Series 3 Sloppy gear lever - quick fix

Investigating the reason for a sloppy gear lever, I found that the rubber/plastic bush that fits in a groove at the bottom tip of the gear lever (where it goes into the cups on the selector shaft) had split and fallen off - without the bush, the metal tip was fairly loose in the selector shaft cups, causing the sloppiness. Although I could have machined a new bush on the lathe out of delrin plastic, the problem would be getting it over the end of the lever and into the groove, it would have to stretch to get it on - so rubber was the only possibility. As I never throw anything away, I remembered I had some old rear mud flaps somewhere, digging them out I found they were fairly hard but flexible rubber, about 6-7mm thick. Taking a 20mm starret type hole cutter, I cut a 'washer' out of the rubber, this was 20mm dia, 6-7mm thick, with the central hole being the size of the hole-cutter drill bit, 6mm. A bit of grease on the tip of the gear lever, and I was able to stretch it over the end and into the groove, where it fitted snugly - job done !! - very little flop in the gear lever now, feels much more precise. I don't know how long it will last, but it's ****-easy to make another one. Moral of this story - never throw anything away !!

I never throw anything away, much to my wife's annoyance, but the trouble is I have so much stuff, I can't find anything.

Col