Pulled my car out of storage, the temperature is about to get below 90 here in Houston - so time to drive again!

When I parked it, it ran and shifted great after I replaced the rear shift bushings. The firewall had been PO replaced and seemed to be fine - but I notice the tapered screw sticks out just a little, it is not flush.

But it shifted fine. Until after sitting in storage, it does not want to go into 1/3/5 gears. So I need to figure out what the problem is.

Is the tapered screw at the firewall bushing suppose to be flush or stick out just a tad? It shifted fine before with it sticking out a little, and I could not screw it all the way in.

I thought I read somewhere that either the front ones or rear ones don't sit flush, but don't recall which is which. I think it was the rear ones are flush and the front ones not totally flush??

If the back one is loose, it will effect the shifting.

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=101756

Yup, that's what I bought and replaced them at the firewall and in the rear - even though they really didn't need to be. Rear screws all the way in and is flush - but the firewall has 1 or so threads exposed.

Exposed threads shouldn't make a difference....providing the taper of the screw is secure into the shift rod.

I had mine strip threads out of the linkage (firewall screw), lost all side to side motion of the shifter (left with only 2 & 3). Drilled the hole out larger and tapped new threads, ground a taper on the end of a conventional bolt and it works like a champ, even w/ a bolt head hanging out the bottom.

I think as long as the rear shift rod tapered screws are holding at all they are ok, but the clamp bolt in the tunnel has probably come loose and allowed your for and aft shift adjustment to change. also you may want to check the pair of bushings in the shift rod coupler at the firewall...they might be crumbled.

Mine was loose a few months ago and prevented me from getting into some of the gears, just a little slop made a huge difference.

Changed the firewall and front linkage bushings earlier this week and the cone screw in mine did peek out a bit. The rear cone screw is flush.