I have already installed the mounts for the gear stick assembly in the cabin (https://mearcat.blogspot.com/2011/12/gear-shifter-mechanism-mounts.html) so the next task was to design a bracket to hold the gear shift cables onto the gearbox, and cut a hole in the firewall for the two cables to pass through.
There are two gear selector cables on top of the gearbox. In pic below (the pic is of the engine in the Starlet front cut) the curved cable on the left is the Shift-Cable which rotates the selector lever back & forth when the you move the gear lever up and down (eg 1st to 2nd gear). The right cable in the pic below is the Cross-Gate cable which moves the selector in and out of the gearbox housing when you move the gear lever left & right. The position of the Cross-Gate cable lever (as pictured the very bottom of the pic below) would foul against Mini the subframe tower so the first step was to relocate it.
The Cross-Gate cable lever had to be moved to the other side of the selector lever and had to be disassembled, cut and rewelded upside-down to fit above the gearbox.
Original piece cut :
Rewelded upside down :
The clevis pin on the end of the lever as per the above photo was high enough above the gearbox to be able to fit the cable back on but the clevis pin needed to be pointing up, not downward so it was cut off and rewelded upward:
As part of modifying the above lever I made a bracket so that this lever sits on the right hand side of the selector lever /boot, and of course retains the correct movement (ie. pulling the Cross-Gate cable moves the selector shaft inward on the gearbox). Note : This photo below was taken before I corrected the orientation of the clevis pin.
As expected, the gear shifter cables were too long for the Mini but unlike the accelerator cable which was easy to cut & shorten, it was too complex to do the same for the shifter cables.
The two cables would have to pass through the firewall on a different angle to the factory Starlet setup so I had to determine where to cut a hole in the Mini firewall. This is where my old rusty (white) Mini front cut came in very handy to determine the exact location of the hole. I measured the locations of the cables' clevis pins on the gearbox (with the engine in the good Mini shell) and replicated the locations in the white Mini using some pins at the end of steel rods and steel plates.
With a large opening cut into the white Mini firewall, the location where the cables passed through the firewall was then marked on the good shell and a ~40mm hole cut in the firewall.
To hold the cables on the gearbox, I used the cable retainer bracket which in the factory configuration, holds both cables. This was cut up for the new gear cable selector orientation as noted above.
The piece with the two bolts holes in the above pic (for the Shift-Cable) was mounted in the factory location.
The second piece from the original retainer bracket had to be relocated as part of a custom bracket. The alignment of the retaining mounts ensured that the bends in the cable from the gear shifter lever (in the cabin) to the gearbox was as smooth as possible however it took me a couple of attempts to get it right.
Now that the gear shifter cables were installed, I made a small saddle which clamped the cables onto the footwell in the cabin area.
It was then time to figure out how to seal the 40mm hole in the firewall where the cables passed through. The rubber grommet used in the Starlet was not suitable for this new layout / angle of the cables. I used the lathe to machine a steel retaining ring so it would clamp a circular piece of thick 10mm neoprene rubber over the firewall hole. I punched some holes in the rubber but after a significant number of attempts of various angles and thicknesses of rubber and wasting a lot of time, I just could not get the seal against the firewall well enough so I scrapped that idea and pondered another solution.
The solution I had was to re-purpose a rubber gaiter/boot from the Mini steering rack. The larger end of the boot would be clamped to a custom mounting ring on the firewall and the two cables would pass through the small end of the boot. The only problem I had was how to stretch the small end of the boot over the cable ends and the fittings.
I had to be able to stretch the boot out from 10mm to approx 38mm to get the cable end fittings through it and after a lot of trying with pliers, clamps, cones and screwdrivers, I ended making a one-off tool specifically for that job. The ring has four threaded rods with a small "finger" on the end of each rod and when the outside nuts are tightened, the fingers pull the boot open so the I could easily pass the cable assembly through.
All I had to do from there was machine a ring that sealed against the firewall where the large end of the steering rack boot would slip onto. Note : the mounting ring has a flat section at the bottom to clear part of the subframe.
The position of the ring & boot between the engine and firewall made it very difficult to take a photo so I installed the setup on the old rusty Mini firewall to show how it's all put together. I used some 8mm fuel line to simulate the actual cables.
There are two gear selector cables on top of the gearbox. In pic below (the pic is of the engine in the Starlet front cut) the curved cable on the left is the Shift-Cable which rotates the selector lever back & forth when the you move the gear lever up and down (eg 1st to 2nd gear). The right cable in the pic below is the Cross-Gate cable which moves the selector in and out of the gearbox housing when you move the gear lever left & right. The position of the Cross-Gate cable lever (as pictured the very bottom of the pic below) would foul against Mini the subframe tower so the first step was to relocate it.
Original piece cut :
Rewelded upside down :
The clevis pin on the end of the lever as per the above photo was high enough above the gearbox to be able to fit the cable back on but the clevis pin needed to be pointing up, not downward so it was cut off and rewelded upward:
As part of modifying the above lever I made a bracket so that this lever sits on the right hand side of the selector lever /boot, and of course retains the correct movement (ie. pulling the Cross-Gate cable moves the selector shaft inward on the gearbox). Note : This photo below was taken before I corrected the orientation of the clevis pin.
As expected, the gear shifter cables were too long for the Mini but unlike the accelerator cable which was easy to cut & shorten, it was too complex to do the same for the shifter cables.
The two cables would have to pass through the firewall on a different angle to the factory Starlet setup so I had to determine where to cut a hole in the Mini firewall. This is where my old rusty (white) Mini front cut came in very handy to determine the exact location of the hole. I measured the locations of the cables' clevis pins on the gearbox (with the engine in the good Mini shell) and replicated the locations in the white Mini using some pins at the end of steel rods and steel plates.
With a large opening cut into the white Mini firewall, the location where the cables passed through the firewall was then marked on the good shell and a ~40mm hole cut in the firewall.
To hold the cables on the gearbox, I used the cable retainer bracket which in the factory configuration, holds both cables. This was cut up for the new gear cable selector orientation as noted above.
The piece with the two bolts holes in the above pic (for the Shift-Cable) was mounted in the factory location.
The second piece from the original retainer bracket had to be relocated as part of a custom bracket. The alignment of the retaining mounts ensured that the bends in the cable from the gear shifter lever (in the cabin) to the gearbox was as smooth as possible however it took me a couple of attempts to get it right.
Now that the gear shifter cables were installed, I made a small saddle which clamped the cables onto the footwell in the cabin area.
It was then time to figure out how to seal the 40mm hole in the firewall where the cables passed through. The rubber grommet used in the Starlet was not suitable for this new layout / angle of the cables. I used the lathe to machine a steel retaining ring so it would clamp a circular piece of thick 10mm neoprene rubber over the firewall hole. I punched some holes in the rubber but after a significant number of attempts of various angles and thicknesses of rubber and wasting a lot of time, I just could not get the seal against the firewall well enough so I scrapped that idea and pondered another solution.
The solution I had was to re-purpose a rubber gaiter/boot from the Mini steering rack. The larger end of the boot would be clamped to a custom mounting ring on the firewall and the two cables would pass through the small end of the boot. The only problem I had was how to stretch the small end of the boot over the cable ends and the fittings.
I had to be able to stretch the boot out from 10mm to approx 38mm to get the cable end fittings through it and after a lot of trying with pliers, clamps, cones and screwdrivers, I ended making a one-off tool specifically for that job. The ring has four threaded rods with a small "finger" on the end of each rod and when the outside nuts are tightened, the fingers pull the boot open so the I could easily pass the cable assembly through.
All I had to do from there was machine a ring that sealed against the firewall where the large end of the steering rack boot would slip onto. Note : the mounting ring has a flat section at the bottom to clear part of the subframe.
The position of the ring & boot between the engine and firewall made it very difficult to take a photo so I installed the setup on the old rusty Mini firewall to show how it's all put together. I used some 8mm fuel line to simulate the actual cables.
This build is epic. Cant wait to see it completed. Your work is neat and tidy. Keep it up.
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