Ok, got my 2056 and a refreshed side shifter into my '72. Managed to the get the Fuel Injection and Ignition bits sorted out (after dealing with a wonky CHT circuit ). After the 1.7L and a tail shifter I was pretty excited to try the 2056 and side shift. I used the Tangerine firewall bushing and installed the Tangerine shift adjuster up at the selector. Dr Evil refreshed my gear stack, but I assembled the tranny package.

After firing her up and taking her for a ride, I noticed I only had R, 2nd, and 4th. A quick review of Chris' always excellent notes/instructions for the firewall bushing show that if you don't have 1st, 3rd, and 5th the shift coupler at the firewall may be hitting the firewall and require some grinding and moving the shift rod forward (or in extreme cases moving the tranny forward). Well, I did some grinding with it still hooked up using a dremel. After a couple of tries I could sort of get 1st and 3rd, although they wanted to pop out. I think I've gone about as far as I can. In the process, I managed to find 1st gear somewhat reliably, and after working with the selector adjustment tool I managed to find 3rd. Still no 5th nor hint of it.

Everything seems REALLY biased toward the driver's side, and it takes real effort (muscle force) pushing the selector to the left to get the gears. If I move it the 1/R combo more toward center I lose 3rd gear.

I love how the side shifter feels solid (much less slop), but it would be swell to have 5th gear and not have to force everything as much as I do. What are your thoughts in terms of issues or next steps?

1. I assembled the tranny -- did I not get the gear stack in neutral when assembling the console? That was my initial thought when I couldn't find so many gears, but now I have 5 out of 6. Is this still a possibility?

2. Do I need to grind the coupler down even MORE or move the tranny forward (not sure exactly how to do that)? There is probably room, but I thought I was actually starting to run out of shift rod.

3. Could this be related to the fact that I still feel the front of my engine is low by about an inch (I've confirmed that I have late-style engine mounts at this point)? I know the linkage is moving freely through the engine bar and not hitting anything.

4. Another variable is the clutch tube -- when I repaired it last year after it broke off, I often felt like it was sometimes or somehow interfering with the shift selector. Could that be messing me up?

Thanks for any and all help.

Take a detailed picture of the rear shift console and focus on HOW you put the bushing in at the console. If it's backwards, you cannot shift into 5th.

Rich

Roger that, Rich. I'll try to get a pic tonight. Thanks.

Any of these help confirm or eliminate that as an issue? Thanks...

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If that coupler at the back is set properly and screw is in the hole on the shaft, and the connection at the firewall is the same condition, you need to adjust the rod up at the shifter and slide that Rod toward the front of the car while not rotating it.
Try 1/8 first, then Tune it from there.

I grab that Rod with vice grips through the rear access point between the seats, loosen the bolt, then hold the rod with the vice grips so it won't turn and use the shifter to slide the rod in farther.

Rich

Ok, so the rear bushing looks ok? I'll try to move the shift rod further forward and see if that helps. Right now I can get the 5 gears (out of 6), but it's not easy at all to tell the difference between 2nd and 4th or to find 3rd (before I let out the clutch).

Buy a newer car..

Or buy everything Foley has, and a renn shifter.

I DO have a newer car. It's a '75 but it looks like this:

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Not sure how it shifts yet. I have 6 cars, and the average age of them is 27. And I can't figure out why I'm always in the garage...

The spherical bearing is recessed on one side about as far as I dare modify it.
If the cut side isn't facing to the rear you will always have interference.

Other than clearancing the front of the aluminum knuckle, the two adjustments available are 1) move the engine/tranny rearward on its mounts, or 2) rebend the shift rod to shorten it slightly.

My shift linkage has length adjustability so this is never a problem with the full upgrade.

I went through problems like this two weeks ago at the track. Had re-installed the transmission after a freshen and had tested on jack stands. All gears appeared to be accessible but in the first session at the track 4th gear was popping out of the detent so I adjusted the position on the splined rod at the shifter. I intended to only move the shifter less deep onto the spline to give me more throw in one direction and less in the other, but I inadvertently loosened the pinch bolt too much and the shifter slipped one or two splines rotation-ally so I lost center of my pattern and got what you describe - loss of 4 and 5.
So, bottom line is get both the throw adjustment AND the center adjustment and you should be good to go.

My precision shift adjuster completely eliminates that issue.

Chris, I have been using your full shift linkage kit for a couple of years and am a big fan - great product. Looks like your new precision shift adjuster is now on my shopping list to eliminate the crap that I just went through.

Question.... the nylon worm gear is strictly for adjusting center right? The pinch bolt still maintains center on the splines when tightened??

That's right, there's no load on the plastic parts once the bolt is tightened.

Nail polish

Driving home from work today I was determined to get this thing adjusted correctly. I had all gears except 5th, but finding 3rd was hit or miss, and sometimes it would pop out. When I do have a gear, it's so much better than the tail shift in terms of "feel," and that 2056 is sweet with the Triad exhaust.

After giving it some effort trying to move the front rod farther forward, I finally put it up on jack stands to see if I could move the entire engine / tranny backward. Don't think I was successful. I loosened up the tranny mount bolts and the engine bar mount bolts. It didn't seem to go anywhere though. Moving the tranny into gear manually from the console I still seemed to get the coupler hitting up against the bushing before I was confident it was going fully into gear.

Then I took a couple of steps backward when I managed to get the rod disconnected from the precision shifter in the tunnel and then got the plastic ring (that engages the worm gear) too far down the shift rod (not sure how that happened). Alright, F-it -- I had to take the rear shift rod out completely to grind it down some more and gain more clearance and move the front rod forward enough in the tunnel to find the plastic ring.

Now I can't get the shift rod coupler to connect to the front shift rod. Family finally quit on helping me for the night and made me come in and eat dinner. I hope I didn't mushroom the end of the rod by tapping it through the firewall or screw up the coupler with the grinder. Not sure why it won't go on now Tomorrow I'll try sanding it down gently.

I'll get this mother one way or another. Thanks for everyone's help and especially to Chris for supporting his products and answering my stupid questions.

Got this sorted out tonight and I am very happy. The car shifts beautifully with the freshly Dr-Evil-Refreshed-tranny and Tangerine's firewall bushing upgrade and precision shift adjuster. As I suspected last night, I had slightly mushroomed the end of the front shift rod. What I had also done is put the shift rod in with the bearing facing the wrong direction. Chris' instructions clearly state "correct alignment has the snap ring exposed to the rear" (check, got that part) "and the recessed end of the spherical bearing exposed to the rear." Oop! screwed that up. Luckily it's easily fixed once I realized what was going on. That's my fault -- didn't read and digest the instructions completely. I was also able to gently sand down the end of the rod to correct the self-inflected damage.

Now I am happily