Monday, January 26, 2009

Bonus gear discovered!

During driving of Electro over the last few months, I had noticed two minor problems with the gear shift pattern. First, the Reverse (up/left) was dangerously close to First (up/mostly left), and I even though I theoretically had 5 gears in the transmission, I could never get into Fifth. This was becoming more of a problem as I started approaching freeway speeds on my commute last week.

This weekend I set about looking through the VW shift linkage and connections, and found that my shifting rod part of the linkage (the rod running between the shifter and the engine compartment) was slightly misaligned. Its connected via a simple clamp and bolt, so after loosening, adjusting and retightening the clamp, I not only retrieved access to Fifth, but also fixed Reverse such that I need to push down on the shifter before up/left. Two problems fixed with one correction!

It's a little cold and rainy this week, so probably no commute trips with Electro (still has leaky roof), but I am considering taking some video of trips soon for the blog.

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