Transmission issues, trouble finding first and reverse Options

[Alapone]

Hello all,

I have been having difficulty finding first and reverse intermittently on my past few drives.

Let me start at the beginning, I bought the car 2 years ago without being able to put it into 4th or 5th gear. Being new to this and really just wanting to get the car on the road, I drove it promptly (and screaming in 3rd) to a mechanic who specialized primarily in older british and newer german/Japanese stuff. He told me I needed to repair the linkage. He did that and the thing shifted like a (914) dream for the next year and change.

Four months ago I noticed new (and pretty significant) play in the linkage. I thought it was the mechanic's work coming undone though it seemed pretty soon. I drove it like that for another 3 months because there was no real problem hitting all the gears, it just felt a little sloppy.

Two weeks ago after a decent hour and half drive at hwy speeds with no problems and returning home to stop and go traffic, I wasn't able to put the car in first gear. If I double clutched it would slip in with a little bit of protest. Since then it has been spotty acting up at times and other times no problem. Bad synchros? just the linage ? shift tube? worse? I live in the city so I haven't had space to get it up in the air and take a look for myself. Plus Im not well versed enough to take a trans apart and inspect. long winded I know. Any ideas?

Thanks for the help