Well it had to happen when i went for my driving test, the gear shifter was very light almost u cant feel it when it engages into gear. THEN I FAILED MY TEST FOR SPEEDING go home things get worse finding out the problem from swedish wreckers that the plate the shifter rests on is snapped said you have to take off the whole engine to get to it or cut out the metal to get to the plate and then weld it. HELP ME or the 360 goes for good

yeah, that sounds exactly like what's happened, and its quite a common fault. There's a weak spot on the welding where the plate is joined to the rod which secures it to the bellhousing.

To get it out you need to drop the torque tube, which basically means you need to remove the gearbox. Its not an easy job and takes a good few hours to do properly, so I'm afraid its not cheap if you need to pay someone else to do it for you. They shouldn't be taking the engine out though. Gearbox out is better for this one.

I have heard of a 'ghetto' way of doing this repair where someone welded directly through the floor of the interior of the car, but I really don't know if that would work or not, and really, its not recommended.

yes it has been fixed through the ghetto way, my dad grinded off the metal and took it 2 a welding guy and its done just like new except theirs a rattling noise. all that needs to b done is to put back the grinded metal.

i got pics that ill post soon

Yeah, my old car was fixed the 'ghetto' way... I wouldn't do it with my current GLT but with that car I wasn't so bothered. Didn't cost much atall, and it made the gearchange as slick as the GLT I'm driving now.

Incidentally I broke it whilst having a bit of fun with an Audi A3

That must have been embarrasing but i feel totally ripped off for it to break moments before my driving test

Nah... I still won It just felt funny when I shifted to 2nd, then realised what had happened... It still drove fine, I drove it around for quite a while taking gear changes verrryy gently

I had this happen on our old 360 - I managed to botch it just by using a M6 nut and bolt to hold the thing in place.

I had this too. I was probably being a bit too rough with the stick. The repair should probably go in the 'article' vault, when the time comes.

cheers

James

And me. I had a car full of friends & family and was driving home from peterborough in the middle of the night, suddenly at a roundabout the gear lever went completely slack. Couldn't find any of the gears at all! I took the tray/trim out from in front of the gear lever which let me move the lever further forward than usual, that let me limp home using 1st, 3rd and 5th.

Next morning when I tried to take the gearbox out to drop the torque tube, the "allen key" bolts securing the tube to the gearbox had all previously been rounded!

In the end I unbolted the selector rod from the gearbox and the support rod from the front by the clutch housing. By dropping the gearbox a few inches with the torque tube still attached, I got enough clearance to slide the whole mechanism back till it could be welded through the existing hole (ie. where the gear lever usually lives). Good as new!

we do quite a few of the so called ghetto fixes for the gear shift .
the easy way is to remove all the centre consol.
fold the carpet back as far as you can. cut the floor with an air air hacksaw. fold the floor back. mig weld the gear shift, fold back the floor and weld. trying not to set fire to the inside of the car at the same time.
the alternative is to remove the exhaust system. then lower the whole rear end and unbolt all the linkages at the front the middle and the rear and replace the whole thing. much easier to weld in place.

I too fixed mine the ghetto way, then a few weeks later i blew my diff so had to drop the box anyway...

Only drawback is the harmonics i'm getting as i welded some of the plate to the body for extra strenght.

For those who may read this in the future...that isn't normally necessary. The original design is weak, but some additional bracing of the standard assembly is enough to last properly. Still...I guess there's even less chance now

cheers

James