I can't get the 911SC into 1st and 5th gear, all other gears work fine. Just uninstalled the shifter and checked, everything is fine, re-installed and again no 1st and 5th gear. Checked coupler, also looks good, nothing blocking. What else can I check? Already have a thread open at Pelican Forum but most of the people point to the coupler, I check and the coupler has enough space to move and I can get the car in 3rd. Would need the car tomorrow for a car show and giving campaign.

And what are the bushing like in the coupler?

What Slits said... just happened to me on my 914

New bushings in coupler not too long ago, new bushing in shifter, drove the car afterwards more than 100o miles before I lost 1st and 5th.

sound like something came loose?? When I had mine. PO adjusted 180 degrees out because of the pic in directions???

Don't assume that new means "good". Check them again.

A few years ago, I updated my shift bushings with some from ** that looked suspect. They lasted about 1/2 a season before disintegrating.

Check your cone screws too. NOT VISUALLY, grab a wrench and make sure they are tight. Then have someone wiggle the shifter back and forth while you watch the coupler and rods.

Check to make sure the lock nut on the coupler didn't come loose. If you just put new bushings in not that long ago, thats a very real possibility. Might need to check the adjustment and make sure its okay.

Think about this. 1st is forward and to the left, 5th is forward and to the right. Both are spring loaded. 3rd is between them, not sprung. Loss of 1st and 5th without losing 3rd means the coupler hasn't moved fore and aft, and the presence of 2/4/R means it hasn't rotated on the shaft. It's likely thew clamping bolt is tight, and the single cone screw is probably OK. Maybe not, but it's easy to check. If the car shifted well before, it sounds like there's some possibility of an internal problem. What year is the tranny? There were problems in the pre-1982 trannies, but it usually has to do with 2nd gear.

The Cap'n

I checked by trying to get into the gears directly at the coupler, I can get them in all gears besides 1st and 5th so the problem is in the gear box. At the PP board they recommend to drain the transmission and remove the four nuts holding the cover plate on the bottom. Doing that I can check the shift guide fork. Since I'm not really experienced with transmissions I will give it a try and if I can see something I will try to fix, if not I will drop the engine and transmission and will look for getting it rebuild.

Well done.

John Walker=Walkers Workshop