Anyone else experienced this? (1st gen shifter issue)
Anyone ever ponder why Mitsubishi re-designed the shifter in 93? Do you think it was to make the car sportier? Or do you think they were solving a problem?
After several experiences and observations over the last few years, I'm starting to lean toward the later...
Let's go back about three years, when I rebuilt the trans in a local owner's 91 VR4. Got it all together, and it worked like crap... I spent a ton of time trying to make that damn thing work correctly. The synchros seemed to hold just fine, it would downshift fine, if you were getting after it banging gears it worked great. Any mellow cruising, or grandma shifting, it would clunk and crash into gears. I had that damn thing apart at least three times checking every pre-load, synchro clearance, gears, sliders, dog springs, etc... I tried several different kinds of oils, I had a couple conversations on the phone with Ray about it, I did a ton of research, and became very educated how all the parts in a synchro assembly work together. I formulated a tentative theory on what was going on,meanwhile checking for clutch problems, linkage problems, etc. But it just continued to kick my ass...
I did end up finding some sloppy parts in the shifter cables, and after fixing them it did get better. It also seemed to get better with time as the synchros bedded in... I got it to a point the customer was happy with the way it worked, but I was never personally satisfied. I've driven several early cars since that worked in a similar manner, where if I didn't have that experience stuck in my head, I'd automatically assume they needed synchros. But after that, I would wonder if there was really anything wrong with the trans....
Fast forward to last week... I finished a project for a California member that included rebuilding the trans. Guess what? Deja vu.... Now this guy spent a ton of money on a full rebuild, 300m shaft, Quaife front diff, Willwood brake kit, sway bars, rebuild steering rack, fixed some oil leaks, etc... One thing he definitely deserved was a properly working car that was a joy to drive... I was not going to let this one get out of my sight without a true fix.
One thing I was absolutely sure of this time, was that there was nothing wrong inside the trans... Pulling it back out would have been a snipe hunt. I did find some bad bushings in the shifter, and I'm sure it would have helped, but I kept remembering my last bout with this issue. I couldn't help but think there was a design issue if every single part in the linkage had to be perfect for the trans to shift worth a damn. As I was driving it, I continued to build on my assessment of the first battle, and came to the conclusion that if you shifted it very quickly, it was fine, but if you used a normal easy shift motion, it was shifting too slowly, kicking back, and the synchro keys were popping back. I also found that if I grabbed the shifter down low, well below the knob, and used the same shift action and speed, (but with a shorter ratio) the problem was almost gone...
So being as I needed to pull the shifter anyway to change the bushings, I went out and yanked the shifter out of my 95, lubed it up and bolted it in the car....
Fixed... It's now a perfectly shifting trans that I'll be proud to deliver to a happy customer.
