Wow!
What a super response! Thank you all.
Looks like we will be going with a Hurst shifter, and now I have
several sources to check out. Thanks a bunch! This list
is just G r r r r r r e a t ! ! !
Some of you wondered about the mode of failure on our shifter.
Sorry for the brevity, but I was in a hurry when I posted yesterday.
For some time now we've had this funny little intermittent thing.
It always happened at standstill, where it wouldn't want to go
into first or reverse. Not directly. You could put it in some other
gear first, and then it would work ok. It never happened while
underway, until last Sunday.
Theresia had taken her three runs, and the car was workin' just
fine. I took off on my first run, made a nice smooth launch, executed
the first turn with "great precision" and called up warp drive. We maxed
out first gear just fine, but then right when everything was supposed to
fade to blur, it wouldn't go into second! It wouldn't go into third, or
fourth
either, and I wasn't about to give reverse a try, not while still underway,
though not quite at interstellar speed. I was just about to pull off course
and shut it down when it finally went into third, and then second. So at
that I figgured "Sh*t! This is now a fun/practice run," and proceeded to
just go for a ride.
The sad part is I ended up with a clean 50.<something> on that run.
Theresia's
best time had been a 49.<something>, and, as it turned out, the top time in
our class was a 47.02<something>. After my first run, I drove it into the
pits
and readjusted the clutch and fiddled with the linkage a bit, but nothing
worked. I still couldn't make the first-to-second shift. So I ended up
launching
from second and staying there for my last two runs, which were a
48.<something>
and finally a 47.7<something>. So, based on the posted results, I think I
ended
up in third. I could have won. And it would have been the first time we'd
beaten
the first-place driver. As they say, just wait 'til next time . . .
And, did I use the "intermittent" word? When we got home and I took it
off the trailer, it was workin' just fine! Grrrrrrrrrr!
Ramon
rs11@ElSegundoCA.ncr.com
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