New Shifter

[edward ericson]

Well, gents, I bit the bullet after Carlisle and ordered a Vintage Speed shifter to replace my sloppy stock unit.

Holy crap it’s nice!

Suddenly, first gear is where it should be, as is second, and getting second isn’t an adventure in search, hoping to miss reverse. Third is oh-so notchy and sweet. And 4th just clicks into place. Up or down the gears, any speed (so far). It’s night and day.

I was slightly inspired by Happy Jack’s shifter, which feels similar to my new one, but confused the heck out of me when I drove his car. Jack’s is pre-loaded towards 3-4. I was going from first to 4th on his because of my visceral fear of pulling it toward me and hitting reverse instead of second. 

The Speedster guys also love these shifters. Spendy-like, but really nice and look the part in a Speedster, with either a low bend or mid-shaft bend. 

I wanted no bend (as TD shift levers are straight). But the Speedster guys said you just email or call the guy when you order and he’ll make the thing custom at no extra charge. And so I did. ordered the 10 1/2-inch sport shifter with no bend, and he got right back to me and sent it in like two days. It was here Thursday.

Installed it looks just like the old one–except chrome. Like a TD. I modded my existing tunnel cover to work with the big housing on the new shifter. 

The reverse lock-out is lift instead of push. The lock-out plate is beefier than stock and easier to adjust. The shaft does not spin like the stock one so the knob can be oriented right and it stays that way. 

Oh so sweet.

More details and photos here.

edsnova2015-05-25 22:25:35

[Paul Mossberg]

Nice!

Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica Roadster

If you own a TDr and are not in the Registry, please go to https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mg-td-replica-registry/ and register (you need to copy and paste the link)

[Bill Gould]

edsnova wrote:

The shaft does not spin like the stock one so the knob can be oriented right and it stays that way.

I’ve always wondered why my shift knob rotates as I drive.

1981 Lafer TI
1600 cc Type 1 engine

[Derek]

That there is perty!  Gotta check them out now!

[HappyJack]

Hey Ed,

I assume that a knob goes on top of the shaft???  And that the knob presses down to unlock reverse???

Other than not having the 3 – 4 bias, how does this shifter compare to my shifter in Emma?  (an EMPI short,  Trigger shifter)?

I’m sorry we ran out of time at Carlisle and I did not get to try driving your TD — maybe when we get to Va Beach in October — we could revisit a side-by-side BCW-to-BCW Subi-to-big VW comparison……by then I should have my rusty parts sorted out…….

[edward ericson]

Hope so, Jack!

No, this shifter is lift the shift knob to get reverse. You actually are lifting the whole lever. It’s like the old Chevy/Hurst shifters. The feel of the gear selection is much like your shifter, in terms of positive feel, lack of “slop,” etc. It’s not identical though we’d have to test side-by-side to discern the differences.

Hopefully we’ll do that in a couple months.

edsnova2015-05-26 22:42:09

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