Cable shifter ala Seat Cupra champs cars

As much as I hate the 'kin things I'm going to have to fit cable change as I'm going VR6 with my mk2.

Seat cupra championship cars have a frame built up in the car to raise the gear lever to the drivers hand, wondering whether I could do something similar.....

I'll add a few pics in a bit



Click for mk5 GTI race car

Chris Eyre and myself spoke about this before and thought you couldn't run the handbrake lever in standard position, so that would be a pain in the t1ts for a start.

I love the look of the motorsport shifters that SteveR and RobT etc have tho too...

Would it need longer cables ?

Also, my Passat donor has the longest travel of any gearchange I've ever felt - If I don't get a motorsport shifter...Can I use the shifter lever gubbins and cables and shift mech on top of the 'box?) from a later car (mk4... Polo... Skoda... Seat??)

 

i plan to build somthing similar to the frame in the mk5 race car and this mk4 i saw @ autosport:


it would allow me to loose the tower part of my shifter and just mount the hnige part direct onto the frame, there is a bit of flex in the tower at the moment, the frame should remove that.

I was planning to keep the handbrake in the stock location, it should be accessable between the frame supports if you didn't fit the carbon fibre panel as shown in the pic above.

try this pace for a shifter: http://www.cae-racing.de/

 

If you fit a motorsport style shifter you use custom cables:
These are very good quality with spherical bearing eye ends and next to no backlash in the cable

This removes the vague feel of the cable change. My track car gearshift is very positive and has a solid mechanical type feel where as my G60 road car suffers from the usual cable change sloppy feel.

 

I'm planning to use these cables on the carbon fiber and aluminium gear shifter I'm building at the moment: -
http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/products/ProductDetail.asp?cls=MSPORT&pcode=B/M80830

And if you fancy having a go at building a shifter youself they also do the ball fittings: -
http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/products/ProductDetail.asp?cls=MSPORT&pcode=TRSQRBS-L
And this thread may be of interest to you.
http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=1800921&page=1

Work on my gearshifter has come to a halt at the moment as there was a fire in the unit next to mine (was VERY lucky, the only casualty was some fiberglass that got a bit wet when the water main in the cavity wall burst due to the fire). Anyway should be moved into a new place for the end of this month and the prototype should be finished a few weeks after that. I'm hoping to get the price down to around 500 per shifter without cables. If your interested PM me.

 

interesting vortex thread, thanks for the link. It threw up a few good pic's:

 

Cheers for the info guys, Steve I've driven your car remember, thats why I want this type of thing!

And your gearbox....



http://www.cae-racing.de

 

GVK i think it's any mk4 shifter, phatty will know when he recovers

 

mines mounted top side.... std ibiza cables at the mo apart from the g'box ends which are now metal not ****e VAG plastic.
its higher as its mounted inside the car not beneath.
B&M shortshift and all works well.

much as i like the motorsport shifters (ringspan make em.. Gordon) they are very close physically on the gearstick (stub) to the point it worrys me about grabbing the wrong one in the heat of battle. They are very close across the gate.
I know RobT modified his to allow a more even gate.

 

I always use mk4 02j shifter and modify the 02a solector tower to shorten the throw.
The tunnel only needs slight modifcation to fit under or you can make a tower to mount it higher and use custom cables.

 

If you're going to struggle with the handbrake in the std position why not do like the WRC rally boys do and have a vertical lever. Great for hairpins!
Barkstar

 

Good idea, but they're a hydralic handbrake generally...

 

Any idea which vehicles came with a longish lever.. Galaxy/Sharan perhaps? Or are they all 6 speed?

Can a 6 spd shift lever mech be used on a 5 spd?

 

The 6 speed cannot be used i think on the 02A unless you use custom cables, the 5 speed items with the adjustabled ends are good to use (but may not be the best for track users, but i have run mine for 2 years on track without a problem) . just put ball joints ( as found on powerlifters or the TSR 020 shifter ball joint kit ) on the 02A gearbox and that will work. I mounted my Shifter from a mk4 inside the car and it sits about 2 inches above the metal and fits just nice with the center console still in ( mk2 16v)

 

If you want a longer lever use a mk5 R32 or A3 3.2 quattro similar remote box as a 02j but taller.
1999 on 02j/02m remote towers are the same

 

Thanks for that Dan, i'll get hunting

Had a word with my mate and he's got some pipe benders and reckons he can build a frame ala the mk5 Golf racer.

 

Took some pics of the VW racing mk5 GTI at inters.

Luckily the bottom of the heater box comes off in the mk2 to allow the cables to be routed through teh bulkhead.



Pics of roll cage for good measure.


Got a complete mk4 R32 shifter and cables.
We're going to build a shorter version for the mk2 so the stock handbrake can be still used.

 

... well good job the tubing I bought for doing this only cost a fiver, as we made the first right angled bend and it squashed/fecked the pipe.


So scrapped that idea and just made a right angled plate with two m8 nuts welded inside to mount the rear of the shifter on top of the tunnel and a 'bridging piece' over the studded mounts at the front of it, secured with some nutserts in the tunnel to allow it to be easliy removeable if a cable needs changing.

Welded up the hole in the tunnel where the old rod change lever came into the car.

 

some racer push bike forks might be a similar shape, normally loads of bikes at the council tip, loads of tubes and bends for nowt

 

You could install an entire Mk4 set up - lever, cables and 'box tower.

Shift quality is v. good, you know exactly where you are in the gate.

The motorsport shifters can be a little vague and they don't have self centre springs on the lever, so without modification (IM and others' O) they can be a liability.

 

Engine destroying liability......not any more though - got a mod that makes it sprung like a std shifter - pics very soon