360 shifter bushing repair

Yes. I am curious as well.

 

Glad you mentioned this. After I did mine I was going to say something to the same effect.
I'm no mechanic by trade or training, but been wrenching on lots of cars for a lot of years. If I didn't have this experience and wasn't armed with a relatively complete set of tools, this would have been on the tricky side.

Personally, for someone who can't, say, change their own oil I'd advise against them doing this themselves. Not sure what other generic task to compare it to, but since most know whether or not they want to do their own oil changes, I'd use that as a generic basis. I'd feel kinda bad for a guy with a single screw driver and pair of pliers digging in only to realize they were in over their head with a partially torn apart car.

My .02

 

Hi, I'm new to this FerrariChat blog, thanks to you I recently changed my bushing and my car shifts great, I was having problems going to 5th and 6th gear, sometimes it wouldnt go in at all, but now it shifts great. I have one concern because I'm not sure if I did something wrong when putting it back together. When you get out of reverse and you first move the gear stick to the front, is it suppose to pop back into the middle position (neutral) or does one have to move it to the front and then a little bit to the right and before it pops into neutral? I only drove the car for 2 days before I did this job so I dont remember how it was. Thanks for your help.

 

I have been in my garage trying to do this mod. But I have a question. On the shifter stalk, there is a small piece that holds down the spring on the stalk. There seems to be a tiny pin going through the stalk that holds the small piece in place which in turn retains the spring underneath it. See last pic on post #2. How do you take out that small pin? Does it require a tiny tiny allen wrench or is it a pin that i can just push through? Thanks in advance for your help.

 

You need a very small punch to push it through.

 

Did it on a 430, it went bad from 5th to 6th. Much better now. However, I still get a tiny little play, but it seems all gear working fine, it has big difference between my 430 and my friend's 360. I mean the little play in the neutral.

Any one experience the same.

 

+1 And be careful not to snap the punch!

 

Sounds like your cables need a little adjustment...

 

So, to adjust it and make it not to wiggle at all. Right?

 

I had the same problem and ferrari put a clutch in for $5000. Then when that didn't work they figured out this is what it was. I wish I would have read this first. Ferrari didn't even say sorry for misdiagnosing the problem and charging me all that money

 

Yeah, that really sucks. I think I would find someone else to work on it...if possible.

 

Can you post the details... or anybody else who has done a 430? Did you leave the shifter in place? I'm going to tackle this job as a precaution, as it's only a matter of 'when' the problem happens. And at 8,900 miles, it's probably close, since the 1-2 shift feels notchy already. Will attempt it with the shifter in place, as I don't like to weaken the socket fit underneath the lever.
In addition, my shifter doesn't 'snap' back to the N position, as all my other cars. Maybe it's designed that way, but want to also grease everything properly once there; looks all dirty inside. Thanks gang.

 

Mine doesn't neither JC. I asked my shop to inspect the entire gear system which has been tighten up and cables reajusted. The result was a much more precise gear engagement. But the shifter never went back to the center position on its own, well it does, but very slowly. So I got used to it and brings it back myself. It looks like this is by design.

I would be interested too to have some detailed feedback about this mod for the F430 even if, I suppose, both shifters are very simular.

Stef

 

Good to know; thanks. Not a big deal at all, but certainly makes shifting even trickier than the gated shifter alone... but I welcome the challenge . It's a pleasure to drive this car, but without the spring feedback, sometimes you have to take a quick glance at the shifter before some shifts, especially while you get used to it. The hardest to master well IMO is the 2-3, 6-3, 5-4, 5-2, which are the ones that require jumping gates that are not at the edges.

Hey, just saw a pic of a 360 with lighting inside the gated shifter. Why doesn't the 430 have this??? You need that at night sometimes, for the reason stated above. Was that an option? Is it wired for it?

Anyway, will check the slop on my shifter shortly, but might as well take care of the bushing issue sooner rather than later. How many miles on your car Stef? If nobody chimes in, I'll take care of it and post details. Looks like a very simple job on the 430, but hope I can avoid removing the shifter for the issue with the ball joint. I'm pretty sure I'll succeed with that. Take care.

 

Any one has detail how to get access to the cables? Do we need to remove the centre console?

I will try to tackle the adjustment myself, and rather to bring it to the dealer.

Thanks

 

After repalcing the Hills Engineering bushing, I still get the little play, I think its the centre plate is worn, take a look the right hand side of it. Should I get it replaced,

Any Comments thanks
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I don't know the specs, but contrary to what some say, I'm pretty sure a bit of play is normal. I don't see any visible wear where it'd matter on that part (you should clean it first , plus a plastic bushing can't wear it IMO, but any play could be removed by inserting ultra thin washers for shim applications; I've seen them before, but don't know what material they're made from, or where to buy them. If you only have a millimeter or two, I wouldn't worry about it, but let others chime in. I'm interested in that too as I'm about to replace it as a precautionary measure, as the plastic piece if bound to fail sooner or later. Shifter has a millimeter or two of play right now. Take care.

 

Play really isn't the problem but it can be a symptom. The problem tends to be that the bushings breaks and then depending on the precise set of vibrations and harmonics occurring at any one time it can prevent shifting gear just when you want to. I wouldn't say you've anything to worry about with a little free play.

 

On the top right of the plate, there is some plastic has been chipped away. May be that where the play come from and effect the precision of entering the gear. I call the parts department of my dealer, that say this" centre plate" thing cost about $800.

 

Great Thread as has been said before. I used a rainy day as an excuse to replace my bushing yesterday. I had some symptoms of an inaccurate feeling on engaging first from time to time so I was hopeful the issue was the bushing. Difficult to improve the info that the OP gave but I didn't like the idea of using two screwdrivers to pry the shifter cable off of the mechanism so I thought I would add my method for the next guy.

I used some large forceps to hold the stick in place as opposed to vice grips and the handle end of a large set of pliers to pry the cup off the end. It comes off with a bang so I would put a rag underneath next time!

Things I would like to know, what kind of grease are you guys using when assembling the mechanism back together? I used what ever I had in my gun but would enjoy some specifics. I had some o-ring lube (plumbers grease) that I used on the plastic parts but the rest of the parts that move is where I was not certain.

Because of the foul weather I have not got to test yet, hopefully soon!
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Wow! This fix is amazing and the instructions are great. I replaced my transmission mount and after that the car didn't want to shift into second. I guess the mount changed the geometry. My plastic bushing didn't even look bad, but I replaced it anyway and Perfection Thanks!

 

Having a devil of a time with the pin.

Is the pin solid or hollow?
Does the plastic retainer have a metal sleeve for the pin, or is that the pin itself?

Tom

 

Update: yes, it's a hollow pin. It also takes quite a bit to get it pushed out.