454 Forfour Stiff Gear Change

OK, so you have removed the gear change selector because the gear change was stiffer than Ron Jeremy. Ideally, you shouldn’t need a hammer to change gears.

The issue is down to the pivot in the selector mechanism arm. See below, the original pivot is hollow and nothing more than a tube with the ends rounded over so it doesn’t slide out. As you can see, the mechanism around it is rusty AF which has seized everything up.

You need to shave off the widened end to give the sleeve room to slide out. You’ll see more clearly in a while. I used a rotary tool with a carbide burr which made light work of the steel insert. You could also use a large drill.

Flip it over and remove the lip on the other side. I used a step drill bit as it was quick and easy.

You need to push the insert out. Remembering that it’s seized, it’s not going to slide out easily. I used a 10mm bolt…

…and gave it a few taps to slide the insert out.

Now you can see why the inside lip had to be removed. Space for removal is tight.

With the pivot pin removed…

…you can disassemble the mechanism and see the issue. Rust.

Clean up the mating faces of both the mechanism…

…and the arm.

Grease all mating faces with a grease. Copper grease is ideal.

To replace the pivot, we are using an aftermarket part for a totally different car. It’s a solid piece of machined aluminium which won’t rust like the pivot pin you removed.

It’s available through eBay or Amazon. It’s for an R50 Mini.

Slide the new pivot into position. Again, grease it before installation.

Push it all the way in and flip it over to reveal the pivot fixing thread.

I would strongly recommend using thread lock fluid or even superglue on the threads to stop the bolt coming out.

Apply the locking fluid to the bolt and tighten it into position. You don’t need to crank on it because the thread lock fluid with keep it in position.

I made this insert myself so the bolt isn’t typical of what you’d get. In the kit linked above you get a high tensile cap head bolt and, for some strange reason, no washer. You really do want a washer since the supplied cap head bolt is smaller than the hole it’s supposed to be retaining against. Without a washer, the bolt will do nothing and the pivot will fall out.

Now let’s compare how free the mechanism is now.

Credit

Thanks to Phil from ww-smart-parts for sending out the seized gear selector mechanism.