I'm not able to get into fouth or fifth gear while griving or at a stop. I put in a new bushing kit a few months ago as well as solid mounts in my 73 side shifter. What's the deal?!? It was OK a few days ago. Could it be my shifter, linkage, shifter alignment, etc.? I'm sorta new to the whole scene so excuse my ignorance. Any help would be great. Thanks.
Sean

Linkage adjustment is the most likely cause. For a side-shifter, the adjuster is directly behind the shifter itself.

Is the adjustment that 13 mm head bolt at the access hole in the tunnel? How is the adjustment made?

Ayup

am i the only one that has a $15 Haynes manual for a 914???

going from memory here so bear with me

with the shifter pushed all the way to the right and in the middle of the gate (4-5), loosen the bolt, rotate the linkage (clockwise??) till it turns no more, tighten the bolt

hopefully someone else chimes in here in case I'm totally off, LOL

I tried the adjustment prodedure described on pelican but it didn't help at all, could it possibly be something at the transmission end? It's no fun driving when you can't go past third gear.

can you manually put the transmission into 4th or 5th "at the transmission end"???

you'll have to disconnect the shifter...it's good idea to have a freind move the gear shifter in and out of gears while telling you what gears have been selected, this way, you can get a better grasp of how the shift fork should be working ....you'll basicly have 9 positions...R N 1st, 2nd N 3rd and 4th N 5th, there will be a positive detent when you push the lever to the right or left

redbeard has a great method, I just tried it and it worked great.

put the selector at the tranny end into 3rd gear and clamp it in place.

3rd is the middle plane, arm towards front of car.

then adjust the shifter by loosening that 13mm bolt so that the shift lever just kisses the lockout plate in the central plane (2nd 3rd)

position the lever about as far back as you feel comfortable with. there is some leeway there so you can have the lever a little biased towards the front or back.

then tighten the bolt, take off the clamp from the selector and you are done.

i'd suspect the set-screw at the coupler just behind the firewall.
i had one come loose (after a AX) and i had the same exact symptoms.

get under the car and make sure the set-screw is tight (allen wrench).
Andy

After re-reading your first post, I think I agree with Andy, Sudden changes in shifting patterns usually point to the cone screw. Seen it happen several times.

Check the entire linkage first, including the cone screw and the roll pin.

Then check the 2 bushing and the spring inside the shifter.

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