I’ve lost 4th and 5th gear and I pulled the shifte to make sure nothing weird was going on up front. I did find the bottom of the shift was hiting the clutch tune but I addressed that. Replaced the coupler bushings as well.

I need to some help on how far in the splined on the gearshift rod should extend into the lever since I wasn’t Shari enough to mark it (oops).

How far should the splines go in (#23 into 11), about 1/2?

Thanks!

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Far enough that you get all of the gears.

That's how you adjust the shift linkage; how far the rod goes into the coupler determines the fore-and-aft position of the gear shift lever, and the rotation of the rod determines the side-to-side position.

Hunt up any post by Dr. Evil and check his signature for his notes file. It includes an adjustment procedure. Also search around for Tangerine Racing's adjustment procedure.

The factory procedure is something along the lines of:
Put the trans in neutral
Stand the gear shift lever so its bottom section is vertical
Hold it just barely touching the spring plate for the 1/R gates
Tighten the clamping bolt
Check for all gears
Tweak the adjustment as necessary until you like it

--DD

Hi Dave, thanks for the response.

Let me go read up, did see some people referencing 1/2 in as a starting point.

Thanks!

Check your bushings at the u-joint outside, if you lose a chunk of one you'll still have R-1-2-3 but may not be twisting far enough for 4-5

Hey!

Good idea - I actually did replace the coupler bushes yesterday.

Since I took everything apart I think I just need to zero-base my linkage set up and see where that gets me.

Thanks for the idea.

check the clutch tube, when it breaks loose from its bracket up front, it blocks out fourth fifth gear. (assuming that the shifter is in adjustment and the bushings are all good as you say

Good morning - thanks for the follow up.

Mine was actually loose and you could see where it was hitting. I made a bracket to make sure it wasn't flopping around and secured it so I have full movement now.

I think (make that HOPE) I just messed up the adjustment procedure.

Thanks again and great tip.

TDSkip,

I want to point out something. My 6 number 41 had a bad clutch tube when I bought it. The PO or some PO put a U clamp with 2 small drilled holes in the center channel on the left side of it. It was placed at the front of the tube with threated parts going through on drivers’ side and then they put 2 nuts and ground down the extra threads. They also did it on the bottom. It is hard to pull pictures of this but I have them at work.

I guess it worked for them but I fixed the full tube the right way with extra welds.

This could hold you over for some time with not that much work.

If you want to go over this with me we can call each other on it. You can also find some postings on this in world as well as posting on it from me. Or I was in on a thread on it.

Regards,

Bob B

Thanks Bob - please do post that because I think people will find it very helpful.

Done - just to got back from a drive and I have all five gears. Even reverse, which I suppose makes it six. Grin.

I'd like to publicly thank Keith for jumping on the phone and helping me better visualize how to get this set up. His, and your help, work a treat.

There are multiple ways to do this of course, but here is what worked for me;

1) Install the shift rod (#23) deep into the shifter L-shaped rod receptacle (#11) under the shifter with the pinch bolt (#15) loose, make sure the rod is very far pushed into the receptical.

2) Lay on the ground looking up at the stubby ball that comes out of the transmission and visualize where third gear us. It should be in the middle range of height and towards the back of the car.

3) Lock down the shift rod using multiple vice grips so the shift rod cannot move.

4) Move the shifter to third gear with it just touching the spring plate

5) Lock down pinch bolt on the front shifter assembly

Another good trick is to paint some Wite-out correction fluid on the joint between #23 and #11. then use a thin line sharpie to mark where it lines up.

Then later if you have to make a readjustment you have a base line marked. Also it is good to tell you if the coupler moved during use.

I was starting to have some trouble getting gears and when I checked the coupler I could tell it moved, and it was easy to tell how much it moved and where to put it back to.

Also with the Wite-out, you can easily scrub it off and reapply it when you find your optimal setting.

Oh sure - tell me that NOW. Ha.

I am planning on doing that exact thing, excellent tip