Gear change cable

Just finished replacing the gear change cables on my wife's MGF, certainly not an enjoyable task.
It took a lot longer than expected, but I did manage to get by without disconnecting the coolant hoses or moving the subframe.
I am grateful that we don't suffer with a lot of rust here in Aus or my language would have been a darker shade of blue.
Hopefully it will be a one off job. I replaced both as a precaution, not keen on ever doing it again.
I bought my cables off ebay at less than half the cost from local suppliers, the only downside being the two week delivery time.
Time for a cold beer!

Which manufacturer's cables did you buy? Hopefully you read the thread when Rich replaced his!

Unfortunately not John, I missed that thread.
I bought mine from 'The Air Flow Meter company', item number 250657988000 on ebay.
The price locally was over $500 for the pair. At around $200 Aus delivered I could not resist them, bearing in mind I had no idea they were such a pig to install. Lets hope I get a good run out of them!

Eric

Its possible Rich got a set made on Friday!! His failed early on so let us know how you make out, hopefully they will work well!!

Cheers
John

I'm glad that my F's gear change cables were both replaced by Robsport in the UK only months before I bought it.

What's the quality of the replacement cables like? As we all know, aftermarket parts can be suspect at the best of times.

Is the job of replacing them difficult due to location, rust or bad engineering? Or all of the above?

I haven't had to do it yet but I understand it is quite a chore especially getting through the rear bulkhead to the engine compartment.

Luckily, my cars are rust free so that is a bonus!!

Rich's new cable let go at the crimped fitting and I don't think he had much success getting any answers from the sellers/manufacturers.

He should pipe in soon I would think!!

John

Not sure about the quality yet, they look okay but time will tell.
The original cable snapped at the crimp joint, but it was 15 years old.
Rust was not an issue with my car, it was stripping the interior and minimal access to the panel through the bulkhead from the engine bay that was the biggest PITA.
When my wife rang and said we had big problems with the gearbox,I said "Don't worry, its only a cable". I sure got to eat those words.

I "think" I'd rather curse and swear over replacing cables then having to drop the transmission for servicing.

Replacing the shift cables was easily the worst job I have done on any MG!
And this comes from a guy who has built Ash framed body tubs for T-Series MGs.
Mind you, my biggest problem was dealing with rusty bolts on my UK market car.
Japanese and Australian cars should be a lot more cooperative.
My faulty cable was made by (for?) Portland Trading in the UK. As John mentioned
the crimped fitting came apart and is now "bodged" together. I picked up an NOS factory cable
to replace it with but as long as I can shift OK i'm not about to pull it apart again.
I did find that the cable ends made by Mike Satur are a lot better than the originals as they do away with the
rubber insert in the joint.