Gear lever bush replacement and rewiring the overdrive switch

When I got the car the gear lever looked lovely... but there were problems! Firstly the gear knob was loose and tended to rotate around the gear stick. Not surprisingly this strained the wiring to the overdrive switch which in my car is mounted in the gear knob, leading to an intermittent fault. Secondly, when I removed the gaiter to address this issue, I discovered a litany of past bodges and half a sofa in terms of foam wrapped around the gear lever- presumably to control vibration and noise. I did make a temporary fix so that the overdrive worked again but in the longer term it was clear that I will need to rewire the switch and also replace the nylon bush at the base of the gear lever which can cause vibration when its worn and may well have been responsible for all the past troubles. 

The overdrive switch simply pops out of the gear lever by twisting a screwdriver in the front slot

Gear lever and gaiter secured by 4 cross head screws.

Gaiter ring screws. One of these is smaller than the others and this fits at the front of the ring.

Lifting up the ring reveals the foam padding I had found previously

The conical ring below the knob is screwed down away from the gear knob

The overdrive switch just slips off the two contacts beneath so you can look inside the knob...

... and the slotted ring inside the knob is removed by unscrewing using a fine screwdriver to push it round.

Then the knob can be removed revealing my previous packing! (which I now remove)

The gaiter then lifts off revealing...

.. the mass of insulating tape and chocbox junction points left over from previous bodges.

The  console will then come off but you have to remove this screw at the back of the console tray

Console removed.

... and bad wiring assembly separated from the gear lever- its chaos with lumpy dodgy contacts. The yellow wire passes through 2 choc box junctions and three wire colours before joining the switch!

Although its probably not absolutely necessary, I removed the under tray by removing the three short cross head screws and their spring washers from the front.

Removing the lower plate...

...opens up access. The gear lever is held on by three special (shouldered) bolts passing through special (Thackery) spring washers and securing the horseshoe mounting ring (slot faces forwards).

Removing the three bolts- take great care not to drop them or their washers

I didn't want the wires to disappear down the hole either so I held them with string.

Horse-shoe plate removed..

... and the gear lever then lifts out- it should bring the old nylon bush (this one red) with it

The socket needs cleaning up- just visible inside is the small brass rod that acts to take up any clearance as an anti rattle system (about 2 O'clock). Just visible at 12 O'clock is the guide pin that prevents the gear lever from rotating in the socket. The brass rod can be lifted out carefully,  use a magnet to fish out the spring behind if it doesn't come out inside the rod. Give everything a good clean

Anti rattle brass rod and spring... not clear here but the brass rod had a sharp burred edge and has clearly distorted in use. There wasn't a lot of  grease in the housing. I removed the burring with a file to let it slide more easily over the gear lever ball. Pack the rod with grease and insert the spring.

The gear lever components separated.

Cleaned up socket and all fixings.

It was then time to sort out the overdrive switch. I decided to replace all the cobbled together sections with new flexible silicone wire. This has to fit within the gear lever slot so I first tested that the wires were not too thick.

Testing the new wires for fit in the lever groove.

The problem is that the overdrive switch has unusual connectors. They look like round pin connectors (or possibly female bullets) that are being misused in the this application! They connect not to a pin, but to a thin plate which slips into the seam slot of the contacts. However the main problem I have is that I don't have any more of these contacts and so had to use the originals again. Last time I had joined them by soldering them onto fresh wire, but the soldered section is stiff and cumbersome. It doesnt fit easily into the gear knob and rather undermines the purpose of using flexible thinner wire. I was forced to carefully uncrimp the terminals from their old wires and connect them to the new with a combination of crimping and soldering. I fitted bullet connectors to the other ends of the new wires to replace the various choc-box junctions.

Round pin connectors? Slots visible that grip onto the plate contacts in the overdrive switch.

I polished up the ball sections of the gear lever on the brass wheel before greasing them and fitting the new nylon bush- more grease on the outside of that.

Greased lever, new bush on end.

Do not forget to replace the brass rod and its spring in the side of the socket. Then you can align the slot in the lever ball with the socket guide pin and the lever then pushes downwards into the socket. Its a bit of a springy contact and is held down against this springy-ness by the horseshoe plate so you need to refit this with its thee bolts and washers. You can then refit the lower tunnel cover plate and feed the two wires through.

Horse-shoe plate and lower tunnel cover plate installed

... and connect the new using the bullets

New wires connected

Refit the console- again feeding the overdrive wires through the console, up inside the gear gaiter and through the keyway slot in the lever where they can be held with the conical ring nut. I inserted a length of tubing to take up any room left in the lever slot and allow the key inside the gear knob to grip- probably not necessary unless the gear knob is worn as in my case.

New wires fed up inside the gaiter and through the lever slot. The conical nut holds them in position., Here I am testing a piece of packing tube to take up any space in the groove keyway.

Push the gear knob down over the wires and onto the lever engaging the inner key with the slot in the lever. Refit the ring nut inside the gear knob and then screw the base cone back up against the gear knob to hold it tight. Finally, reconnect the overdrive switch contacts and clip the switch down into position.

Reconnecting the overdrive switch

Finally job done! Don't forget to reinsert the screw at the rear of the tray in the console.