I'm taking the day off Thursday to help my friend Jon with his 914 over on the MD Eastern Shore.

His car is a 1970 with a tail shift conversion. The engine is in the car.

The entire shift rod is out of the car. Both the engine side bar and the bar that goes into the tunnel.

In December I was there fixing his 914 ignition and fuel pump wiring before a party broke out. After the party had started I went to go look at the tunnel side shift bar, but I could not figure out how to get it in without dropping the engine. However, I was having a good time at the party and gave up when I could not immediately figure it out. People to visit, beer to drink.

Prior to me getting there Thursday, I figured I'd arm myself with knowledge.

1) is is possible to get the tunnel bar into the tunnel without dropping the motor?

2) if so, how?

The 914 is on a full size lift. It seems like this should be easy. Maybe it will be easy when I look at the problem with far more sober eyes. I'm really hoping we don't need to drop the engine to do this.

Thanks!
Zach

side shift engine mount crossbar ??

Yes, we have the sideshift crossbar.

Zach

Rear shifter bar in the tunnel ?
Remove the ball cup and hangar at the front.
You'll have to remove the side shift engine support bar and lift the engine to
find out if the shift bar can slide out of the tunnel.
I've never done it.
You'll need an adapter bushing at the bulkhead.

Its my car.
So the shift rod is on my work bench. We've installed the engine and trans already.

The question is can this shift rod be reinstalled without removing engine and trans?

Also the last post brought up a new question, since its a tail shiftrod going into a side shift trans, will that work or do I need to procure a side shiftrod and/or the bushing/adaptor previously mentioned?

Thanks for the guidance guys.

I thought the rod could be removed and reinstalled by pulling it forward and up from the shift lever opening. It’s been a while since I’ve done a conversion.

Like Rory said, you need a firewall conversion bushing and you will need side shift rods. The one in the tunnel and the one under the engine to the trans. You also need the side shift engine tin.

Basically, everything has to be specific to the side shifter from the shifter back to the trans and you need the firewall conversion bushing.

It a bit of a chore but worth it in the end.

Edit - you will probably have to drop the engine to mount the conversion bushing but for that, you should ask the place you buy it from for the correct answer.

DB post.

Jon I think you already have sideshift rods.
I think.

If need be we can unhook the bar and tip the engine down just a little bit so the tunnel rod slides over the engine bar.
Again, I think.

Zach

@VaccaRabite

Did you already change to the sideshift engine bar? Maybe the bar can be totally removed from the engine to gain more room?

He’s got the sideshift bar.

The issue I ran into last time is the the opening on the bar is offset from the opening on the firewall. I could not find an angle that would let me get the straight bar into the tunnel.

Zach

So the hole for the shift linkage in the engine support bar doesn't line up with the hole in the firewall? I converted my '71 to sideshift using an engine support bar with the hole in it that I got from Bruce Stone and it lined up ok. The engine/trans was out when I converted so your installation isn't quite as easy as mine.

If you picture the sideshift engine bar it has several bends and forms a sort of broad arch. The hole in the engine bar is offset to meet the shift bar bends.

The right time to do this would have been before we put the engine in. But I assumed it was already in the tunnel and never even thought to check. Which is DUMB because we spent a lot of time looking into the tunnel when we ran the Tangerine SS fuel lines. talk about walking around with blinders on. If I had realized the bar wasn't in there and spent the 30 second required to put the bar into the tunnel this car would probably be driving now. But we were motivated to get the engine in that night. So thats what we did.

If we can't find a way to wiggle it in, I'm going to try lowering the engine a couple inches and letting it pivot on the trans mounts so we can clear the bar and see if that works.

Zach

This is a bit of a lengthy installation topic.
As mentioned prior (Mark) you need to pull the engine at the very least to change the front solid motor mount to the late mounts and install the late cross bar, remove the outer early eng./trans. mounts at the /4 mounts on each long & replace with the solid late ones.
At which point it makes most sense to pull the early shifter and shift rod elements from the car entirely so as to install the late shifter & late internal shift rod.

So I think I've not been clear.

This car is a 70, but ALL of the tail shift components have been removed.
ALL of the shifter components that are on the car are side shift components.

I don't need to change engine bars, motor mounts or anyhting like that.

What I need to know is if its possible to get the tunnel half of the shift bar into the tunnel without dropping the engine to do so.

Thanks!
Zach

If not, you should be able to support the engine, remove the crossbar and slide in the tunnel part of the shift-rod.

yes

I vaguely remember having issues with the forward bar on my side shift converted 72s. I believe the only clean way to get it in is by removing the engine support bar.

Yes. This is exactly what we ended up doing.

We got the rod in and had to pivot as he did not have the firewall bushing.
I think I’ve talked Jon into getting the nice ceramic spherical bushing.

We are brake bleeding now.

Zach