'73 stock except dellorto 40's. I am having trouble shifting into 4th gear. This started yesterday. When shifting up through gears all is ok until 4th, it is very hard to get into gear unless go to 5th first. Then it will go in easy. If just 'forced' into 4th sometimes there is a grind and is hard to shift to another gear also. At this time it is intermittent as it will work perfectly about half the time, but I know something is amiss but not sure what. Anyone run into this before? Suggestions, ideas, or experiences on how to solve appreciated.

I had issues shifting and found that my rear shift linkage set screw had worked itself lose. Once I tightened that up I was shifting normal.

Well, I was just about to post the exact same thing. Just happened today on the way to the Pelican open house.

Any recommendations would be appreciated. I have to fix it tomorrow as I need the car for work on Monday. My other car is not available

I have never had the firewall bushing or the cup bushing (73 side shift) since I have had the car, but it always shifted well without them.

Bird Board Tech

I checked the bird board article to see what to look for too. I will start on it early tomorrow.

Any other hints would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Joe

Now that would be a easy fix, start with tightening the two set screws on the shift rod.

QUOTE (Bleyseng @ Mar 25 2006, 05:02 PM)

Now that would be a easy fix, start with tightening the two set screws on the shift rod.

Where are the set screws?

add me to the list of peeps with some hard shifting issues when the tranny gets warm. First gear gets mad. Got some new bushings ready to be put on.

How about changing the fluid....what kind of impact could that have.

They are at either end of the shift rod.

One is under a plastic dust boot held on by a clamp at the transmission end.



The other is under the dust boot on the firewall end.

Both screws are 4mm hex tapered screws with the tapered part fitting in a notch in the shift rod.

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Changing tranny fluid is good to do on a regular basis from a maintenance perspective.

As for shifting into first when the tranny is warm. Have you tried shifting into second then first or from third to first. Assuming you are shifting into first from a stop.

QUOTE (olav @ Mar 25 2006, 05:11 PM)

They are at either end of the shift rod. One is under a plastic dust boot held on by a clamp at the transmission end. The other is under the dust boot on the firewall end. Both screws are 4mm hex tapered screws with the tapered part fitting in a notch in the shift rod. ------- Changing tranny fluid is good to do on a regular basis from a maintenance perspective. As for shifting into first when the tranny is warm. Have you tried shifting into second then first or from third to first. Assuming you are shifting into first from a stop.

yup, picked that up from the archives. The "spindown" trick from 2/3 works great until its been running for 1+ hours and then it starts to get cranky.

I just got done going over the engine, need to do a full bore tranny check next....

Take out both screws and reinstall with a dap of blue Loctite so they don't loosen up. Don't use Red! Or order new cone screws as they have a little plastic tit on them so them are one use unless you use the blue loctite.

Change to Swepco 201 and it will help the shifting woes along with proper adjustment of the clutch, new bushing etc.... seems like its endless to get good shifting but when its finally there its soo nice

Any other hints?

I am gonna dig into this tomorrow AM.

Let me know.

Thanks,
Joe

Thanks olav and bleysons! You called it exacltly right, the forward set screw had almost come all the way out. A little cleaning and loctite and all is good again. While underneath the car I did notice a couple of pushrod tubes starting to leak, but that is for another weekend. Great diagnosis and thanks!

I was really surprised how low the trans fluid had become when I checked it for the first time in 10 yrs.