Trouble getting into gear still..., Side Shift Linkage Issues ? Options

[1adam12]

Well, the last time I drove my 914 was May of last year to the DMV and a week later I lost all gears. I converted my 72 1.7 to a side shift a couple years ago and I've gone through a few shift adjustments especially after replacing all the bushings. The curved shift rod was bent pretty bad from the donor car I originally installed so I took it to Bruce Stone's shop and he got it pretty spot on using his jig. He also replaced my newish coupler bushings because they were beginning to "oval-out" creating a little play around the pin. Still no luck...

I went ahead and purchased Chris's precision shift adjuster but even after installing it and doing the shift alignment tips from these forums still nothing. I know I need to spend more time fiddling with this upgrade after I get everything correctly aligned.

After multiple alignment attempts, I would grind Reverse and 1st but if I pushed far enough I could get 2nd but would have to hold it in place.

So this past weekend, I took apart the shift linkage. By hand, I can fully get into all gears with a solid 'clunk' sound by manually positioning the gear selector at the shift counsel. I fired the car up, and with the rear off the ground *car on jack stands* I can shift the selector into gear and the wheels spin. So this has to be something upstream up to the shifter itself.

The only visual cues I see are that the ball cup on the shift selector is pretty loose inside the connector to the shift rod. The other thing I noticed as I installed the precision adjuster is that my shifter inside the car is not aligned. The top of the shifter is clocked a little towards 7 o'clock.

Any advice with help guys. Been thinking if I should just get the full Tangerine Racing shift rod kit but I want to give this one more shot... heck it's been years already.

[ChrisFoley]

How is the roll pin at the transmission shift selector? Excessive play there from a worn or broken pin will cause excess travel of the linkage resulting in difficulty engaging gears.
Grinding when engaging 1st/reverse is usually bad clutch adjustment or a worn out synchro.
The shift lever is epoxied into the base. By using heat the epoxy can be broken. Then the lever can be re-glued in a new rotation that you prefer.

[1adam12]

Thanks Chris for your feedback. I don't think there's play where the selector connects to the selector rod/fork but I will check again.

I'm most likely going to bring the transmission down and have a good look at the clutch which only has 20 miles on it as well as the release bearing. And might as well take the stack out and do an inspection.

I will report back...

How is the roll pin at the transmission shift selector? Excessive play there from a worn or broken pin will cause excess travel of the linkage resulting in difficulty engaging gears.
Grinding when engaging 1st/reverse is usually bad clutch adjustment or a worn out synchro.
The shift lever is epoxied into the base. By using heat the epoxy can be broken. Then the lever can be re-glued in a new rotation that you prefer.