No ordinary gear Lever
Converting the 6 speed Motorcycle sequential linkage from a normal foot operated 1 down -5 up gear lever to a hand operated gear lever inside the car with 1 forward- 5 back shifting.
This is how I did it.
Gear Lever Turning
I used a piece of heavy gauge 1"1/4" round Aluminum tube 30" long and turned down the outside top 7" to 7/8"so it would fit a standard motorcycle type rubber grip.
I needed some cushioning on the lever and a nice soft rubber grip from motorcycle would give me plenty of options on grip choice, in fact I actually ended up using a Mountain Bike grip that was a perfect fit.
The right length
After a couple of test "feels" in the car I found the right fit and cut the lever to length.
I made a couple of plates that would be welded in place so I could adjust the "throw" of the lever, I also welded on the bottom bar that will be used to rotate the lever between 2 pillar blocks.
Always changing things..
The lever is done, apart from the red grip shown above.. which was horrible, too fat and too spongy, so I ripped it off and searched for another more slimmer grip. The last photo on this page shows the one I settled on, a downhill mountain bike grip.. and it feels just right.
Shown here is the aluminum 12mm Pillar blocks used as a nice solid hinge and the adjustment rail for the linkage.
Not so easy
Getting the linkage from inside the engine bay and into the center console in the car was a mechanical nightmare.
But luckily after a couple of brainstorming evenings and a few Red Bulls I had it figured out, and it turned out to be quite simple. I used 2 complete linkage systems from 2 R1 motorcycles, with the addition of this 90 degree hinge I was able to get the linkage all the way from point A on the top of the R1 engine up inside the engine bay...to point B up in the center console under the floor in just 2 sections!
Sealing out the water
By using the existing hole in the floor where the old CVT linkage cable were I made up a plate with a couple of pieces of rubber sandwiched between them, this would cover the hole and allow the new linkage to go up in the cab without letting in road debris and water.
Fiddly fabrication
Measuring and fabrication these parts was really tedious, especially as they were up under the car in almost inaccessible places, but I got it done.
Engine linkage
Shown here is the linkage that connects to the gear shaft on the R1 engine. I was lucky to be able to get a straight shot down to the 90* hinge located underneath the IQ.
I can now change gear
Looking from the underside of the car up at the linkage, the left side goes up to the R1 engine and another ball joint attached to the gear selector shaft. Careful thought had to made so the lever is pulled BACK when shifting up through the gears, first gear is the only forward gear used.
It works pretty good
The gear lever now works and is very smooth, but a little "notchy" when putting the car into first gear.
This is actually normal as most sport bikes "clunk" when 1st gear is selected.
The lever looks racy !
Once everything was tested I built a custom made center console that covered up the inner workings of the gear linkage. Shown is the new rubber grip that as mentioned earlier is from a downhill mountain bike.
The lever moves about 3- 4" when changing gear, I can play around with this setting as I have an adjustment on the lever to add or decrease throw.
but for now its just fine.