Jamar reverse lockout

I am a new Vintage owner. I love the car but have run into a problem with the shifter. For a while I would occassionally be locked into 3rd and 4th and have to pull over, turn off the engine and work the shifter until I was able to shift correctly. Now I cannot shift into R at all. Can anyone describe the procedure or provide a trouble shooting link for opening the shifter housing in the passanger compartment, or is there some other place I should be looking? The shifter shaft rotates freely, is this correct? The only info in the owner's manual is not to try to adjust the arms at the transmission. Very frustrating when I want to drive the Spyder! Norv Parr

Jamar units can be a real pain in the rump, but once dialed in, work great. Here is Jamar's link. they have a "support" section that may be of help

www.jamarperformance.com/Default.htm

Your problem is probably this:

The push button for reverse lockout pushes a lever down and out of the way of the shift lever cup inside the box. This lever normally prevents the cup from rotating that little extra bit to allow the reverse gate to be reached. If the bolt that this lever pivots on is loose or not in the correct location, then the lever can jam up the shift lever cup or does not move out of the way enough to make reverse accessible.

I have to push on the bolt head on the side of the shift box that the lever pivots on while pushing down on the reverse lockout to get reverse.

Another adjustments to this requires you to take the shift box out as the nyloc nut is on the inside (on mine).

The shift knob rotates freely because it is a rod with a ball on the bottom end that sits in the cup. The cup is firmly attached to the rod lingage and translates the shifter movement into fire/aft and rotational movement of the rods.

Does this help any?

Mike

This is so freakin' strange. After 3 hours on the lawn mower this morning I get in my car to run up the road and "blow the stink off" and coming back into my driveway, I down shift from 3rd to 2nd and get reverse instead (S-c-r-e-e-e-, s-c-r-e-e-e!). Finally, have to stop and go to 4th, 3rd, 2nd and finally into 1st. So I run back up the road and everything's fine until I start downshifting and there it is again...Reverse instead of 2nd. A-r-r-g-g-h-h!

Then I come in here and logon to this site only to find this thread.

But ya know...I just don't want to work on that frickin' car. I need a beer and a nap.

Thanks Larry and Mike. Mike you have the problem exactly right. Terry, my condolences and total agreement with your read of time management. Norv

Terry - do you have the original Beck setup or the full Jamar one? That is, do you have the stock VW shiftbox or the Chrome shift box with reverse lockout plunger?

I ditched the original Beck for the full up Jamar and once it is dialed in it works great?

Mike -

I've got the full setup. I haven't taken the time to look at it closely yet but something is definitely amiss.

I took it out again late this afternoon and it's really strange. Upshifts are no problem at all. It's the downshift from 3rd to 2nd that's dealing me fits.

What happens is that when I downshift from 3rd, if feels like it goes into 2nd, but it's actually in 4th. Then, when I take it out of 4th and try to make the downshift again, it grinds like hell (In my first post I said it was getting reverse instead of 2nd, but now I'm not sure that's the case). It will not go into 2nd until I slow to a crawl (Or stop) and put it 4th and run all the way back down through the gears, clutching every time I select a lower gear.

This afternoon I also noticed a couple of other things: (1) The shifter, which has been crisp and fairly precise has become sloppy...I almost have to guess where to put the shifter to make it go into gear and (2) it is becoming difficult to get it into 1st even when sitting still. It's like it won't go in, won't go in, won't go in then suddenly clicks right in and shifts like a dream.

It's probably something that has slipped and has everything out of alignment.

Tomorrow I'm going to go over the whole thing and see what I can find.

I'm beginning to see a pattern here: Drive 5 hours and work on it two hours.

TMc

Put trans in first gear. Loosen lock nut on shift rod just behind shifter. Put shift lever into first. Tighten locknut, it helps to have two people. You may have to do this a few times until it is just right. Really tighten the locknut. Verify operation. Haven't opened up my shiftbox or needed to yet.

Yes, it does sound like a loose locknut at one of the ends. Also check the nose cone attachement area for any looseness. Just be aware that the sweet spot is pretty small for this setup...there isn't much movement in the back for the amount of movement in front at the shift lever (especially side to side).

I personally choose reverse or 3rd to dial it in because those are at the extreme ends of the shift pattern. I tried using 1st, but it wouldn't guarantee that I could get reverse.

Two people working it is best as one holds the shift lever in position when the nut us cranked down in front. If you don't you can easily be off and not be able to get the whole pattern.

I drove mine last night and I am really happy with the shift setup...

Mike

Don't tighten the locknut on the shift cone too much, as you could possibly damage the nosecone. Just make it snug enough that it won't move. I used first because it let me hold the shifter against the gate, then tightened the locknut. Mike, good tip on checking all the locknuts, that's the place to start.

Danny,

Makes sense, I have no gates on the top of my box...I have to use the extremes to know where I am. I like the gate plate and have thought about making that upgrade...

Mike

Gate plate? Don't see anything about it on the Jamar website. Norv

It's a part from vintage - I thought they all came with it...apparently not though. It bolts on top of the shift box and has the gates cut out and says "550 spyder" or "spyder". Looks nice.

Is this what you mean?

Thanks to Mike, Danny, and Larry, my Vintage is back on the road. It only took about 1/16th of a revolution on the front locknut and maybe a quarter turn on the rear one to make the shifting a thing of beauty. Terry, i hope you have as easy a time fixing yours as I did. Norv

The gate plate is new to me. I meant to push the shifter to the left into the reverse lockout plate inside the shifter. Glad the problem is solved.

After a few days my linkage was once again messed up. Could not select R, locked in 4, etc and never at an opportune time. Thanks to Larry the linkage is once again functional. On his advice I looked more closely at the Jamar nose cone attachment area. As usual there were several problems. The nose cone attachment was totally loose and about half way off the nose cone. The bushing from the trans was out. After correctiing the two it was a matter of adjusting the front locknut near the shift box ( seems to regulate the L to R movement and therefore the rotation of the shaft into the trans) and the 19 mm locknut at the Jamar (which seems to regulate the fore and aft movement of the shaft). Some one commented that the sweet spot is small, no kidding! About 3 hours of trial and error seems to have the linkage working reasonably well, still somewhat stiff and I would not go on the race track like this but OK for around town. At least there are 4 selectable forward gears and reverse on demand. Now I am waiting for evening to take the Spyder out--too hot here in Dallas right now. Yes, I will take the 17 and 19 mm wrenches and an Allen wrench and probably a punch and hammer just in case. Norv

Norv,

Like you, I messed with my linkage (Again) until it was working correctly, but somewhat like yours, it was "notchy" and no amount of adjustment was helping. In desperation I put a drop of Marvel Mystery Oil on each of the unions in the linkage rod and on all the spherical rod ends (Heim joints) in the linkage at the end of the transaxle.

Bingo! Shifts slick as gopher grease.

I know this may cause a "Duh!!!" reaction from those more experienced with these cars, but for me it was a revelation...At least it shifts up AND down now.

TMc

Once the linkage is dialed as good as possible, don't forget the greas. My Jamar has two fittings on the fore and aft of the box where the rod goes through. Also, remove circlip on top that holds shifter in place. Grease innards. Also grease heim joint behind shifter(between seats) and bushing near bellhousing. And when all else is done, change to synthetic gearlube, it really helps.

Daniel, as much as I like synthetic oil, I've been told by many reputable VW trans builders to NOT use synthetic oil in a VW trans. It has a way of seeping out and, they claim that the seals, syncros and bearings don't take well to synthetics. I have no way of challenging their findings but I know of one major builder will not warranty his work if you change to synthetic oil.

Well that just plain sucks, Larry. I guess if the engines leak when using synthetic, the trannies might also, but I was hoping the thicker viscosity would eliminate this. Thanks for the tip, I'll keep it in mind.