I think I screwed up or am missing something simple. Can the shift rod in the tunnel be installed with the engine in? It is a 72 and I am switching it to a sideshift. I have all the parts, I just can't seem to get the bar into the tunnel Any suggestions?

Make sure your seat belt bolt on the driver's side isn't too long and hindering the install.

What is in the way?

If try to install from inside the car the throttle cable tube is in the way, from the engine compartment, the engine is in the way. Cant get it to go in the right spot in the tunnel or it binds up and jams. I had planned on doing it before installing engine, but did not go through my list of things to do and put them in order.

seat belt bolt is not in car at this time.

Do you have the correct engine bar? It should go in. I can get mine in/out and my engine is bigger than yours.

I have the one with the hole in it. I took the solid one out with the tailshift.

I have to start in front of the bar. take the rear of the rod over the bar. push the rod rear wards until the front of the rod is at the firewall hole. then push it forward into the tunnel. works every time. if that don't work for you, the engine is coming out.

I will give it a shot tomorrow. I gotta get up in 4 hours to go to work. Thanks and g'nite.

If that does not work, then support the engine and drop the engine mount bar. That will give you plenty of room.

I did this on a '73 and it was a bear.... but possible....

this is what I had to do... I had the same mistake. I supported the engine on a jack, and disconnected the bar to allow the bar to go into the tunnel... with a new bushing, there was no other way.

Yes that is what it took. And about 2hours with a 4 year old asking questions all the while. At least he kept me from swearing! All is done for now. Time to search for the thread that tells me how to line all the connections up so it will shift smooooth. The new bushings are great. Thanks for all the advice.

Adjusting your Shifter Page #9

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?act...t&id=218669

Wow that is awesome. I havent even cleaned up yet. Thanks!!

This is supposed to bolt up? It was welded when I got the parts. There is no hole (filled in by welding?) to bolt into. Should I just weld back or is there a better way? I also am not sure how to line this up. Any threads or pictures would help. I am refering to the linkage.

Hmmm, that shift rod should be one piece...

If you don't get the angle right in securing the two pieces of the bar together, it will not be easy to align the linkage.

I'd recommend getting another side shifter bar to compare to (OR REPLACE).

There is a hole in the outer bar that looks like it should have a bolt screw into the solid bar. The solid bar has the hole welded shut as far as I can tell. The linkage came from 3 different sources so I could be very wrong, but it did not look to be a single piece when I got it.

Well, the original stock side shift bar is one piece and you might want to save yourself a Huge amount of headache by getting the right bar.

I'll see if I have an extra hanging around.

Well, it can be done. I placed the transmission in second gear, the shifter in second gear, and centered the shift rod in the center of the hole in the engine bar. Tack welded in place for now, it shifts smoothlt in all gears. Have not road tested yet, but engine running and on stands it shifted perfect. Thanks for the help and suggestions.