|I've been u2u'd by more than a couple of peeps wanting more details on my cable and linkage, so here are some.
I particularly wanted a cable change to "look" good as I didnt want to clutter the engine bay with rod linkages, and I wanted to try and keep as much feel as possible, being a bikist, I know how difficult it can be to get neutral when you really need it!
The gearstick mounting is a standard wishbone mount, with the inner bush too, The "stick" is 5/8" tube and the extension below is 1/8" x 3/4" bar welded to it and the assembly bolted to the tunnel cross piece. The knob is from CBS.
The cable support on the tunnel side is 1/8" x 1" bar with the right angle lug drilled and welded to it. Though in hindsight a piece of anle iron would have been better as this flexes very slightly.
The cable was fromCable-tec. Its a 300-3222/52" with 2x 70159 clevis! This cost £26 +VAT.
This is the lightest push pull cable they do, I was advised some of "the racers" use the heavier cable, but I suspect they also have short straight runs?
I wanted mine to do a long sweeping bend to minimise any extra friction from a tight bend, it does this in front of the nearside footwell.
The bracket on the engine end is already on Mk2 and the cars not finished or driving yet! But in short its an alloy plate held by the nearest three sump screws, bent and drilled to cath the right angle of attack to the gearlever.
The gearlever is a cut down steel lever fron a breaker, with a fairly flat section arm, bent and drilled to take the clevisses I ordered with the cable. I'll try and show the rest in the pics. Hope this helps. Feel free to ask any questions. As mentioned tho this is my own creation and its not road tested yet. The drivers gearstick MAY be a little short, giving a heavy change , but i'm not going to change it till i've tried it on the road with a warm engine.
HTH,
Colin

[Edited on 9/12/05 by ReMan]
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I also used push-pull cables on my mid-engine Mini, which uses a FWD automobile drivetrain. The only issue I had with the cables is, when they are curved, it caused some play in the cables.

They're composes of the push-pull cable itself, a sheath, a protective tube, then an outer sheath. The problem is the inner sheath isn't bonded to the outer tube which allows it to move slightly side-to-side. When the cable is curved, when used, the inner assembly moves side-to-side, causing, in effect, slop in the motion, your first 1/8" doesn't do anything... It's just short of being annoying, for me at least.

So that's why my cable has so mich slack in it. I noticed in building that I an push / pull one end without the other moving.

On the road, it doesn't seem to make any difference. I can change gear well enough. I'd actually forgotton about the cable slop.

Thanks Colin found it vary useful first class solution to a common problem.

probably being real stupid here but how can a cable push??

I think theres some kind of spring loaded action

but Ive never seen 0ne someone else will tell us

My cable is made from 5mm wire rope and so is quite stiff. When it is inside a rigis sheathing it can be pushed quite well. It has concentric rods on each end so that it can be pushed either outside of the sheathing. It seems to work well enough.

There is no discernable play in my cable inkages, in fact it was better than I thought it could be. I don't know wether this varys cable to cable?
The standard return spring in the gearbox pulls the assembly back into the "normal" position well, which was someyhing I was also concerned about.