Gear lever hole cover plate

[JohnMorin]

Hi

After much reading on this site I have bought a gear lever hole cover plate. I always thought that it wasn't right that the centre console moved backwards and forwards with gear changes.

There are no holes in the tunnel on my car for the plate to screw onto so I am wondering how it should be positioned relative to the gear lever components. As the Elan is fitted with the anti sizzle gear lever the upper and lower parts of the lever are not concentric. Which one of these should the plate be aligned with?

Thanks

John

[Foxie]

I didn't know you could actually buy such a thing

Shortly after I got the car I made a cover plate from a piece of light aluminium sheet dimensioned to cover the opening in the fibreglass, with a central opening by trial and error that just cleared the gear lever. This is attached to the fibreglass by 4 screws.

A good tip Alan Voigts gave me when I was fitting his 5-speed box many years ago was to get a large sponge with a hole in the middle for the gear lever, and stuff it into the opening under the cover plate.

If your console is moving around, is it firmly secured by screws on all 4 corners ?

And a rubber concertina type gaiter will transmit more force than the vinyl/leather type.

[JohnMorin]

Hi Foxie

SJ Sports Cars sell them as did Paul Matty. There has been a fair bit of discussion on this forum about it. It seems that most original owners didn't fit them, maybe because they didn't know what it was for.

To my knowledge the centre console was never screwed down there's no mention of screws in the workshop manual, it just says to remove it by lifting it from the rear.

John

[Foxie]

Hi Foxie
To my knowledge the centre console was never screwed down there's no mention of screws in the workshop manual, it just says to remove it by lifting it from the rear.
John

That's correct.

But does it work ?

[Stevie-Heathie]

I fitted my plate a year ago. Trial and error to get the position right, making sure all gears can be selected.

Now the rubber gearstick gaiter has something to “lock” into and no more engine bay fumes in the cockpit - hurrah!

Best
Steve