I know this has bee discussed numerious times, and have searched old threads back to 2003. Removed shift linkage last year on '76 with side shifter after having the motor out. R & R all bushings, and reinstalled linkage. Could not find all my gears, and thats when I started to do thread search. Used members i.e. redbeard?? and even the Haynes manual. Do it one way, find forward gears. Another way, my back gears....no certain way gets me all my gears! Have rechecked my linkage, and cone screws flush with rods. Took out shifter, no cracks, spring and bushing look good. Why is there more than one way to do alignment???

There unfortunately is no, just do this and you will fix it. There is a real art to finding the happy spot, and it is rather black magic. I always mark where things line up, and still spend time futzing it to make it work. Just keep at it and try to mark where you were so you don't return there. You want something in the middle.

Now the real experts can chime in.

Checked Dr. Evil's sig for notes on it?

--DD

I don't think I have seen that one, (Dr. Evil notes) Have put trans in 3rd. gear @ the trans. Also had the wife sit in car and watch the shifter as I went thru the gears at the trans. Find all the gears fine there, but when I tighten down the bolt at the shifter, can't find all the gears.

It sounds like you have fore-aft slop somewhere in your linkage.

Did you change bushings in the aluminum shift coupling at the firewall? You mention that your cone screws are all the way in, so that sounds ok, but if you use the 911 version of the shift coupler bushings (they have an oblong slot instead of a round hole), there may still be fore-aft slop in your linkage. Either of the bushings "fit", but only the 914 parts work.

You could have your helper move the shifter fore and aft while holding the rear shift rod to see if there is any slop at all. You need to eliminate all the slop for it to work as designed.

Good luck to you.

John......thanks, will look for fore/aft slop in linkage. Yes, the bushing was changed on the shift coupling @ firewall,but will check to see if I was sent 911 bushings. They did seem to go in too easy!! Also is the bolt suppose to be tightened down on the shifter rod when checking for slop in linkage??

yes

We do need some pictures. As they say "worth 1000 words".

It's really not that hard to post pictures here.

Sig is below in the 31 pages of notes link. Pics included.

Dr Evil has done some many transmissions and is held in high regards on this site. If I go against anything he has done, I will be flamed beyond all comprehension.

Therefore, I will bow out publicly on this thread. I will offer any help that is asked for, but will not publicly respond with direct 901 gearbox questions.

I certainly wish that there could be differences of opinion on this site without flame wars, but the older I get and the longer I am on this site, the more political the whole thing becomes.

I have been involved with 914's specifically only since 1974, so my opinions need to be taken with a certain grain of salt. My opinions cost exactly what I charge = $0.00.

John, what the hell are you going on about? What do you disagree with?

The good news is it doesn't hurt.

Karmanbuilt if I understand your OP, your adjustments get you either: 1st, 3rd, and 5th or, R, 2nd, and 4th. John logically suggested that there may be play in the linkage in the fore-aft movement.

After replacing all my bushings, I couldn't get my full range from side-to-side, a few months ago, and so I pulled the tail cone/cover plate to see whether the inner linkage was worn. Yes, there is a linkage inside the transmission that resembles the outer (ball and cage) linkage at the transmission, and yes, it was worn too. Between the play in the outside connection and the play in the inside connection, there is quite a bit of play!

Didn't have the time, expertise or money to do anything about it, so I buttoned everything back together and kept adjusting.

Ten hours later, I hit the sweet spot and now get all gears.

I will not adjust it again until I understand how to obtain and service that part. I'll check some parts diagrams and try to post the things I'm describing later, but I can't right now.

Interesting, I didn't know about the linkage in the trans. O.K. here is a reality check: car drove and shifted perfect last year prior to dropping engine/trans. I did this so I could do some work on the heads and oil cooler seals. Put every thing back, my gears were not where they were suppose to be. I didn't want people to think this issue happened as a result of driving one day. BTW, I think my linkage rod is bent slightly as shifting to 4th causes the rod to smack against my cooling tin on the head. Anyone know the degree of angle the bend is on our linkage rod? Thanks to all for weighing in

Here's a photo TargaToy posted with the outer and inner linkage (thanks again, TargaToy) I thought that whole thread was pretty interesting and maybe relevant in-general.TargaToys shift shaft

Click to view attachment

Here's a schematic with the parts in the photo's (#16 & #17).

I'm not sure if you have done this reading through this thread, but this is where your problem most likely is. Pull the center seat cushion and remove the access plate. Move your shifter till you see the rod where it connects, that is where your problem is. It must be adjusted there. I know others have already told you this but that or a loose cone screw must be your problem from what you describe here. Read Doc Evils instructions on adjusting. I had this problem plague me in the past just like you. 1st and rev were good, 2nd was tight to find, 3rd was easy, but between 4th and 2nd the shifting was very hard to find. Took John Forbes about 5 minutes to fix it for me. Thank goodness for him.
Good luck

I think you answered your own question. When the shift bar bends it gets very hard to get yours gears. Inspect it and straighten it as needed. I have not seen bars compromised twisting, but more than once bent.

Also with the eventual setting, I start with the return spring slop amount of play to approximate vertical, and move horizontal adjustment from there.

Lastly, inspect your shifter to make sure the springs and clips are in order.

Chapter 4, and pages 28-29 for diagrams.
http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?act...t&id=218669

Side shifter bars are bent. If they are clocked incorrectly to the center tunnel rod, they will hit the tin. This is a symptom of the outside rod and inside rod not being adjusted correctly.

Sorry, actually Chapter 1 under "adjusting the shifter".

"Adjusting your shifter
Concept:
Before you can easily adjust your shifter you need to conceptualize what is
happening. I can only do so well with words and diagrams, but once you get the concept
you will be surprised how easy it is to adjust the shifter perfectly in a very short amount
of time.
For this explanation, reference figures 2, 3, and 4 in the appendix. Figure 2 is the
conceptual depiction of how the shifter should be when aligned correctly. The black
outline is where you would like the shift pattern to be, and is where the stick-shift
actually can travel. The red lines represent where the shift pattern actually is. Stay with
me, and make sure you get this concept.
Now a common issue is that people end up with only some gears, but not all.
Refer to figure 3. You will notice that the red lines are to the right and up from the
desired location of the shifter. In this setup you would only be able to select 1st and 3rd
gears, but 1st would be near where 3rd should be and 3rd would be near where 5th should
be. About now I hope you are having that “ah ha!” moment.
Adjustment:
To rectify this condition:
1. Select a gear. In using figure 3 it would be wisest to select 3rd. You can determine
901/902/911 Transmission Rebuild Video Supplement
10 | P a g e
that it is 3rd that you are selecting because there will be no gears past the middle
(1st) and 3rd is the next over on the bottom. Also, you would have no upper gears.
2. Loosen the pinch bolt under the stick shift
3. Stabilize the shift rod in the tunnel so it doesn’t move, this way you are only
moving the stick-shift and not the rod, thus not changing the fact that the gear box
is in third.
4. Move the shifter to where 3rd should be. Second and 3rd are the only gears to use
as they lie on the plane of the spring plate and you can use the shifters spring plate
to guide you to where 2 and 3 should be.
5. Tighten pinch bolt and see if you can get all gears.
The short answer is, put transmission into known 2nd or 3rd gear, then move the stick
to where that gear is supposed to be.
Now use this concept on Figure 4. In figure 4 you would only have gears 1, 3, and 5
as R, 2, 4 would be out of reach of your current adjustment. To fix this scenario you
would follow the same steps as stated above.
I hope this clarifies this simple procedure. It is a bit more difficult to explain in prose."

Wow....a lot to consider from all the input I have read. I am very humbled to belong to such a gathering of enthusiastic car minds. My many thanks to you guys and to Dr. Evil and John for valuable information many times not found in the manuals.
Gene