456 Shift Gate Gasket Disintegrated

1995 456 GT.

I have been working on the car a lot and running it at idle, but not driving it. I finally drove it today and had trouble shifting. The shift gate was loose. I made it home and found the gasket underneath the gate had disintegrated completely. I have only driven the car a couple of times and had no trobule shifting.

Looks like it's NLA most places.

Anyone seen the likes of this or know were to get a replacement?

#8

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RHD gasket is avaible and only $22. Maybe I can get it to fit or use it as a template for a custome gasket? It's not really a gasket, more like a spacer.

 

Looks more like a spacer can't you just use washers at all 4 corners if the gate needs to be at a certain altitude?

Looks kinda simple. Could you cut one with a plasma cutter?

 

355's have a similar part which also desintigrates. Get one machined from acetal.

 

Thanks, Where might I start on that?

 

Well, you will need to make a pattern from a good part (loaner?) or the shifter box.

 

Right. If I can get the thickness I think I can fab one myself from the shift gate.

 

3D print??

 

Sure, it's not a detailed or tight tolerance part. Personally, I'd rather machine one. And the 3D print would not be cheap as it's a larger part.

I did check this morning and these are NLA. But with Ferrari, that can change

 

I kinda like the washer idea. At least until I can get a perm replacement.

The gate itself is pretty think and strong. Not sure about the fiberglass box it sits on. The spacer might be spreading the load along the edges and washers might put too much load on corners? Not sure about my physics there.

 

168955 GASKET at RicambiAmerica.

 

It's P/N: 157884

 

You may want to check if there is a TAP Plastics store in your area.

 

Black acetal sheet is dirt cheap online, just get the right thickness.

A hack saw, drill, and Dremel tool should do it.

 

I f

My wife’s cutting boards are made of that stuff. She’s got too many anyway. She won’t miss one will she?

I figure I can use my wood planer on plastics. Just use the quick feed to keep it from melting.

Then I can use my table saw to get it square. Then drill and dremel from there. Maybe make two at a time for the inevitable screw up.

Any idea on thinkckness?

This one looks promising. I think I could get two out of this.

 

The housing is aluminum. Not sure why I thought it was fibergalss.. I'm pretty sure the washers will work as both the housing and the gate seem very sturdy. I'm going with that as a temporary fix until I figure the spacer out.

I'm trying to fiugre out the tickness of the spacer "gasket." Is the gate intended to fit flush with the console deck? That's a pretty thick spacer if it does.

 

based on what I see, you can determine thickness by having someone just measure the drop of the top of the gate to the rest of the console top, at the front and back.....
Is the shiftier gate on a proper car, flush, just below the surface or above?
Get that dimension add the washers, to that same depth and determine the thickness with the washers, get right plastic thickness, cut and done.
I would measure depth for you on the 550 however may differ from 456

 

or if a member could be so kind to remove their gate in 5 min and measure that would be best

 

You can get Acetal from McMaster for cheap - no need to steal the wife's cutting board

 

On the 550 the bottom of the metal gated plate sits flush or hair below the center console deck. See attached picture.

 

That's intersting. I was thinking flush..

 

You know this is interesting. The part you quote is for the 456M, not the GT.

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But the shifter box is the same...

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Although the gate is different.

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I'm wondering if the 456M spacer can be used on the 456GT. How different can it be if the box is the same? Different thickness I guess. Maybe that address the flush mount console vs sitting above it. Guess I could plane it down or something.

 

456M gate is raised.

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And the 456GT gate is flush

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It looks like the 456M gate is wider and higher to cover the ugly, misligned console gap of the 456 GT.

Perhaps that accounts for the difference in spacers.

To me the M looks so much more elegant than the GT.

Probalby not worth it to put an M console in a GT...

 

That shift plate is not aligned correctly. There is play in both the spacer and the plate.

 

But if it was aligned to fit in the center of the cutout, the left-right gear shift alignment would be off.