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Gearshift Improvement Kit
for Stevens Esprit (pre’98)
by Espritism.com

Pre ‘98MY Stevens Esprit’s suffer from deterioration in the gear shift quality as time goes on, sometimes resulting in difficulty or even inability to select gears. Even on cars that haven’t gone quite this far, owners are often disappointed with the quality of the gearshift.
Given the long length of the cables that operate the gearshift and the design of the mechanism, any free play or excess friction in the path between gear-stick and gearbox can lead to problems. In order to restore the shift quality, all sources of friction or free play need to be minimised.

There are a number of areas that contribute to the problem:-
• Deterioration in the bushes at the base of the gear-stick where the cables attach.
• Damage to the shift cables themselves (heat damage or crushing of the protective sleeve)
• Free play in the rod ends that join to the translator assembly
• Seizure of the translator bearings due to dirt and water ingress
• Seizure or free play in the rod ends of the tie rod assembly (rod ends) that anchor the translator to the support bracket (exhaust cradle).
• Seizure of the cross shaft support bearing (early cars only).

We are developing a set of solutions to replace or upgrade the problem components and are pleased to be able to make the first kit available now.

Work of our own ’89 SE turbo has shown that big improvements to the shift quality can be made by replacing the translator bearings and rod ends. On our vehicle the translator bearings had nearly seized, causing the gearshift to become heavy. Further more, the cable end ball joints (rod ends) where exhibiting so much free play that much of the cable motion was lost before even reaching the translator.

 

Our kit provides specially ordered, UK made stainless steel rod ends for the cable ends and the translator tie rod. These 4 rod ends are corrosion resistant and are massively superior in quality, durability and function to alternatives being offered by some other Lotus parts suppliers. The kit also includes 2 replacement translator bearings featuring double water seals to help keep the dirt out. Finally the kit includes stainless steel A2 rated nylock nuts and locking nuts to fix the new rod ends in place on the translator body, cable ends and on the tie rod.

The complete kit is available at a new price, see bottom of page for details. If you would like to order a kit please contact espritparts@espritism.com. Payment can be arranged via Paypal or by cheque

Esprit gearshift kit – fitting update
Care points during fitting.

1. On some translator bodies, the owner may find that the studded part of the rod end may not fully fit through the mounting hole in the translator body. This is due to a small section of the stud that is not threaded near the base of the stud that has a fractionally larger diameter than the threaded section. Some translators may have a build up of dirt or even a small tolerance issue that means this small section will not easily go into the hole.

In order to avoid this problem I recommend that the holes in the translator body are cleared in this area using a 6.5mm HSS drill bit. This can be done by hand since the hole only needs to be cleared in the area where the un-threaded section of the stud is interfering with the edge of the hole (to a depth of no more than 2mm).

 

2. Take care not to over tighten the nylock nuts! Due to the length of the stud being limited to 12mm (this is standard for M6 studded rod ends), the stud will not always protrude through the nylock fixing nut fully. Don’t be tempted to over tighten to try to achieve this. The thread is long enough to reach the nylock section of the nut, but not to go all the way through it. If you are in any doubt use thread lock on the threads to insure a reliable fix for the nut.

We looking for a used gearshift (gear-stick) assembly and an early gearbox cross shaft extension from a Stevens car to help us develop the next steps in our quest for improved shift quality! If you can help us out, please let us know.

LEW Verdict

This is something that all Esprits need to look at at some point during there life time. The translator lives in a very inhospitable place, where heat, water and dirty attack it regularly. Also it's hard to notice just how bad your gearchange has become due to how slow the processes is. You'll get use to how bad it is without realizing it.

LEW recommends looking closely at the condition of your translator and changing the parts if they need doing. It will make the pleasure of driving your Esprit all the better. This is something you shouldn't overlook.

If you have any comments, feel free to e-mail us at admin@lotusespritworld.com

Update
January 2007
There are now 2 kits to choose from offering a choice of ‘standard grade’ or ‘superior’. Both kits are still aimed at improving the feel and precision of the notoriously poor gear shift on Stephens cars as they age. This is achieved by removing the free play and drag associated with worn rod ends and translator bearings in the gearshift mechanism at the gearbox end. The earlier cars also suffer from further drag caused by the gearbox cross shaft support bearing. This too is addressed by an optional upgrade that is only appropriate for pre’93 cars. Note, cars from about ’96 onwards had revised tie rod link design and used different sized joints (’98 on where different again). We expect to be able to offer a kit to suit these cars later in 2007.

ESPRITism ‘Standard’ Gear shift quality improvement kit.
The standard grade kit features 4 high grade chromate plated steel rod ends of a specification very similar to the Lotus original parts. These replace the rod ends on the gear shift cables and the tie link. 2 high quality ball bearing assemblies, with double rubber seals, are included to replace the 2 bearings in the translator assembly. The kit is finished off by replacement stainless steel fixing nuts for the rod ends and tie rod and a stainless steel large dia washer to fit on the bottom of the translator body to prevent much of the spray and dirt finding its way to the lower translator bearing.

ESPRITism ‘Standard’ Gear shift quality improvement kit.
£ 59 inc UK postage. (Club LEW £56)
Contents
• 4 off chromate plated steel, UK made high quality studded rod ends
• 2 off Double sealed bearing assemblies.
• 5 Lock nuts (one is a spare), all stainless steel.
• 5 Nylock nuts (one is a spare), all stainless steel.
• 1 Translator shaft nut (stainless steel).
• 1 Large diameter washer (stainless steel).

ESPRITism ‘Superior’ Gear shift quality improvement kit
The superior kits takes the upgrade one stage further. In this kit the 4 rod ends are made FULLY in stainless steel. That is the body, the bearing AND the stud, all from corrosion resistant stainless steel. These parts are uniquely made for ESPRITism here in the UK. The translator bearings also receive an upgrade and these too are made with stainless steel race bearings and cage. A stainless steel replacement tie rod is included (just in case the original is too corroded to allow easy re-use). The kit is topped off by a full set of stainless steel fixings as per the standard kit. The benefits added by use of stainless steel for all elements are unequalled durability, strength and reliability. ESPRITism are the only supplier to offer a fully stainless option.

ESPRITism ‘Superior’ Gear shift quality improvement kit.
£ 95 inc UK postage. (Club LEW £91)
Contents
• 4 Off fully stainless steel, UK made high quality studded rod ends.
• 2 off Double sealed, fully stainless steel bearing assemblies.
• Replacement tie rod (stainless steel).
• 5 Lock nuts (one is a spare), all stainless steel.
• 5 Nylock nuts (one is a spare), all stainless steel.
• 1 Translator shaft nut (stainless steel).
• 1 Large diameter washer (stainless steel).

Kits for 96 to 98 Esprits
Esprit’s with the revised gear shift arrangement fitted from 1996 to ‘98 have slightly different rod ends installed on the tie rod assembly (tie rod is not used at all after ’98). At the moment ESPRITism.com do not stock this type of rod end. However, our rod ends are still appropriate as replacements for the shift cable terminations and the bearings we provide are still correct for the translator assembly.

We can therefore provide the following partial kits for Esprits from ’96 to 98

Standard Kit (96-98)
£ 35 including UK postage (Club LEW £33)

Stainless steel Kit (96-98)
£64 including UK postage (Club LEW £61)

The contents are the same other than the tie rod is deleted as are 2x rod ends and the associated fixings.

If you would like to order a kit please contact espritparts@espritism.com. Payment can be arranged via Paypal or by cheque

Gearlinkage Kit

LotusBits Gearlinkage Kit
Our kit provides specially ordered, UK made stainless steel rod ends for the cable ends and the translator tie rod. These 4 rod ends are corrosion resistant and are massively superior in quality, durability and function to alternatives being offered by some other Lotus parts suppliers. The kit also includes 2 replacement translator bearings featuring double water seals to help keep the dirt out. Finally the kit includes stainless steel A2 rated nylock nuts and locking nuts to fix the new rod ends in place on the translator body, cable ends and on the tie rod. See guide here.

Third-Party Seller

Prices: £59
including p&p

 

Please contact Malc Homles
or email espritparts@espritism.com

 

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