GTV gear shifter/gearbox??

[BradGTV]

my 83 gtv has a very tight and precise gear change/shifter, (obvioulsy had some work done), whilst my 79 gtv selects like a pudding stirrer.

what do i do to my 79 gearbox to make it tight and precise??

am also looking to use this car for track days and any other modifications that work well are appriciated?

and yes, i know about putting a twinspark box in but am not looking to do so at this point.

cheers, brad

[Barry Edmunds]

Brad

Depending on where you are located there are a couple of very good suggestions. Bruno at Maranello Pur Sang in Brunswick 9386 9650, Hugh at Monza Motors in Bayswater 9729 9946 or Corrado at Mauceri Motors in Clayton 9543 6466

Barry

[Paul Gulliver]

I have a 1979 GTV. Changing the bushing at the bottom of the gear stick will make a huge difference . Just remember this is a 30 year old moving part so it is bound to be worn out.

Other big improvements to a steel bumpered Alfetta GTV are
1.(105 cams . Pre pollution cams and the engine will rev like it is meant to ).

2. Electronic ignition  out of a later model alfa will really help with the starting reliability and every day use.

3. After you have checked all the suspension bushing make sure you have a good set of tyres and possibly Koni shockers.

Final thing to do is make sure you drive the bloody thing. Cars are like people if you don't use it you will loose it

[Paul Gulliver]

Mick, At my age if i don't use it ,it will rust and fall off. Don't Alfetta's do that too???

[alfagtv152]

Hi Brad,
There are some simple mods you can do at home to shorten the shifter throw if your handy and can weld. There are also some not so simple but very good mods that can be done,MD is an expert in this area.
If you want to hear about the simple ones just let me know and I will tell you what I do to them.
Cheers
Andrew

[meizhak]

do tell

[BradGTV]

hi andrew,
can you please tell me the simple mods?
and a briefing over the hard mods, just so i can get an idea what can be done?
cheers, brad

[alfagtv152]

Hi Brad,
The simple mod that I do is fairly straight forward.
Step 1-remove the gear stick,ie,remove the gear Knob and boot(or make sure the stick can pass through it) then remove the cross bolt at the bottom and move the extension to the back out of the way.Pull the rubber boot off and compress the retaining circlip under the ball,watch it doesnt all leap out at you,lower the stick and all the bits noting how it was assembled.Take all the bits off the stick and clean it and measure how much stick there is out of the ball on the bottom,what I do next is put it in the vice with the ball resting on some soft jaws with stick up the right way and heat the ball with a gas torch until its real hot.Now take a big hammer(square masher) and hit it with great force right on the top and drive the stick out of the ball.Once it is cool enough to handle it set it up with an extra 20mm of stick out the bottom of the ball and weld the ball to the shaft,I usually weld the top but dont make it bulky or you will interfere with the range of movement in the housing.You need to modify the extension bar to the back now so remove it by undoing the two nuts where it joins the gearbox shaft and bring it out.Now you need to extend the sides where the bolt goes through down 20mm(old center to new center) to match the stick,I do this by welding a tab on each side with a new 7mm hole for the cross bolt.
Once you have lowered the stick pivot 20mm and the cross bolt holes 20mm you just need to make sure the bush for the cross bolt is not sloppy and re-assemble it all with plenty of grease on the ball.Make sure you pass the bolt from the passenger side through to the drivers side,this way the nut etc wont hit the floor tunnel.If you have a slightly longer 7mm bolt so you can use a lock nut(sump bolts etc are 7mm)
it makes it possible to adjust any side play out of the stick movement and lock it up.
The throw front to back should be much shorter now and the side gate minimised by the lock bolt and new/good bush.
The real complicated stuff requires bringing the gear box shaft into the cab and lots of engineering,MD may share some of his work but it wouldnt be right for me to give out his work.Hope you dont mind me mentioning it Mickey!!??.
Cheers
Andrew

[MD]

Suffice to say, the excellent instruction given by Andrew will satisfy 99% of expectations. Additional fixes involve gearbox internal selector modifications. Andrew's  fix improves the length of the throw but leaves the size of the selector gate the same. The reason is governed by the length of the selector crank. It is too long but cannot be changed to any significant degree due to the tunnel clearance issues. Hence the operation needs to go inside the bodywork if you want to get serious.

Brad, this means decommissiong the back seats and relocating the handbrake to the side of the tunnel and that's just the start of the headaches...stick with Andrew fix is my suggestion.