Update by David S. Wallens to the
Mercedes-Benz 230 S project car
Apr 23, 2012
The shifter on our Mercedes is nothing special, but worn-out bushings were hindering its operation.
These simple bushings are designed to keep the shifter from going up and down, but they had disintegrated.
Who drives a car, presumably for years, and doesn’t fix something this simple?
With the 1966 Mercedes-Benz 230 S running better, it was time to take a look at our last major problem: the shifter. When pushing down on the shift lever, the car changed gears just fine. As soon as we stopped applying downward pressure on the lever, the shifter would pop up and refuse to budge.
A quick look revealed that the problem was worn-out shifter bushings. We spent about $20 on new bushings and maybe 20 minutes replacing them, and now the car shifts like new. Who drives a car, presumably for years, and doesn’t fix something this simple?
We still need to investigate why the car still jumps out of second gear, but that is another, presumably more serious, internal gearbox issue that will have to wait until after our rallycross in just two weeks.
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