Could use some coaching on weird shifter behavior Options

[Tdskip]

First of all, hope everybody’s weekend is off to a good start and thanks and advance for any ideas.

I’ve had a long standing shift issue in the ex-turbo car that has me stumped. It’s extremely difficult to drive the car, because I never know what gear I’m going to get despite all of the couplers and bushings being new, including the firewall bushing.

I know how to rewind the shifter and haven’t had any trouble getting a good shift pattern on the other 914s so I don’t think that is the issue.

On our morning drive today Gabe pointed out that my shifter moves laterally back-and-forth as if it’s a neutral, even when it’s in gear. In other words even after you select a gear and get a clean shift you can wiggle the shifter as if it is in neutral.

Does that trigger any ideas as to the problem? I’ve swapped the shifter itself but for all I know the one I swapped could have been bad/off.

Trying to rule out anything external before I pull the box.

Once in hear it holds gears and syncros are good and the box is quiet and oil stays clean.

Thanks!

[Dave_Darling]

Play can exist anywhere along the shift linkage, from the stick itself all the way back to where the rake engages the fingers inside the transmission case. You will have to find where this play is.

You can pop the plastic cover off the side-shift console and grab the shift rod head--the "T" piece that the rear shift rod goes through. Then have someone wiggle the gear shifter and see if it moves without the shift rod head moving. If so, you have a problem between the lever and the rod head. If not, the problem is the rod head, or the rake and fingers inside the transmission.

Similarly, you can grab the U-joint where the front shift rod bolts to the rear shift rod, and have someone wiggle the shift lever. This helps isolate the problem to in front of or behind that. And so on.

The base of the shift lever has an epoxy joint in it somewhere. That can start to fail and it will cause problems. Often the lever will start to rotate when the epoxy fails, but it's worth checking anyway.

It's unlikely for where the front rod goes into the couple under the shift lever to have play, but it's worth checking. You can open the access plate in the top of the center tunnel to make sure the front shift rod turns with the motion of the shift lever.

The firewall bushing can fail. The shift coupler can fail or have slop in it. The cone screw in the coupler can back out. The castle bushing on the side shift console can fail or wear--and it often does not fit that well, and needs shimming or gluing to stay in place solidly. The shift rod head can be loose on the rear shift rod, the cone screw can back out, the bushing inside the coupler can wear or fail. There can be slop where the selector mechanism goes through the side shift console into the transmission case. The rake and fingers can have slop in the engagement between the two.

Those are the possible wear points that can cause slop like you are experiencing. You need to check all of them, or check enough stuff around them to rule them out.

--DD