Hi all, my six speed box has been notchy ,so decided to change the top plate as this appears to be a common fault. Finally got it all apart,the window switch is a bit of a fiddle to remove, however, took the stick out and the turret was empty of oil and more or less grease free on the pivot ball, I cleaned it out and then poured in gear oil slowly. This seemed to just keep gently running away, so kept topping up, still seems to disappear , decided enough was enough as a residual amount sat in the bottom. Liberally greased the ball and bottom of the stick, reassembled with new plate.feels much better just sitting in the garage,so next spare moment a road test should see how it is.
Btw,the top plate showed minimum wear ,but as I had one I changed it, £20.80 from mx5parts oredered mon late,arrived weds morning.
Steve
The turret does not take much filling - are you sure there is no leak? Strange that it would be empty too…
No, was definitely empty, poured in to fill the turret,watched it slowly dribble away, did this four or five times, seemed as if s bit stayed in there, that and plenty of grease on the pivot ball. Was obviously not too much of a problem, a bit notchy especially when cold, have to see if there’s a puddle on the garage floor later!
Mine was bone dry with no sign of oil either, reports of others been the same. Mine filled up though with less than the litre I bought.
So changed the top plate, refilled.? With oil in turret, liberal greasing… but still notchy in first second, and third to second, 3,4,5,6,are great , a real noticeable difference, probably just down to lubrication I guess, still not convinced about the lower gears. Maybe after a longer run and more heat it may ease somewhat.
We shall see.
Btw. Is the turret considered as the whole fitting ,or just the lower part that the gear stick fits into.
It would take a lot to fill the whole top part with oil.???
Steve
Good ,that’s what I would have thought.and what I did.
Like reading lots on this subject due to my strong belief that the cold notchy 1st to 2nd shouldn’t be normal otherwise back in the day when these where brand new no body would have gone to a dealer test drove and bought one.
Obviously after the gearbox oil change,turret oil, now the shifter plate change, adjusting the pedal, changing the clutch fluid potentially the bottom bush to brass that’s before even thinking of changing the cylinders.
And then the one no one ever mentions but is on the MX5 Parts website to change if you’ve got notchy gear change and is looking old is the entire gear lever boots.
“High quality replacement upper gearlever shift boot made by IL Motorsport in Germany. This is the larger of the two and is often found to be split or worn allowing heat from the engine into the cabin and can also give a notchy feeling to the gear change. The 5 and 6 speed boots are different so please select which one you require from the drop down box.”
And then you could just leave it all and say its the characteristics of the car like I’m trying to believe because I’m a tight yorkshire man🤣
Clutch lever adjustment is free - unless you pay someone else to do it of course.
Can’t see a tight Yorkshireman doing that though 
Done the turret and gear box oil keep wanting to do the pedal adjustment but my biting point is not super low like lots mention plus I hate tight spots and working upside down plus my 1/4 turns turn into full revolutions and before I know it I will have broken something.
Lucky you, maybe a previous owner already adjusted it. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it and all that.
If you could get at it easily, it would be a super-simple job but sadly, you can’t and I share your dislike of working upside down and in tight spots and this combines both.
For me, the results were well worth it though.
You’ve spent a heck of a lot of time and money chasing your tail there.
No not done all that just read up on it.So far just cost me the oil for gearbox and turret, only just found your website only live up the road might be in contact in the future depending if I pluck up courage to open my wallet.
A gearbox oil change won’t need a bank loan 
It’ll cost less than all that on your list and actually work.
Getting the biting point out of the underlay certainly worked for me.
Never have been a fan of clutch drag…
That just adjusts the biting point, it doesn’t cure the hot cold gearchange issue.
This is where the problem starts read so much stuff some say the pedal adjustment works other the shifter plate some just the gearbox oil change others the turret then the ones that say its normal.
I wonder sometimes if each person’s notchy problem is different to each others and just gets categorised in the same bracket.
Internet World is quite often very different to the real World.
There have always been armchair experts and professionals who do it for a living. Pre-internet days it was ‘The man down the pub’ who would be the gearbox expert.
Then of course (mentioned before) just adjust your gear shifting technique.
I tend to shift from 1st to 2nd as a two part operation, a very slight pause in-between and don’t apply much side pressure (to the left) on the gear stick.
As mentioned it does get better when warmed up.
Advanced driver gear changing techniques. 
