Hello Everyone,
 
For all the years I've owned my van the gearstick has been held down into the gearbox with wire done by a previous owner. I never bothered investigating it because it worked flawlessly until today I finally decided to do some maintenance on the gearbox and investigated what was going on with the gearstick. I've worked out that the thread on the gearstick that threads into the gearbox is a smaller diameter than the gearbox.  Is anyone able to shed some light as to what's going on? Obviously the gearstick doesn't match the gearbox. I've added some pics of the gearstick, gearbox and gearbox id tag if that happens to help at all. Any help appreciated
 
Cheers 
 

Yep, that gearstick is for the early 1pce gearbox or Capri 1600 box which uses the 40mm thread. What you want is a later mk1 '73 Escort - to 1981 which uses the 42mm thread . At least you can fit a quaife style quick stick in there now if you want to 👌😁

Cheers Marty,
 
Now begs the question, anyone have a later Escort model gearstick.

I mistaked, .. Actually just having a zoom up look at the stick it's the correct one but the threads are cactus.

A stock escort stick now could cost more than a rose joint quick shifter these days which won't have these problems of wrecking threads .
I could have a normal stick in reasonable usable order . Send me a PM as a reminder tomorrow so I can check for you 👍

yeps, bit the bullet and get a quickshift lever. I got one from yesterford a few years ago for the same reason, about $80 ish from memory.
 

So today I popped around Marty's and measured my shifter, crossed referenced with other Escort shifters and even test fitted it into a Escort gearbox. Its definitely a 42mm, defiantly the same as other Escort shifters and even fitted into the Escort gearbox. Now begs the question. Why isnt it fitting into my gearbox. The problem must be on the gearbox end. The gearbox has thread but the shifter simply fulls in and out without even touching the sides of the box. Anyone have any ideas? I'm lost as to what to do. My next option feels like replacing the box with one the shifter fits in.

looking at the thread on the end of your shifter, it's looking a little sad, so my guess would just be that the matching thread on the gearbox housing is just equally worn/stripped over the years to match, which might be why the previous owners had to use wire somehow to keep the 2 screwed together of.
I think you can get the thread plate part of the gearstick, which would help 1/2 of the problem.
Depending on how far you want to go, a bodge might be to try to use some of the 'JB Weld" type products on the threads and refit?
I have a tube of the stuff, but have never used it yet.
 
edit: Marty just said your threads were cactus also.. 

So your thinking a quick shift wont fit then?

Tbh if it was me id swap the box.

I measured the thread diameter with verniers and Shaun's was 41.5mm and my good used one was 41.6mm , his threads on the stick were cleaned and good cond.
A quick shift won't help.
I offered him to jb weld it in or Loctite etc, even do a simple Tek screw into the side of the box to lock the stick in place.

The thread looks bad in the picture because its covered in grease. Once the grease is removed you can see the thread is fine. The shifter has been measured at 42mm and has been test fitted to another Escort gearbox without any issues. I can confidently say the shifter isnt the problem.

The gearbox appears to have plenty of thread however the shifter simply fulls in and out without even touching the sides. I find it hard to except that the gearbox thread is cactus to this point. I just dont think that's the case. The gearbox is definitely a Escort Type E and should except 42mm shifters. A short shifter won't fix the problem as it'll be the same size as my current shifter.

Searching other posts trying to find answers GTV6CAPRI stated that there were 3 different size threads. Apparently there identified by colors. There is a grey, blue and white. I know there is a 40mm, 42mm but unsure of the third size. Doing some reading on other sites I suspect there might also be a 43mm. Unsure how accurate that is but hope someone can verify.

This has completely baffled me and at this point I'm contemplating just swapping the gearbox or at least the tailcase. I'm just hoping I can get some answers and verify the problem.