Besides converting to side shift?

All experts say to put the tranny in 2nd or 3rd, put the gear shifter correspondingly in 2nd or 3rd, and tighten the coupling. Doing that doesn't get me very close on the side to side adjustment. In fact I've spent several hours attempting to dial it in and no dice.

If I can hit 4'th gear, I'm over too far for 1st and reverse. If I adjust accordingly, I can get 1'st and reverse, 2nd, 3rd and 5th, but can't hit 4th. It just seems like I've got too much side to side play in the shift linkage to easily find that sweet spot where I can get 4th and everything else. With all that side play it seems as though if I do get it it will be purely by trial and error and luck.

No sign of broken clutch tube. I don't believe it's transmission related because it shifted into all the gears before I "fixed" it. When I replaced all the bushings including the shifter cup, and cleaned up the linkage I saw that the ball and cage in back is worn.

1. Can the front to back adjustment be misadjusted such that 2n'd, 3rd and 5th are available while 4th is not?
2. No grinding, but I just remembered that the clutch disengages at 2/3rd travel. In other words it engages at the first 1/3 of clutch pedal release. Could a loose clutch cable be keeping me from getting 4th gear?
3. Any cool tricks for dealing with a worn linkage in back (flat spots on the ball, worn sides on the cage)?
4. Should I just keep fiddling with it and quit whining?

Oh, the tail shifter! It' impossible to get totally used to it. Mine works fairly well 85%
of the time.... Previous owner replaced ALL the bushings, he said that it made a world of difference. I would first replace all the bushings then look at what else is possible...

I had a similar problem after replacing all of the bushings, cup and even the little balls in the system. Discovered that the gearshift stop plate (part#90142401700
Was badly worn. The space or gap that your lever sits inside is supposed to be approx. 15.25mm. I welded another piece in and straightened the gap out (it used to look like a smile due to the wear). Part is still available at AA and I suspect other places for about $50.

After my repair the shifting is vastly improved and definite (for a tailshifter).

When I set the adjustment on mine I did it a bit different than Haynes suggests. I positioned the gearshift lever to vertical (confirming at the rear I was still in neutral), but put it lever in the middle of the 4th/5th gear plane. It worked for me the first time (perhaps luck).

Speaking of luck, good luck to you.

Keith

Sounds like a plan, Keith. The stop plate attaches to the gear shifter mechanism somehow, (I took a look at the exploded part diagram that included it) but I can't visualize how/where it actually goes together.

Stuart

I found the shift plate nestled under the base of the gear shifter. It was hidden by grease, so I cleaned it off and inspected for wear. Looked pretty good (car only has 54,000 miles) so I put it back.

Reinstalled the gear shifter and readjusted the linkage. That took a while, but I must still be missing something. At the present setting I have to wait until the car's fully warmed up before I can find 1'st/reverse or 4th gear. Its as if there is not enough lateral travel in the gear shifter. Too much play in the ball and cage linkage at the tail end of the assembly?

Maybe my engine mounts are shot? The transmission mounts are good.

I'm tired of buying parts and I just replaced the clutch so I don't want to convert it to side shift right now or start hunting NLA linkage parts in that are not just as worn out as the ones I have.

Anyone have a clean tails shift rear assembly and shaft for sale?

if all else fails refer to the diagram on p86 fig5.21 of your haynes. there is a small inspection plate(#9) on the very back bottom of the trans. the selection lever(#12) that enters the trans is connected to a internal lever(#14) with triple rolled lock pin(#11). over time the pin fails, often slowly resulting in vague or changing gear selection. to inspect/replace the pin you will need to drain the gear lube and remove the cover. i would source a new gasket(#10) prior to removing the cover.

Good tip. I'll try it. There is definitely vague and changing gear selection. Thanks a lot.

I had the same problem..........

I replaced all of the bushings on my `70 1.7L and still found a lot of slop in the shifting. Further inspection found that the spline in the shift linkage ( sticking out of the back of part 32 in the diagram) had broken loose and would slide in and out and rotate somewhat. I ended up having to weld it back into place to keep it from slipping - I believe the spline must be brazed or pressed in (not sure) but broke free.

Of course you will need to re-adjust your shifting alignment after the repair. In my case it made a huge difference. You can see if this is your problem by removing the center cushion and tray and then open up the rear tunnel access cover. While shifting through the pattern look for movement between the parts (32 and 50 in the diagram).

Credit to PP for the shift linkage diagram!!

Brian


Click to view attachment

Very helpful, not to mention thoughtful, to include the exploded parts diagram with your post. I'm interested since you seem to have experienced very similar problems.

My understanding is that the junction of the gear shift coupling (#50) and the transmission coupling (#32) was slipping until you welded (what?) I'm a little confused by the use of the singular "spline" and its location at the "rear" of the transmission coupling. I observe that there are many small splines at that union and that it resides at the "front' of the aforementioned coupling. Did I misinterpret your message? I'm curious to know. Thanks very much

Stuart

I couldn't get the side-to-side slop out of mine either. Tried adding material with weld to the ball and cage (which helped a bit) but the culprit is internal.

Here are a few pics I took when I had it apart. The little brass nubbies wear so they aren't hemispherical anymore--and a .001" at the trans seems to feel like an inch at the shift lever in your hand.

Click to view attachment

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Nice. Thanks for the good photos. Your post does beg one question: what did you do about it?

I called AA about the replacement part and even emailed them my pics for evaluation. They said the part looked "in spec" to them and said any part they coudl sell me would have the same age on it and be in comparable condition. I forget, but NOS, that part from Porsche seemed really expensive at the time.

I also changed out all the other bushings in the linkage and installed the Rennshift by JWest.

But with the slop inside that tail section, it never got "great". I drove it very gingerly and then a burst fuel line led me to where I am now...on jackstands doing mucho rust and structural repair. I have since bought a 1975 parts car with side shift and plan on rebuilding that trans before installing in this car.

Guess this didn't really help except to further pinpoint a problem area.

That does help by providing context and options. I'm still looking for the "big" answers on these kinds of questions (e.g., "Its hard to source transmission parts so you might want to explore an alternative solution.") 'cause I don't have enough experience with these cars to know things that might be obvious to those who do. So thanks.

I'm reading really good things about Subaru transaxle swaps. Do a couple searches. Equipped with cable shifters, they are supposedly spot-on and will make your 914 shift like the most modern of cars.

Yeah, I read the entire DBCooper thread. Never thought about only doing the t-axle. Good one.

Stuart,

Part #32 has a spline shaft brazed into the end of it. This is the spline shaft segment on #32 that slides into the female spline socket end of part #50 and is then clamped firm by #31. In my case, the spline shaft became detached from part #23 so that it was rotating and sliding some - they are supposed function as one piece. The best I could see was that the spline shaft was only spot brazed to the main tube of #32 and it broke free.

The clamped joint was holding fine but with the spline shaft moving within #32, my shifting was all over the place. Even when it was in gear there was a lot of movement both side to side and fore and aft. You could see this movement while looking at the access hole in the tunnel while you moved the shift lever. When working properly, there should be no independent movement between #32 and #50 while shifting.

My solution was to weld the spline shaft back into place in #32. Since then, no problems shifting. The pattern is good. You won't have a shift pattern that "pops" into position because there is essentially five feet of shift linkage to contend with, but you will have a repeatable pattern.

I was in a place where I needed to get it fixed in a hurry and I had a welder handy at the time. I did it without removing the shifter linkages from the tunnel. A better solution would have been to remove the whole linkage and drill out the brazing and repair it that way.

I have looked into a side shift conversion but have not been convinced that it was worth the money. It is fairly involved and not cheap. For me, there were plenty of other things on the car that needed attention. From what I have read on the site - the side shift conversion is not that much better than a tail shift with good bushings.

The best solution would be a cable shifter.


Brian

Brian wrote:

"The clamped joint was holding fine but with the spline shaft moving within #32, my shifting was all over the place. Even when it was in gear there was a lot of movement both side to side and fore and aft. You could see this movement while looking at the access hole in the tunnel while you moved the shift lever. When working properly, there should be no independent movement between #32 and #50 while shifting."

OK, now I understand. Who would have thought? I'll double check the connection. Thanks for taking the time to explain further.

BTW, I agree with all your comments concerning side shift, cable shift, etc., although, with all the modifications required to fabricate a cable shift mechanism, I'm beginning to think that I'd want to install it on a fully serviceable transaxle, e.g., Subaru.

The general procedure is to look at all of the joins between pieces of the linkage, and look for anything that has extra slop or is moving independently of a piece it is attached to.

That was how Brian noticed that Something Was Wrong at the joint at the back of the tunnel. The same notion works for any of the pieces of the linkage that you can get a look at while the shift lever is being moved.

--DD

Thanks Dave. I actually sorted out all the visible parts of the linkage a while ago. Now I'm "looking" for things I can't see. Since I don't know anything, I'm asking for clues about the less obvious reasons a tail shift 901 transmission on a 914 won't shift reliably.

I guess what Im encountering is that: "anything that has extra slop or is moving independently of a piece it is attached to," on my transmission is a part that is NLA or very expensive. For example, the ball and cage, the internal shift rod that is attached to the cage, etc. The only suspect that I know how to do anything about is the roll pin that holds the internal shaft as described by a previous poster. Its kind of a shame, since the gears, sliders, forks and syncros all seem (to the best of my limited expertise) pretty good.

It's becoming clear that the solution involves a mix and match of the best components of several transaxles and shift linkages.

Anyone have a supply of NOS tail shift linkages and control rods?