156 Selespeed Lever Inversion

[Ross]

Hey all,

I've recently ended up with a 2001 156 Selespeed Sportwagon and I'm
fairly happy with it so far apart from one thing - to me, the +/- on the
gear lever is the wrong way round.

What I would like to achieve is swapping the current Up = Change Up /
Down = Change Down over to Up = Change Down / Down = Change Up. Yes, I
could just live with the buttons, but sometimes chasing them round the
wheel gets to be a pain.

Having done a similar mod to a Steptronic equipped BMW 540 I had, I
armed myself with the connector pinout and swapped the gear selection
wires over... This seemed to work until I discovered I couldn't get
reverse any more. D'OH!

It seems to me that the only way to get what I want is to remove the
gear lever, turn it 180 degrees and bolt it back in. As it looks like it
could be quite a job to do this (removing quite a lot of the centre
console), I was wondering if anyone else had done this and had any hints
to give? Or maybe somebody has found another way of doing the inversion
and would care to share?

TIA for any help.

Ross.

[Tony Rickard]

Ross wrote:

> What I would like to achieve is swapping the current Up = Change Up /
> Down = Change Down over to Up = Change Down / Down = Change Up.

By up I take it you mean forward?

Then I agree it is more logical that pushing a lever forward and back
should equate to doing the same in a standard manual in the same plane
of the H pattern (e.g. between 3rd and 4th - push forward to change down
to 3rd, back to change up to 4th).

Any sequential shifters I have used on computer racing wheels works this
way! However, my father in law's Renualt Laguna has a sequential
"manual" option on the auto box which also seems to work the wrong way
for my mind (forward = change up)

If it makes you feel in good company Jacques Villeneuve had his Williams
modified to change gear with a single paddle - push to change down, pull
to change up...

Surprised simply swapping the wires over didn't work. I wonder if there
is a software mod your Alfa dealer could do by simply plugging in the
computer and reconfiguring it?

Cheers
Tony

[Ross]

"Ross" <bnm@ggh> wrote in message
news:440b52a5$0$7000$ed2619ec@ptn-nntp-reader02.plus.net...
> Hey all,

Hi Ross

Just wanted to say hi, I've no idea with your Selespeed, unfortunately.

Regards
Ross(This feels a bit like talking to myself!) ;-)

[Ross]

Ross wrote:
> "Ross" <bnm@ggh> wrote in message
> news:440b52a5$0$7000$ed2619ec@ptn-nntp-reader02.plus.net...
>> Hey all,
>
> Hi Ross
>
> Just wanted to say hi, I've no idea with your Selespeed, unfortunately.
>
> Regards
> Ross(This feels a bit like talking to myself!) ;-)
>
>
>
Hi Ross,

Heh, there's nothing wrong with talking to yourself 8^) As this great
sticker I saw the other day said "Even if the voices aren't real, they
have some good ideas".

Ross. (wondering if there's enough of us to achieve world domination)

[Ross]

Tony Rickard wrote:
> Ross wrote:
>
>> What I would like to achieve is swapping the current Up = Change Up /
>> Down = Change Down over to Up = Change Down / Down = Change Up.
>
> By up I take it you mean forward?
>
> Then I agree it is more logical that pushing a lever forward and back
> should equate to doing the same in a standard manual in the same plane
> of the H pattern (e.g. between 3rd and 4th - push forward to change down
> to 3rd, back to change up to 4th).
>
> Any sequential shifters I have used on computer racing wheels works this
> way! However, my father in law's Renualt Laguna has a sequential
> "manual" option on the auto box which also seems to work the wrong way
> for my mind (forward = change up)
>
> If it makes you feel in good company Jacques Villeneuve had his Williams
> modified to change gear with a single paddle - push to change down, pull
> to change up...
>
> Surprised simply swapping the wires over didn't work. I wonder if there
> is a software mod your Alfa dealer could do by simply plugging in the
> computer and reconfiguring it?
>
> Cheers
> Tony

Yep, I did indeed mean forward (up) / back (down) on the lever.

Heh, maybe Villeneuve is a games player too! Anyway, that's a good
thought about asking the dealer. While I don't have one local to me,
there is a good specialist up the road who I'll ask when it goes in for
it's service next month.

What I have found is another useful diagram which shows the valid switch
combinations of the lever that the computer looks for. From this I've
figured that to select reverse, it seems to want to see both the neutral
and change down switches pressed together. With the wires swapped this
means moving the lever right and forward which it can't physically do. I
can't see any other way to sort this just by swapping pins in the
connector. I suppose there may be a way to put another button somewhere
which could run parallel with the forward position switch that could be
pressed to get reverse, but that's getting a bit too scary for me!

So for now I'm going to grab a friend on the weekend and go ahead and
try reversing the lever. I'll let everyone know how it goes. Thanks for
your comments Tony.

Ross.

[Tony Rickard]

Ross wrote:

> What I have found is another useful diagram which shows the valid switch
> combinations of the lever that the computer looks for. From this I've
> figured that to select reverse, it seems to want to see both the neutral
> and change down switches pressed together. With the wires swapped this
> means moving the lever right and forward which it can't physically do.

Can you not get reverse with the steering wheel buttons?

[Ross]

Tony Rickard wrote:
> Ross wrote:
>
>> What I have found is another useful diagram which shows the valid switch
>> combinations of the lever that the computer looks for. From this I've
>> figured that to select reverse, it seems to want to see both the neutral
>> and change down switches pressed together. With the wires swapped this
>> means moving the lever right and forward which it can't physically do.
>
> Can you not get reverse with the steering wheel buttons?

I don't think so. I haven't consciously tried it, but I think what the
book says about the buttons not working under 10km/h is true.

Ross.