Greetings ladies and gents!

Just a little bit about myself. Bought my first v8 car (283/rod Simpson car) right out of high school and fell in love with these unique cars. Had to sell it for school 6 months later but never lost love for them. Fast forward 8 years later and I bought a GM v6 (4.3) swapped car to try to re-live some of that previous magic. Figured car was too slow so I had a corvette shop build me a full roller 350 with a decently bumpy cam. Car gets squirly in 4th gear at full tilt and suffice to say the magic is back. But there in lies the problem as 4th and 5th are all but impossible to shift to while driving.

I can adjust the shifter while not in motion to get 4th and 5th. However once I start driving around, 4th disappears entirely and 5th can sometimes be found if I drive slowly. I've tried to adjust it multiple times and its driving me crazy!

I re-used the GM v6 engine mount bar which looks like it set the drive train back a few inches farther then the usual conversion kits. As a point of reference, I couldn't use renegades tranny mounts on their own and had to extend them another 2 inches using thick gauge metal and another pair of bolts. I'm thinking that the tranny mounts get "loose" as a load is placed in the system making shifting even more awkward.

I'm willing to pay for shop help but can't find anyone local in Southern California who would take on a v8 car. Just out of ideas and pulling hair, appreciate any help!

Cheers,
Ethan

What year is the car? 1973 and newer have a side shifter, which is much better than the previous years. It still sounds like bad shifter bushings. Is there any slop in any of the bushings?
Also PM Dr. Evil for his tranny guide. There is a nice section on how to adjust the linkage.
http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=56892

Pictures would also help, since you mentioned engine and trans mounts issues.

Show us some pics of the shift linkage under the car and the transmission mounting ...

Thanks Andy!! I knew i forgot something...

Contact Sean Molloy at San Diego Autosport. http://sdautosport.com/

His screen name on the world site is Sean_V8_914

He will sort your issue out for you. He is very good.

Check the bar itself where it goes though your engine bar. I had issues with shifting for a while. I had replaced all my bushings. I didn't realize it but my shit linkage itself was hitting my engine bar. A little creativity with my jack & it was fixed

LOL

Damn it I thought I saved that stuff for the auto correct when texting

Thank you for the welcome gents,

- Steve: Car is 1971 but I believe the previous owner converted it to a side shift. The transmission feels as vague as my previous car (though memory is 8 years old now), but once in gear the shifter doesn't feel sloppy or pop out of gear. Thanks for the Dr. Evil link, I will try again using his guide.

Andy: Here are some photos of the shift rod and engine cradle

Shift Rod


Jerry-Rigged tranny mount extender


Engine Cradle


Engine Cradle 2


Rick: thank you for the suggestion, however I'm in the greater Los Angeles area and am currently out of AAA tows. Would you happen to know anyone in the area?

JRust: Just tried shifting into 4th and 5th while looking down at the rod and it looks like it clears the engine cradle just fine. The above images were taken when 5th gear was engaged. I was really hoping this was the problem

i'm thinking that the tranny mount extensions are causing the issue.

that's a lot of extension that could flex causing the problem.

more photos of that please

messix: I think your right, it's definitely wiggling back there as evidence in the passenger side tranny mount is skewed to the right in the photos below.

Passenger side tranny mount:


View from under passenger side tranny mount:


Drivers side mount:


Would you happen to know if the bolt location in front of the one that is being currently used is the one used for most v8 conversions?

The rubber on that mount looks like it's complete junk ...


PS: It also looks like your whole setup is several inches lower than stock. That can't be good ...

You can get 911 motor mounts pretty cheap from pelicanparts.com that can be used for 914 rear trans mounts. I don't mean to be mean, but your whole setup looks pretty mickey mouse and dangerous. I would advertise in the classifieds for the correct setup. Someone might have some v8 conversion parts laying around you can get a good deal on. Or buy the parts new from either http://www.rodsimpsonhybrids.com/ or http://www.renegadehybrids.com/

No worries about sounding mean, I'm trying to make a decent car out of someone elses hackjob Just made an order for new engine cradle from Renegade to match their tranny mounts. It looks like the previous owner relocated the entire v6 assembly back a few inches inorder to save some money on tranny mounts. Oh well time for a proper reassembly

That looks like a homemade install. The renegade kits use a different front mounting cradle and semi solid rear mounts. The engine & tranny are at least 2" lower than a normal V8 conversion. I have never see the shift rod go below the cradle on a V8 conversion.

I'm not sure what your budget is but I would start with a new mounting kit. Either bought new or used on this site. You may want to think about a cable shifter too http://www.cableshift.com/914/914%20page.html has an engineered kit to bolt in.

I purchased the dark colored (not the brick colored ones) solid tranny mount piece that you see on the photos directly from Renegade. With what you said about semi solid deal, do you think they sent me the right item?

I believe with a proper engine cradle/tranny mounts I should be good with the shifting issue. I'd love to buy one of those cable kits but its a bit out of budget at the moment. Ill just mod the rod to length again.

Look at the rear mounts on mine. The "brick" colored piece is a relocation bracket. It moves the tranny rearward 1.25". The factory rubber mount (that you have) gets removed and replaced with the solid bar stock of the semi solid mount. The poly block is mounted between the relocating bracket and the bar stock.

You have a piece of pipe for a lowering spacer. This should not be there...

Click to view attachment

Although not a good pic, here you can see part of the front mount. It is straight across with a round end that bolts into the stock location. Again the factory mount is removed and replaced with a solid bracket of steel.

Click to view attachment

Do you have a metal piece under the bolt that is going through that engine mount? It looks like it is about to pull right out.

kg6dxn: Thank you for the photos and clarification. Good thing none of the jerry-rigged components failed on me while I was driving at speed

Dr: Better for my health to not drive it around till I install the Renegade mount