Neutral realigning spring thingo

Jimmy · Postby **Jimmy** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 2:02 pm

Please keep in mind that when reading this i have no idea of how a gearbox works and that im explaining it as best i can.

My gearbox seems to have lost the \"spring\" on the left side which aligns the gearstick back to neutral. Atm the gear stick is \"loose\" when in neutral and moving it to the left (ie towards 1st and 2nd gear but in neutral). Moving it to the right feels nice and tight, its just the left which is the problem. Although this doesn't bother me in the slightest im wondering if the \"spring\" can easily be replaced (ie not stripping down the gearbox) or is it a case of buying a new turret (can you do that?)

Jimmy.

Jimmy · Postby **Jimmy** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 8:16 pm

Any thoughts?

SuperMazdaKart · Postby **SuperMazdaKart** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 8:21 pm

doesn't bother you in the slightest?

surprising since you are such a perfectionist..

Jimmy · Postby **Jimmy** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 8:30 pm

SuperMazdaKart wrote:doesn't bother you in the slightest?

surprising since you are such a perfectionist..

Sorry, what i meant was that it has no impact at all upon gear changes. All gears are very smooth to engage. Id just prefer it if the neutral spring was there.

sirbob · Postby **sirbob** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 10:11 pm

Im guessing here, but AFAIK the spring return for the gear selectors is actually internal in the gearbox itself. (At least it was on the two gearboxes i've pulled out of non-mx5's)

Thus it may be a difficult thing the fix properly.

One solution, and where i would start looking, is the bushes at the base of the gearstick itself. Maybe that these are worn and are causing the problem. These are relatively cheap to fix and easy to replace. If replacing the bush doesnt cure the problem, then you could probably dodgey up a spring at the base of the gear stick to do what you want it to do.

Personally i've never seen this happen before, and i'm not sure exactly what, or how, the gear stick sits in neutral like that.

In any case is it really that big of a deal? I mean how often are you in neutral anyway? (Other than traffic lights)

Matty · Postby **Matty** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 10:25 pm

The springs are supposed to be different stiffness.

Sheck · Postby **Sheck** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 7:44 am

check to see if the rubber boot hasn't perished, when i put a new one on my car it felt like the 'spring' was fixed and also if your shifter plate thingy is tightened down properly. There seems to be a descent amount of movement when these things are loose/old.

Dave