Bushwhacked
Another busy month at university meant I’ve had limited time available to play with cars. In my previous diary, I mentioned that selecting gears in the Hawk was proving more and more tricky, so I’ve begun to investigate this a little bit more.
The remote selector system fitted to the car has been modified in the past: the car began life with a Ferrari Dino engine and gearbox, but since then an Alfa unit has been fitted. However, the car still retains part of the original Ferrari remote selector, connected to the Alfa gearbox with a custom-made rose-jointed linkage system. The gearbox in the car has never felt as slick as I’d have liked, but had been gradually been getting worse and worse.
The car was proving especially difficult to engage properly in first, second, fifth and reverse gears. Logic indicated that these were the gears that were at the extreme edges of the remote selector gate, and therefore, the ones requiring the longest amount of throw to engage. A large amount of free play through the gear lever was apparent, before any movement at the gearbox end could be felt.
It was a simple matter to determine which end the ‘slack’ was at. While I sat in the car and wiggled the lever, Dad observed under the rear clam that nothing was happening at that end – meaning that the free play was in the remote itself. Accessing the top of the remote was no mean feat. Removal of the seats and interior carpets was necessary, before removing the centre console, which was held in with bolts and rivnuts that had rusted and required drilling out. With that finally removed, the top could be taken from the remote housing, and the selector mechanism revealed.
The selector comprises of a rod that moves fore-to-aft, and also rotates to allow side-to-side movement of the gear lever. At the bottom of the gear lever is a plastic bushing that fits into a cup on the rod, and it would appear that this is where the play in the system is coming from – for reasons unknown so far! I have ordered some (pricey) replacement parts and will hopefully be able to update you all on the situation next time.
The XJ6 has been suffering from electrical issues.