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Lotus Seven S2 Shifter


TEM

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My car was purchased without a shifter stalk.  What car were these sourced from?  Do they need to be cut down, bent, or otherwise modified?  Is there a standard length for these shifters?

 

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Only the early Sevens had remote type shift linkage. Your gear box will probably be a gear box from a Cortina, the 116E gearbox superseded the 105E gearbox in the series 2. The stock Ford shift levers where shortened and bent in the Sevens. The car is coming together nicely, looks to be a fun ride.

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Also, there was an exposed remote linkage above the tunnel on the earliest models, then an adapter for ford transmissions where the shifter opening was not located close to the rear of the transmission. These have a sloping cover on the tail housing behind the main case cover and used a triumph remote shifter turret assembly. This trans was the basis for the later 2000E/Bullet, still with a remote linkage option. 100, 105, 109, and 116E were used on the ford powered S2. It looks like you have the 116E to me also. I can post a pic of the ford engine and trans with the adapter if anyone is interested.

Edited by MV8
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I'm not sure what trans this is.  Where do I look for identification?

The trans has a large cover rear of the bell housing and under the scuttle.  There are four bolts holding the cover in place.  I had to open this cover to push the three shifter rods into neutral when I shipped the car to Ohio.  There are three springs that push small balls into the shifter rod indents.  These are located half in the trans body and half in the cover.  When trying to align the cover to put it back on I, of course, dropped two springs into the transmission.  Luckily, there is no oil in the transmission so maybe fishing them out won't be too bad.

 

The car looks more complete than it actually is.  Still a ton of work to make it road worthy.

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8 hours ago, TEM said:

I'm not sure what trans this is.  Where do I look for identification?

The trans has a large cover rear of the bell housing and under the scuttle.  There are four bolts holding the cover in place.  I had to open this cover to push the three shifter rods into neutral when I shipped the car to Ohio.  There are three springs that push small balls into the shifter rod indents.  These are located half in the trans body and half in the cover.  When trying to align the cover to put it back on I, of course, dropped two springs into the transmission.  Luckily, there is no oil in the transmission so maybe fishing them out won't be too bad.

 

The car looks more complete than it actually is.  Still a ton of work to make it road worthy.

 

There's a tuning guide section at Burton Power with the typical gearboxes used for Ford powered cars. You should be able to match it up to yours: https://www.burtonpower.com/tuning-guides.html

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Probably a ford Gearbox, however there are two styles of remote shifters used.  Early cars had a triumph Spitfire remote with a  welded up adapter to fit the gearbox.  Later cars had the ford Cortina remote as used on the Cortina GT.  I cannot tell from the picture which remote you have.   I am only 40 miles from Toledo, and have owned Sevens for 50 years. Always available to help.  The photo in the earlier post is the Ford remote, which by the way, is the better of the two.  If the cap that holds down the shifter screws on to the remote, it is Ford.  If the cap has two tabs to lock it down, it is Triumph.

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If you ever find a lever source please let me know. I want to cut mine down but want to have a spare in hand, and finding the right one for my gearbox has been hard. The large pivot point at the bottom of the lever is ball shaped whereas everything I find is more like a ball with the sides cut off.

 

 

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The Ford remote shifter uses the shifter from a Lotus Elan. I have a used, complete shifter, that i would part with.  Also have a rear wheel hub removal tool.  If you need to pull the axles, it is essential. I would recommend taking a look at the diff, since you had experienced problems rolling the car around.  That is one of my winter projects with my Elite, since it is making funny noises.  I could lend the puller to you.  Also, i have a set of NOS rear brake shoes for the TR10. 989191744_etype022.thumb.jpg.39d318c5622c4a0a2d14dbd9dd31f6f1.jpg

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A couple of more photos of the transmission.  From the above descriptions I believe this to be the Ford unit.

 

 

Trans 2.jpg

Trans 1.jpg

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That's my gearbox. Cortina MkI I think? "Ford 2000E" according to Burton Power.

 

https://www.burtonpower.com/tuning-guides/tuning-guide-pages/ford-2000e-bullet-gearbox-guide.html

 

As you can see the pivot is ball shaped; every lever I've found so far has not been. Burton Power does have a lever that *might* fit, but it's not specifically for that gearbox and it is part of a short shift kit:

 

https://www.burtonpower.com/quickshift-gear-lever-kit-type-5-v6-ford-essex-cologne-qs12.html

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wdb, 61Elite3 mentioned that the shifter may be from a Lotus Elan.  The early Elan shifters were straight like the Seven but later Elan shifters added a bushing to reduce vibration (see below).  So if these do indeed fit, you may be able to source these shifters from the Dave Bean or RD Enterprise.

 

image.png.ac67b01a3e36bc7e60f2c3136c74539b.png

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That Elan shiifter will not work in your current application. You will require 3 new selctor rods and a Triumph remote. I may have all. PM me with your contact info.

The extension currently fitted is from a Lotus Cortina, GT & Ecort twin cam. Or you obtain a gear lever & bits, as per the top diagram.

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Pics of Wdb's shifter and trans found here:

Ditto on it being the first diagram I posted but I expect it should be a flat sided ball tip like this remote setup has on the forward end. Maybe Wdb's is using v6 application Type 5 (would have 3.16:1 first gear versus 3.65:1).

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/155713860927

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What you have is known as an Integral remote. These were available 1967 on and used mainly in Cortina and some 7s. The Triumph is a bolt on extension with a Lotus designed aluminum wedge shaped adapter. The Cortina extension is a direct bolt on which this one is not. If you look into the shifter through the opening you should see a single shift rail. Maybe all you need is the shift lever and related components, retaining cap, spring, shift ball, etc. Some of these parts are the same as the Cortina remote but not the shift lever. Maybe someone can post a picture of these components from the Dave Bean Catalogue.

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Yes, it is referred to as the "Internal Remote" and is very hard to find.

 

When I got my 7 in 2016, mine had been replaced by a modified Cortina (?) shift rod with the flat sided ball.  When I got it all installed I discovered that I could only select 3rd and 4th so I set about looking at some of the parts drawings to figure out what was wrong.

You may notice that the correct shifter has a round ball and that fits a "plastic" sleeve and spring that are in the remote shaft (7325).  As mentioned, all this stuff is very rare!

 

My solution was to measure very carefully, then grind and bend a piece of 1/2" round steel stock and build my own shifter.

I did not attempt to fabricate the plastic sleeve or spring, so my ball is probably bigger than the correct size, but I am able to select all gears and no problems so far (5K miles).

It is nice and tight, allows "wrist" shifting and is low enough to clear the dash so no knuckle interference.

 

The attached picture is the shifter with flat sided ball that would only select 3rd and 4th.  The shifter I fabricated was the same except for a rounded ball.

 

I think all the other pieces (swivel saddle, spring, collar...) are available.

 

Good Luck - Joe

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