First-time Ferrari owner with Testa shifter question

Hey everyone,

I’ve lurked on this forum for a few years but finally got my first F-car last week. It’s a 1988 Mideast-spec Testarossa, red on cream hide, 16,000km (~10k miles), Tubi exhaust and is in excellent condition. It’s my childhood dream car, and now I have it. : )

My other cars are a 1976 Alfa Romeo Spider and my daily driver, a 1999 Porsche 911.

I maintain my own cars and hope to do the same with the Testarossa. When I select 3rd I sometimes get 5th, so I’m going to put the car on the lift later and see if I can work out how to fix that.

But I have a question for you all: in neutral, is it normal for the side-to-side movement of the gearstick to feel a little balky at all temps? It’s not objectionable, just un-smooth. Does something maybe need a clean and re-lube in the shifter mechanism?

Many thanks!

Jay


(Here’s a pic)


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Thanks for the reply. I updated my profile.

Yes, shifter in gate 3 but gearbox in 5. I think the linkage between shifter and transmission just needs adjusting.

The lever self-centres. It’s just that when I wiggle it back and forth in neutral, it feels less like a rifle bolt and more like stirring a bucket of gravel.

 

I understand. Thanks so much Steve!!

It only happens when downshifting from fourth. If I go from 4 to neutral then move the lever all the way to the left and back again before selecting third, I get third. So it does lead me to think that something between the lever and the transmission is misadjusted or has too much play. I will investigate. How do you access #26 anyways?

 

Where do you think it may be loose? Near the shifter or nearer tha trans? Thanks.

 

The motor was out 500 miles ago, so this seems a likely culprit.

 

That’s what I suspected. I’ll check it out. Thanks!!

 

I think Veedub is correct. The bushes look solid and #28 was visibly misaligned. Some fiddling improved things, but not enough. It now mis-selects gears only occasionally on the 4-3 shift instead of every time. Needs a teensy bit more tweaking.

It was my first time wrenching on the car. I was impressed with the beefy undertrays! My reference point is Porsche plastic.

Thanks for the help!

 

I meant that the shifter rod was misaligned. Not the bushing itself, but the sleeve it goes into, was not aligned with the rod going to the gear selector.