the frame is almost in line with the bottom of the part that bolts to the engine. In other words they have settled too much (even though they've had no weight on them for 20 years!). I don't think it's a yaw problem, Nick, the gearbox resilient mount is pretty much directly under the gear lever and my gearbox mounting bracket can only be fitted one way and that is central to the frame.
I've read in the archives that Tony Thompson does a better grade mount for ?40 per pair, so I think I'll get them. I'll post up a pic of how that goes.
Many thanks, once again.
Regards
Richard

[Grizzly]

Yeh there bin food.

Does the new mounts include the gearbox?

I have been trying to find my old gearbox mount to explain what i meant but have not had any joy. The problem i had was the centre channel (the bit in the picture with the red circle) had separated from the rubber which meant i could move the gear box side to side (it was caused by me raising the engine to fit the Exhaust manifold)

[ricarbo]

Thanks G, No I haven't ordered a new gearbox mount. It is definitely all in one piece and seems fine. Why wouldn't it be - it's only 20+ years old (my attempt at a joke). At the moment the engine is balanced on a scissor jack awaiting the new parts.
regards
Richard

[ricarbo]

Well, I got some new mountings from Tony Thompson and have fitted them. The gearbox position seems to be no better at all. Perhaps I should have a word with Tony Thompson to see if they can sugest anything. I attach some more photos showing the new and old mountings, the new mountings installed, the alignment of the gearbox under the hole for the gearlever, the gearbox sitting on it's mounting and the angle the engine leans. I can't think it's anything other than the mounts, but maybe it is. Can anyone see what's wrong?
I suppose I could try to elongate the holes in gearbox mount to move the gearbox across, but I'm not keen to start butchery.
Many thanks
Richard

[lotusfan]

Richard

Could it be that the hole for the gear lever in the top of the tunnel is not central? Looking at your original photo of May 26 it looks as if the gear lever is central, relative to the cut-out in the dashboard but it does depend on where the camera was. Is the hole in the tunnel central from side to side?

It would do no harm to enlarge the hole to allow the nylon cup to fit correctly but, of course, it does not answer the question why is it different now? Maybe it was wonky before and you did not realise?

Good luck.