Just the right Knob

Started by northerndefender, June 06, 2022, 12:36 PM

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northerndefender

 The series 3's have a straight gear shifter with a round shift knob pressed on to the shaft with a springy thingy to keep it in place ,which is great except I have a 2a.

I looked for an unbroken, unmodified bent series 2 shift lever but could not find one so I took matters into my own hands.

An acetylene turbo torch made fast work of bending the series 3 lever.

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I sourced replica knobs made from the original Bakelite ( not 3D printed) from https://www.charlesworthmouldings.co.uk/shop/gear-knobs/knurled-mushroom.  This arrived with the internal BFS thread.  I tried threading my series 3 shaft but the required diameter was not achievable.

Plan 2

I machined out all of the threads in the series 2 knob so it was the same as the round series 3 knob ( 0.556")

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I found a nut with a suitable patina, machined out its threads and made it thinner to match the series 2a lock nuts.  I superglued it to the bottom of my modified series 2a knob.

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I used the round cylindrical springy thingy from the series 3 knob

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And all done and looking very series 2a'ish
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Thanks for looking

Colin

binch

Cheers, Bill

Green Hornet 88

Hey Colin, this is a great idea.  I have three series 2A gear shift levers, each one has been welded near the ball! So I just picked the 'best' one and installed it, I then ordered a series 3 'ball' hoping I would find a utube video to mount it on the  series 2A gear lever, I don't need the mushroom shift ball, just wanted something to shift with!  Maybe I'm thinking about this wrong?  Now I'm thinking I should get solid series 3 lever and bend it, like you did,  and put the series 3 ball directly on with the little spring thingy?  In your article I'm assuming the series 3 lever fits ok into the 2 A gearbox without modification? Did you source the series 3 lever new or 2nd hand? It sounds like you didn't have to much difficulty bending the lever?
your thoughts would be appreciated!   Cheers Craig