Quick shifts?

[floz123]

Basically guys I've been looking at these cheapy short shift kits and wondered if they are worth getting? Anyone had any experience with these....?

http://item.mobileweb.ebay.co.uk/viewite...2491532777

Cheers

[Matt]

What you want is a compbrake quickshift I just so happen to have one in the shed



Nah they are much better, they hardly look worth the money. Compbrake or a grifths engineering one will do the trick.


Or get both. So you can quickshift your quickshift, so that you can quickshift quicker while quickshifting

[floz123]

Hmmm...quick shifting quicker whilst quick shifting quickly sounds appealing
What kind of condition is yours in and what do you want for it?

[Niall]

You dont want to run both. Will be far too quick and you can potentially damage a gearbox like that so im told

[Diggers]

Bro got one of them ones. He's got a crunching in his gearbox now. And changed to a hdi box and the same lol

[Matt]

Compbrake quickshift I have is brand new never used, will have to be a good offer for me too part as
I plan to fit but I know I could do with the cash lol

[floz123]

Yeah I've heard some bad things about the quick shifts causing the boxes to crunch. Used them before on an old mini and worked fine. Currently on my second gearbox now but the throw could definitely do with reducing lol.

And Matt I'm not sure what they go for usually so will have to do some research.
Does anyone know what the eBay ones are actually like though?

[Piggy]

Got very same one...its ace...does crunch occasionally into second but it did before and I rarely use the clutch so its my own fault

I believe the compbrake ones are adjustable??

[floz123]

So it would appear that the compbrake is the one to go for...keeping the original shaft. Already seen nialls guide and looks like a piece of cake to fit! I especially agree with the 'making tea' stage. Lol

[Dum-Dum]

IMO both the compbrake ones and griffiths ones are compromised in that they slip out of position, the B&M style ones (as youve linked to) dont have this issue and is what id go for.


If your shift is feeling sloppy try some solid gear linkages as saggy linkages cause alot of the sloppyness felt in the shift.

[Niall]

you can adjust the compbrake one to where you want it then drill dimples into the rod for the grub screws to lock into. That way it wont come loose.

[cwspellowe]

^^this

Also, the combrake ones damage 'boxes if they're poorly adjusted. The circular base of them means the forwards/backwards movement starts to curve round at the end of the throw and puts sideways pressure on the linkage while it's in gear. Simply altering the fulcrum point does nothing to damage gearboxes.

If you adjust the combrake style ones so there's no fouling of the gearstick movement there'll be NO issues at all with synchros/'boxes etc

[floz123]

I was thinking about these solid linkages tbf. Where do you get them from?

However still undecided on which one to go for. The compbrake ones do also claim a 20% shorter throw over the B&M style one which is tempting. Providing as you lot say....that they are set up correctly. Hmmm

[cwspellowe]

To paraphrase a certain British Intelligence agent with bad teeth...

Allow myself to explain.. myself.

This is what the normal gearstick movement is for selecting second gear. Across, and back. Nice and easy.



The black circle shows the maximum available travel of the gearstick in the standard mount assuming it wasn't connected to the gearbox. as you can see, all gears can be selected as they are within range of the gearstick's maximum travel.

Now let's look at a cross section of the Compbrake style quickshifter..



The locking collars of the gearstick (which aren't present on an OEM gearstick) contact the underside of the billet mount and limit the total movement of the gearstick. If you move the fulcrum of the gearstick too far, the movement of the gearstick is limited so much it has an affect on gear selection, as per below:



As you can see now, limiting the movement of the gearstick means the natural resting position of the gearstick in gears 1, 2, 4 and 6 (or reverse) is compromised. This means the movement of the gearstick to select a gear has to curve at the end of its travel (blue arrow in pic). This means the gearstick is resting in an unnatural position when in gear, and the lateral load ie, the difference between the natural resting position and the new resting position (shown by the green arrow) puts pressure on the synchros of the gearbox and may well cause premature failure.

Correct adjustment of the assembly however should have no ill effects on the gearbox.

[miles]

A good std set up is fine I think, Get a new L or quadrant on the subframe as these wear making the shift longer with some good rods and I never use anything else, I even remove quick shifts as I hate them all with a passion, the Griff's clip on style ones are by far the worst

[floz123]

Thanks for the input guys. Think I'm gonna change the rods and ball joints first. Where's a good place to get them and is there an alternative upgrade?

[Just Sean]

I have the linked QS. Have had it for aslong as ive owned the car,about 2 years and i love it!

Would not hesitate to order one for my next car, or any car after

[cwspellowe]

Thanks for the input guys. Think I'm gonna change the rods and ball joints first. Where's a good place to get them and is there an alternative upgrade?

See the post above yours, miles does some lovely linkages for very reasonable dollah

[puglove]

i have the cheapy GE quick shift . does shorten the throw. they are ok. requier abit of adjusting and testing.

[floz123]

Might just look at making my own rods....how hard can it be!! Lol

Stuck on which shifter to go for now though...might try both and see which I prefer as at the end of the day...its one of those things which comes down to personal opinion

[Niall]

Another point to note
The GE one only shortens the throw into gear. Moving the knob from side to side is still the same as standard whereas the compbrake one shortens both back and forward and side to side throw

[Dave]

What you need is to just shorten the levers on your box with a welder

[Ben]

I'd definately uprate the gear linkages before getting a quickshift. New linkages make such a huge difference you quite likely won't want anything else.