What I've Learned About the 348 Shift Linkage, (and possible emergency repairs)

Ok, if you read my "348 Rod Shift Linkage" thread, you'll know I was trying to see if converting from cable to a solid rod shift linkage would make any difference in the shift feel . I didn't do so well on that attempt, so I did a redesign and came up with a slightly improved version. The good news is it works fairly well, but the bad news is it's still not quite as good as the standard cable shifting. It seems that slightly notchy feeling is in the transmission.
I did, however learn some useful things. If you ever get stranded because of a broken shifter cable (happened to me in my MR2) you can jury rig a replacement with a piece of electrical conduit pipe and threaded rod to allow length adjustment. See photos in the previous thread for the general idea. You have to bend an S curve in it, and adjust the length, but the system will work fine with the surviving cable for one side and the rod for the other. The forks at the ends can be faked with a drill and grinder (see photo below). It will at least get you home while you await the $2000 replacement.
The other thing learned, is to remove the shift cables there is a little plate near the shifter bottom that must be removed, but is held in place by a hard to see 8 mm bolt (see pic below). Once you find that the rest is easy.
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Interesting! Did not know that. Anybody have a picture of that set up?
My last version actually did quite well, it was about equal to the cable for everything except downshifts from 3rd to 2nd were slow. Although functually it worked well, there was no real enhancement of "feel" or smoothness of shifting. It would be interesting to drive the official Ferrari rod version to see what it feels like. I suspect it still won't go "snick-snick" from gear to gear like an S2000 or Miata. One thing for sure is how incredibly sensitive the linkage is to the length adjustment of those clevis forks. A half turn one way or the other can make all the difference in the world.
The other factor in all this is the material cost of my set up was about $50.00 but the cost of replacing the cables is an astounding $2255.97 so if the cables will fail over time, there may be a market for an alternative at some point down the road.