Hey everyone, i just got a used engine swaped into my car since the original one was blown up when i bought the car. I was going to take it for a test drive yesterday afternoon, but when i tried taking off out of my driveway and up my hill, the car would stall. After several tries i figured that what i thought was first gear was probably 3rd. I checked most of my linkage pieces as i was putting the car back together, and they seemed to be tight. Now im getting scared! What could be the problem? Did 914's come with 4 speed transmissions? Mine is supposed to be a 5 speed. It is a 72 1.7. I have never been able to figure out exactly what my transmission is. It looks different from the side and tail shift transmissions that i have seen, but i think it is a tail shift. Transmission geniuses please help!!! Here are some pics of the linkage at the back of the trany. Is anything missing or out of place?

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

The pix didn't show, please repost.

There, i put some pics up.

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Hey, chill out. And naked pics will Always work.

I see your a newb, you do know the shift pattern of a 914 right? If you know 1st is left and down, then you need bushings or shifter adjustment. Use the search function, plenty on this subject.

The best thing to do would be to free the rear shift bar from the rear shift lever and see if you can put the lever into all the gears right at the transmission. (all five of them!) If so then you have a linkage problem that is easily corrected. If not then you have a bum transmission.

Really? 2 1/2 hours between your posts.

On a Monday morning when most of us are supposed to BE WORKING and not browsing a car forum ...


Yeah, just like pulling teeth ...
Andy

I'm gonna start by being Krusty, 'cause you're about to get off on the wrong foot here. 2.5 hours is a little early to be impatient, irritable, and in borderline rude. This is a list made up of people who do this for fun, not a pay-as-you-go answer service. Some, if not most, of us have real jobs during the day.

Now, on to the problem. Your car is a tail shift. If the linkage is all there and the bushings are intact, and it goes fully into 3rd and 5th gears, as well as reverse, but not first, there's in internal problem with first gear. First gear is accessible inside the nose cover of the trans. If it won't move at all and the engine dies when you try to release the clutch in any gear, you may have 2 gears engaging at the same time. More extensive surgery will be required.

Cap'n Krusty

Thanks for the response. Im not trying to be a dick, just trying to get someone to post something. I have had some of my other posts not get much response and then end up burried deep behind all the new posts.
My transmission goes into all the gears accept for first. It feels like it is going into first, but the shift handle doesnt stay in that position, it pops over to where 3rd would be. My car backs up just fine, and it does try to go when i put it in whatever gear im ending up in.
I will try removing the linkage and manually putting it into each gear. I will try that tonight. I did watch the linkage move and i couldnt distinguish between 3rd and 1st so im not sure if it is moving into position correctly.

of your naked GF.












She's hot, right? Just... Who am I kidding. We'd still want to see them. Propably.

(Do all the stuff above. Especially bushings. If you bushings are good (and I bet they suck) unhook the shifter from the transmission and see if you can hit all the gears from there.)

Zach

Oh yeah, shes hot, youll just have to trust me.
I inspected all of my bushings from the firewall back and they have very little play. I dont like the metal end on the rear linkage rod that hooks into the shift selector. It seems like some sort of bushing should be in there, but i dont have one and havent seen this detail on anyone elses car. Are there any links to other posts that explain how to set up the tailshift linkage, or that explain how to determine if bushing slop is present? Thanks

Odds are your first gear is toast. Bad news, 'cause the pieces are pretty major dollars. Will the car move in reverse or second? The Cap'n

If your first gear is toast you might be better off hunting down a new tranny.

There's a side shift tranny for $100 on the LA CL (for example ... you'd need some other parts to make a side shift work ... but it would be worth it) Of course they say its out of a 72 so it might be a tail shifter (I can't tell from the little pic).

The car moves in all the other gears as best i know. I cant get it to go very far without stalling since there is a steep hill right out of my driveway. It works great in reverse. There is no grinding or noise, and it isnt going into the first position as far as i can tell.
So if i take off my linkage and can not get it into first, that eliminates my linkage 'for the most part'. Since it will go into all the other gears, could it be part of the shift selector that is bad. I know we are starting to get in alittle deep without me excluding the linkage first. What are the procedures for correctly adjusting the linkage? The only adjustment area i can see is the ball at the firewall end that the linkage locates itself on. Thanks!

There is a pinch clamp in the tunnel. There is an access hole to get to the bolt for the pinch clamp next to the driverside seat belt receiver.

If you can disconnect the shift rod from the transaxle and manually shift the car into first gear then you need to either adjust the shift rod right to left (you can do this by loosening clamp bolt and rotating the shift rod) or repair an overly worn dog foot and or the receiver.

Thanks, great info. Is there a blueprint for the dogfoot that i could find to check my measurements against?

The adjustment is at the rear of the tunnel between the seats, but it doesn't sound like you need to do that. There'a a special fixture that you should have to do it, but it "can" be done by trial and error. That hundred dollar trans sounds like a screaming deal, if it's as good as the seller says, and you could just take the first gear out of it and solve your problem.

I have a couple of cores out back that might yield the pieces you need, too.


The Cap'n

I've only done the trial and error and error and error method. The first thing is to rule out the shifter and linkage by removing it from the equation, shift the box into the first gear position and see if you have 1st gear.

After my 1st removal of 1st gear, I had the shift fork too far back and mine did the same thing. Had to remove the tial housing, loosen pinch bolt, slide fork forward, re-tighten, all was well.

Very interesting. I will take the linkage off tonight and see if the trans will go into gear that way. If not, i want to try to fix mine before putting in someone elses "great transmission". Already ate crap on a deal like that last month for a toyota trany. Thanks guys