Trouble with fourth gear Options

[Darksude]

I own an old 1975 Porsche 914 and we recently got the car up and running. One issue we are having trouble getting it into fourth gear. We don’t know if it may be the linkage or if it’s something more complex.

[Darksude]

I don’t know if this changes any of the answers but it’d hitting something physical. We can’t really tell what it’s hitting though. We also don’t know if that spring block is the case

[jcd914]

I don’t know if this changes any of the answers but it’d hitting something physical. We can’t really tell what it’s hitting though. We also don’t know if that spring block is the case

There is almost no chance this issue you have is in the tunnel or at the shift lever.
It is possible the clamp you see in your picture has come loose and the rod is not moving directly with the shift lever.
There is a bushing between the shift lever and shift rod but it almost never (in my experience) fails.

You can unbolt the shifter housing from the tunnel and lift it a little and look in case there is something loose in the tunnel that is blocking the shifter but it is not likely.

The for and aft movement of the shifter is limited by the shift lever on the transmission. When it reaches the end of it's range of motion it stops the shift rod which in turn stops the shift lever.
If bushings in the shift linkage have failed then the shifter and shift rod and transmission shift lever do not move in sync.

You need to be looking at the linkage under the car from the firewall back.

Jim