Hi all, In my MK2 I'm running an ABF converted to bike carbs. The car originally was a 1.3 4 speed so the engine swap meant upgrading to a new 5 speed as well as having to swap the shifter rod that runs underneath the car to one that is slightly longer (I believe it's only the 4 speeds that have a shorter rod). Anyway, I've done a full bushing replacement on the whole gear linkage and also used that "VW Specialist" alignment tool, maybe I've done it wrong, I don't know. I struggle to get 1st gear quite often, the gear selecting doesn't quite seem like a 'H' pattern. I struggle to get 5th too sometimes. Before using the gear aligner I often had an issue where I'd try 1st and it'd go into reverse so it has done some good. Maybe trying to realign is the solution but I'm not sure. The shifting just doesn't feel precise and and it can be quite hard to get 1st and 2nd as I say. Any help would be massively appreciated and if anyone could shed some light onto precisely how to do the gear alignment or what I may have done wrong, that'd be great. From what I recall, I: 1. Put the car in neutral 2. Cracked the clamp off holding the rod at the back of the engine bay 3. Fitted the alignment plate 4. Retightened the rod to the new 'neutral' position
Uploading photos seems to be a pain on this forum. I know which one you mean, it didn’t come separate trust me. The kit was similar to this but more I believe. https://images.app.goo.gl/UY6Sd1wgEuix39fy9
Is the reverse lockout the white plastic bit? That’s in great condition too. 2nd, 3rd, 4th are all fine
go through the gears while someone watches, check for play in the 2 plastic end selector rods etc. ive had new pattern rods which had more play than original 30 year old rods... you could try tweaking the alignment slightly over see if that helps. but selecting 1st isnte very easy unless you're pretty much at a stand still its just how they are
I’ll look for play in the plastic ended rods then I haven’t driven it since I changed the bushings, just been shifting it on the driveway so it’s very unlikely that they’re worn out but could just be poor condition. I’ve got a feeling I threw the old ones away though which would be a pain.
I got a selection of parts from 3/4 brand on Autodoc and cobbled together the best I could from that. For me orange bushes were okay, and one Febi Rod and one VW rod are good too. I'm using the original ball at the base of the gearstick as mine wasn't worn. The worst parts in my setup were the "relay shaft" thing with a clear ball on it, check its actually round/the right size, my replacement had a very homemade style to them. The vertical bushes that hold the U shaped bracket in the engine bay were also dire and were way too loose so check those too
Thanks for this bud. Sounds very helpful. I’ll check the quality of the bushings I got. Very frustrating thing to have to be doing if you’re expecting something new and high quality!
Yeah it’s not the best, I’m going to make my own relay shaft ball/cylinder from oil filled nylon, and probably remake the vertical bushes too. I actually got a new JP group u shaped bracket kit and the bolt was about 2mm too small for the bush, the bushes were too small for housing and the bracket was different dimensions to the original. It’s a joke really
Replacing the relay "golf ball" with a correctly sized barrel or roller, is the single best improvement on a rod change. I've fitted dozens.
