Just curious, with the tranny out of the car, should you be able to shift at all?

No oil currently in it either. I have never driven this car, it was parked in 2001. I think the good Dr. answered a similar question a while back. IIRC his answer was the only way to test in this state was to install it. Is that the answer to this?

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Should I be able to move this lever up or down and engage the gears? In or out and engage other gears? SIMULATE driving?

You can shift it but it may not easily go into all of the gears. In and out of the trans will select which gear-"pair" you're in (1st-rev, 2nd-3rd, or 4th-5th, each on a different plane) and front to back will select which of those gears is engaged in that plane.

The input shaft needs to be rotated a bit sometimes as the shift pattern is executed. Sitting vertical like shown, make sure the transaxle bell housing is supported (like on two 2x4's) so that the input shaft isn't sitting on the floor keeping the trans from sitting flat.

Good luck

Yes, it should be possible. But you have a whole lot less leverage on that little bitty part than you do on the gear shift lever. So it can take a lot of "oomph" to get it into gear, depending on a bunch of things.

--DD

I was thinking that the short stubby lever was part of the problem. Good to know it should be tuff. I hope to have it in the car this week. Fingers crossed that it works.

Thanks.

I have it sitting on a milk crate....property of some dairy that shall remain nameless.

Thanks