Mazda-Menders

Just replacing the upper and lower gear lever boot/seals and took out the bottom large nylon cup ring to clean it. The bottom wavy washer came out in 3 pieces. Went to Mazda and they only sell the complete turret for £68. Went to a scappy and got one only broken in one place for free.

The top wavy washer has 3 tangs on it which locate into the top nylon cup ring. The bottom wavy washer on my Eunos and also the Eunos at the scappy did not have tangs.

So here's the question. Can anyone say why the bottom one doesn't have tangs? Is there a reason why Mazda bothered to make two different types?

it appears the top one (with tangs) is available as a seperate part . Just ordered one from Andrew, but should I grind off the tangs with the Dremel?

M-m

OK. I'm away till Saturday. I'll post some pics when I get back. I thought it was a common fault since the two cars I took to bits both had broken washers.

Finally got a snap shot.

In the below pic the upper wavy washer can be seen attached to the top of the upper nylon cup ring (left side in pic). It has 3 tabs on it which fit into the cup ring. The bottom wavy washer is at the far right of the pic (or whats left of it). It has no tabs. Nor does another broken one I got out of another Roadster. So my question is, Why did Mazda bother to make two different washers? The bottom one without the tabs it not available unless you buy the whole gearbox turret, but the upper one with the tabs is available. I just bought one. Has anyone had any experience with broken wavy washers? Should I attempt to modify the tabbed one to make it a non tabbed one? (The 10mm bolt is to stop the bottom cup ring rolling off the roof, where this shot was taken, and can be ignored).



In the below pic the seating ledge for the bottom wavy washer can be seen about 1/2 inch below the top of the turret.

Update. All fixed and up and running!

After comparing the new wavy washer (with tabs) to the old washer without, I found the tabless one (the bottom one) to be about 1 mm larger in diameter both internally and externally.

However, the new tabbed washer seems to fit into the 3 recessed slots on the bottom nylon ring. When assembled, the large gear lever ball only just clears the internal hole on the washer. But "only just" is good enough!

So for anyone else faced with the same question, the answer is even though the washer is slightly smaller than the original, the top tabbed washer can be used as a replacement for the bottom. Phew. Time for a cuppa!