Shift linkage question

[rjbaren]

I found the linkage the shift lever with the bearing plate spacer.  Do the bolts come up from the bottom and thread into the upper plate which will sit on top of the chassis?  If so, since the upper plate is threaded why do I need the nuts?  Or, do I have it backwards and the threaded plate goes on the bottom and the bolts thread downward with the non-threaded plate sitting on top of the chassis?

[BDA]

Boy, I had all that exposed a couple of weeks ago but I'm pretty sure that the threaded plate goes inside the backbone and the screws go through the top plate, the backbone and then the bottom plate. Obviously, the ball joint goes in the middle of all that. You should get new "top hat" bushings for your shift lever. SJ Sports Cars sells a nice bronze set. They may also be available on this side of the pond but I think the nylon versions are more common. Ask Dave Bean or r.d. if they have the bronze ones. They may just have them.

[EuropaTC]

If you have the later TC linkage then pretty much everything goes inside the central spine as BDA says, and only the lever pokes through the hole. The small bolts go in through the top  making a sandwich between the chassis/spacer/bearing plate (?).  It's all a bit fiddly, I use a small screwdriver (or 1/8" rod ?) to align one hole and get the first bolt started.
Brian

[rjbaren]

Thank you.  My shifter lever was disconnected from the linkage.  The spacer plates were sandwiched together with the bolts going upward with nylok nuts on top.  The bottom plate has no threads.  Did the previous owner put this back together upside down?  Do I need the nylok nuts?
This lead me to believe only the nots were on top of the chassis and all the spacers were inside.  Until I saw the phot from Certified Lotus's restoration thread.

In going through Certified Lotus's thread "Restoration of 2358R" on page 35, I see a photo of Certified tightening Allen bolts downward.  So it looks like I will be putting the non threaded spacer on top of the chassis and the threaded spacer inside bolts going downward.   

Lastly, I did buy the brass or Bronze bushings from SJ.

[BDA]

It sounds like you're on your way!