I was having troubles shifting into 4th gear, like, it simply wouldn't happen. 5th gear was beginning to become difficult as well.

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Since the tranny was very well worn I decided to finally swap in my rebuilt unit. I finally got to the point of adjusting the shifter and I decided to keep the rear shift cover off so I could see the positioning of the shift lever on the tranny, to verify I was in the correct gear. Nope, couldn't get 4th mad.gif

I thought that maybe it was my shifter so I swapped the original unit back in. Nope. Still no 4th.

I slipped under her and began manually shifting using adjustable hose plyers on the tranny shift lever. Ahh...the shift rod was pushing against the lower left engine cooling tin! Hmm, I could beat the living daylights out of the tin because I was now in that mood smash.gif And I really didn't feel like disconnecting the rear shift rod and trying to bend the shift rod. Then I remembered I had my previous teener shift rod ('75 1.8L). I placed it under the installed unit and it looked pretty dang close so I thought it wouldn't make a difference. Well, I had nothing to loose but time so I took out the original shift rod and installed my old rod.

BINGO!

Manually shifting at the tranny was easy aktion035.gif So I then connected the shifter to the shift rod up in the cabin and bah-damn! she was shifting sooo smoooothly beerchug.gif A quick test drive around the neighborhood without a muffler/header (damn they sound good that way!) and shifting was just like the car was new burnout.gif
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Check that the shift rod DOES NOT TOUCH any part of the engine. This is the most prevalent when shifting into 4th gear. If the rear shift rod touches the engine or front engine support then you won't be able to select the gear you want...or have a very difficult and likely inconsistent time of doing so (due to engine & tranny movements). If there is contact, make sure the cooling tin is straight and all bolted to the engine. If it's the engine bar then make sure it's installed vertically level (not angled) and perpendicular to the longs. If the engine/engine bar passes those tests then swap out the rear shift rod for a known good unit (like I did). It's actually pretty easy to swap out the rear shift rod after you've done it a couple times dry.gif
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