Anyone got one of these selection shafts from the outside of a Busso gearbox?

[Revs]

Before I try and get one made (or try back ordering one from Alfa), I thought I would see if any of you lovely people have a spare kicking around that I can buy.

The shaft where the length of threaded rod from the Corse gear selection system bolts to the gearbox on a Busso V6, well it seems the slightly stiff gear change meant it was flexing the end of the shaft so the lug that the bolt goes through has snapped.



Adie at AHM helpfully dug out this diagram (with a "how the hell did you break that" ), where the part that is broken is part 3, which looks like it will easily come out if I remove bolt 8. So if I could find a replacement, it looks like an easy swap.



This is a 1989 3.0l V6 from a 164, but in usual Alfa style two possible parts are listed depending on chassis number but the diagrams for 2.5 and even 2.0 turbo look just the same. Hopefully as I'm not hooking it up to a 164 gear lever it doesn't really matter.

Thanks for looking - Richard

[Guy Mayers]

I've just buried a 164 gearbox in the depths of the garage after a day of pre-move tidying. Before it gets buried further I'll dig it out, it's only loosely assembled!

Drop me a PM with your address and I'll pop it in the post this week.

Guy

[Guy Mayers]

And here you go! Seeing as it’s off a spare box I was given by John Davidson it’s free to you too. Postage in the form of a beer next time our paths cross?
Guy

[Guy Mayers]

When you get round to fitting it get someone to check that the mechanism isn't being fouled by the clutch lever arm when the pedal is fully depressed. That's an issue we've seen on Hawks that's resolved by filing off the right angle corner in the bottom right of the picture above, also check the bracket that clamps onto this rod for fouling in any gear, I suspect that's what's caused a sideways load on the rod and caused the fracture/breakage.
Guy

[ProtoTipo]

Having the gearstick assembly rubber mounted, would reduce the flex of the engine mounts acting on the linkage.

[Revs]

And here you go! Seeing as it’s off a spare box I was given by John Davidson it’s free to you too. Postage in the form of a beer next time our paths cross?
Guy

That's amazing, thank you so very much! Fingers crossed there is enough room to do the swap without dismantling everything around it

Some rubber gearstick mounts does seem like a good idea. Wonder if I can 3D print something appropriate.

[Strat Fan]

The CAE way of building the Corse gear linkage was to weld a 1/2" unf bolt on to the gear selector arm you have shown.
Welding this on at an angle which points down towards the central tunnel improves the angle of the middle shaft and also much improves the angle that the upper UJ operates at.
I haven't seen one fitted like yours was before but there looks to be a lot of upward motion on the centre shaft which will have contributed to the failure you have seen.
The UJ is also positioned quite a long way from the Alfa shaft which is adding a bending moment to the bolted part as well.

[Revs]

The CAE way of building the Corse gear linkage was to weld a 1/2" unf bolt on to the gear selector arm you have shown.

Well I will have an old broken linkage shaft soon for target practice and have access to a MiG welder, so will have a think about that. The gear change has always been a bit of a problem in this car, so suggestions for improvements are very welcome. I wonder if we could do with a build wiki to organise nuggets of build info like this.

Interesting photo with a rather familiar engine bay, I presume that is my car in Mick's garage back when he was building it

[Strat Fan]

Interesting photo with a rather familiar engine bay, I presume that is my car in Mick's garage back when he was building it

Yes, one of a few pics I have from back in the day when Mick was building the car.

I'll drop you a PM

[Revs]

Drop me a PM with your address and I'll pop it in the post this week.

Part has arrived already, many thanks again. Hopefully I'll get to try it later.