Gates of Heaven

My gear lever has always been a noisy so-and-so; not a gearbox problem, just the play in the GBS quickshift mechanism so it vibrates at almost all speeds.

Combined this with watching a video of an old Ferrari with its metal gate for the gearshift and I decided to try make my own. 

To start, a cardboard template cut a little at a time to get the basic H-shape:

I bought an 8mm thick ally plate and transferred the shape from the cardboard template onto it. The cardboard template wasn't the most accurate; I re-drew the shape on paper and made some minor adjustments in the dimensions. Not very scientific; look at the lever, see where it isn't quite right on the cardboard, subtract a few mm. 

I don't have the equipment needed to make this look even vaguely decent so I took the plate and measurements to a local metalwork shop. He did charge me a fortune (£200) but the result was AWESOME:

Some sandpaper to clean out the letters and a few coats of primer, paint, lacquer:

The next part was pretty crucial; getting holes drilled in my tunnel top in the right place. Much agonising later and it was done:

It looks great, I think but does it work? Ish... the lever slots in fine and in 1st, 2nd and 5th, the rattle is gone. However, 4th and especially 3rd is worse than it was before; now a full-on metal-on-metal rattle. Doh! But I think some strategically placed neoprene underneath the gate will do the trick - we'll see.

Otherwise, I love the look and adds something different from the norm.

Keeping it Cleaner

While watching a repeat of Wheeler Dealers, the guy on there was talking about the oil scavenging system on a Volvo. He was explaining what it did (redirected fumes from the top of the engine back into the inlet manifold, so that it reburnt the fumes/oil, making the exhaust emissions cleaner) and he dismissively mentioned how older cars might just vent these fumes and oil to air - and guess what Zedster does? Yup, this is my setup:

I have never liked this setup, mainly because it does add an oil mist to my engine bay, as you can see in that pic. So, a bit of shopping found a nice, shiny oil catch tank for £30 and, with a new filter, it was pretty quick to fit, looks good and should keep the bay a bit cleaner:

Its got a sight glass on the side so will be interesting to see how long it takes to fill up, if ever.