Got around to redoing the shift linkage bushings in my car over the past few days. (Disassemble everything last weekend, study online resources and ask questions during the week, put it back together this weekend.) In the end I replaced the front bushing and the firewall bushing (which was altogether missing) plus the little ball cup under the shifter. I left the rear bushing for another time. It seemed fairly snug as it was.

What a pain in the tush those nylon bushings are to insert! I kinda muffed the insertion of the front bushing. After heating it in boiling water for a couple minutes I could just about get it into place, but I was never 100% satisfied with it. Still, it seems to work fine. For the firewall I wound up doing two things. One, I heated the bushing as before. Two, I nipped a little piece out of the smaller flange. Instead of a circular flange it's now C-shaped with the ends separated by about 1/8". Heated it, then inserted starting 180 degrees from the missing chunk then worked my way around to it, then *pop*, in it went. Seems to also work fine.

Essentially all the slop in the shift rods is gone. I still think I could mess around with the adjustment a bit more (I occasionally will go from 1st to 4th), but all in all it's much much better.

Thanks to the folks who contributed to various threads here and to the folks who wrote up the tech pieces on the Pelican site.

Oh, yeah... Afterwards I did a little of this to make sure everything worked: I've concluded that being a California car it's much happier in warmer weather! Started right up. zoom zoom zoom...

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