S1 Elise – Gear Linkage Bush Kit

When I test drove the Elise before buying it, it was immediately obvious there was too much slack in the gear linkage. Having already done my research, I knew this would most likely be due to tired bushes in the linkage at the gearbox end. I also knew there are inexpensive kits available to replace the bushes so I wasn’t concerned.

During the Elise’s first inspection I had a quick look at the bushes and no surprise they were pretty sloppy.

As I was ordering various other parts from Elise Parts I got one of their gear linkage kits.

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Started off by spraying some WD40 penetrating oil over everything.

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Then levered off the cables from the levers and fought the sloppy rubber bushes out with a screwdriver.

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Next I removed the large lever from it’s pivot to remove the vertical part of the linkage with spherical bearing rod ends and rubber boots at each end.

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With all the old parts removed I pressed the new bushes onto the linkage arms. I used a G-clamp and the old bush to press them on with a good coating of the grease provided in the kit.

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With the bushes pressed on I used the same method but with a ring spanner to press the cable ends over the new bushes.

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I assembled the vertical linkage section, with the new spherical bearing rod ends provided in the kit, to match the length of what I removed. The kit didn’t come with any boots for the spherical bearings so I fitted the ones that were on the old rod ends.

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Everything fitted back up now with no play in any of the linkage.

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Gear changes feel much better now. There is still a little play at the gear stick but I know that if that bothers me or gets too bad I can focus my attention at the gearstick end as it’s all fine at the gearbox end, externally at least.