This years' Mitty was simply awesome. Different than others, but awesome just the same.
We planned this year to go to the Porsche Experience Tour this year with the Huntsville team and then on to Braselton. We made our plans, Dad showed up in good spirits and repair and on Thursday morning we headed out. By mid-day, we met up with Dave and Ron. Lou showed up to see us off from Huntsville as well (Wish you could have made it Lou!!!).
Somewhere in Ft Payne, we had a long gas stop and as we pulled out of the station, my car jammed between 1st and 2nd gear. It would go into 3rd and 4th. Reverse too, but it would not even hint at going into 1st and second.... Panic ensued in my mind....
I backed the car into the station lot, everyone gathered around and we started going through what might be wrong. I started to tear the center console area out, as I had made up my mind that the problem was in the shifter area. A call to my friend Keith yielded a potential shift lever delivery as I had most definitely sheared the rubber insulation out in my lever when it jammed, and my lever was now turned 90 degrees from stock.
Eventually I got it turned back to stock position and settled on the fact that I'd have to drive the car on to Atlanta with just 3rd and 4th. Along the way, I walked through in my mind the process I'd have to go through to get the transmission shifter top out of the car so I could fix it. I was also getting some very helpful texts from Keith saying that a bunch of different 6Pack members were offering to bring things to help the following day.
When we got to the hotel in Atlanta, I decided that I was going to have to fix it right there. There was no way I'd make it through the Porsche tour and on to Braselton with just 3rd and 4th gear (how right I was!!!!!).
In the next 3 1/2 hours I pulled the console, front interior, trans tunnel and shifter top. I then repaired it and reinstalled everything. It turned out that the switch on the shifter top that rides on the 1/2 rail was so worn out that instead of depressing in/out, it would rock forward/backward and jam in the hole. When it did this, it would lock up the shifter rod, keeping it from allowing the car into 1st or 2nd. I 'fixed' this by pulling that switch out and replacing it with the reverse light switch. I then took the damaged switch and put it in the reverse light hole. Before doing so however, I made 4 more gaskets out of the Permatex box to space it further off of the trans and keep the button from jamming the car in or out of reverse.
My fix worked well and we were able to drive the Porsche tour and all the way to Braselton with no problems (we kept up with a gaggle of 911's!!!!!)
It was great to see old friends again and to meet a bunch in person for the first time! Cannot emphasize that enough!
I took tons of pics, so I hope you enjoy some of these!!!
