need advice on reverse lockouts

[Bill Carroll]

I need to find a reverse lockout, hopefully one that will help me find 2nd, such as a shifter gate during the race. I have only seen a few and I'm new to Vee's so some help would be much appreciated.

[fv195]

best one I have ever seen is the one on dads car! they cost alot, but worth it in the hills. I made one for the D-13 we sold, it worked but not as good as dads. talk to him, he can give you Taggert's number, and Ken can make you one. the one in my car works, but can hit reverse if I try real hard. sometimes when you screaming into turn two at Weatherly, you need second NOW! so you grab for it real hard, I hit reverse once in a while. dad's lockout you get the gear every time. road racers don't ever use second, so there is no need for the lockout.
THOR
fv#70

[brian]

We fab'd a alum. block that pinches on the tail housing and has a shaft that extends parallel the hockey stick that has a spring loaded bolt that restricts the rotation of the shifting mechanism. In order to roate enough to get reverse, you must compress the spring.

[fv195]

that is what my dad is useing, except it has a lever in the cockpit to move the shaft to allow reverse.

[DanRemmers]

My car has a reverse lockout that is just a lever that keeps the shift knob from tilting too far to the left. It's held in place with a thumb screw, so when released, it swings out of the way. It works well, but is only adjustable by bending the lever (1/8 x 1" steel bar). I would recommend building one that has adjustability with screws and lock nuts. Shift linkages wear out.

Let me know if you want a picture.

[JimR]

The lever restriction is the simple solution. I had an Autodynamics way back when with a hole drilled in the shifter gate that allowed a thick cotter pin to be slipped into that was on string tether. It prevented reverse from being engaged and the string could be pulled to quickly remove the pin and make reverse fully functional

[remmers]

I've seen some Protoforms that use a rotating pin that backstops the bottom of the shift lever, simply rotating the pin 90* removes the reverse lockout and can be done from within the car.

[pillowmeto]

Bill,

I discovered (as in found someone Else's work) a great trick to make a reverse lock out on a D-13. My car was 1/2 way set up for it when I bought it, I guess it was just missing the mechanism. All it requires is a hole in the gate that is welded to the frame and a pin to insert. I am making a two position positive locking sliding rod to fit in there. I can post pictures next week.

[Bill Carroll]

I have had a lot of feedback on this and wanted to thank everyone so far. One item that I wanted to share is that if the lockout is at the transmission is takes the issue of the linkage play or chasis flex out of the question. If you have to grab 2nd real quick the ones at the trans. give you a postive alignment. I hope to have one in a couple weeks and try it.
Thanks,
Bill

[cendiv37]

I've thought through the pros and cons of where to locate a lockout and couldn't decide which location was best... So I still don't have a lockout.
I wish I did as I think it would help a lot on the occasional start where you get bogged down and need to find second. It's fairly rare that this happens, but it would be nice to be sure you weren't going to get reverse by accident. Note however, that to reduce friction, your transmission builder has probably used a very worn synchro for second gear so that even with a reverse lock out, second is going to be fussier to engage than third or fourth.

The concern I have about locating the lockout at the transmission is that if it's an overide spring type system, the shift linkage has to overcome it every time you select reverse (in the pits, etc.). I feel the average Vee shift linkage is a bit on the delicate side and I prefer not to push too hard on it. That said, I still have the original u-joints in my linkage after 14 years of racing so maybe I'm overthinking this a bit. Or maybe I'm just lazy... Hmmm...

[problemchild]

I have been using a reverse lock-out since I started almost 30 years ago. I move it from car to car .... it even worked in my FF.





Its called my leg.
Get a smaller car or a bigger leg!

[CitationFV21]

Gene Grimes had the idea for a great lockout. He ran a solid push/pull cable to the rear and it moved a pin back and forth to restrict the hockey stick inside the tail housing. The cable was a pain I am sure and I don't know how many housings he drilled out until he got it right. How about an electric solinoid that normally restrict the hockey stick and when energised pull back? - some housings have a back up light switch - wonder if this mount could be used....

ChrisZ

[remmers]

I thought that was where eugene mounted it, in the reverse light socket. I agree it is a very good system tho.