Years back during the 70's I remember having a problem with my 4 spd shifter on a '72 C3 that I owned back in the day. I had just picked up the car from having someone install a new clutch and the shifter seemed out of whack. Neutral didn't seem to line up as it did before the clutch installation. What I mean by line-up is the sway from right to left. Moving it to the right it graduated up towards 3rd gear some. At the time mid '75 I belonged to a Corvette Club here in Central New Jersey and we had a member mechanic who worked for one of the local Chevrolet Dealers. Told him my problem and he said it was a simple fix using a pin of some type that one would put into the side of the shifter to align everything. He offered to come over to take a look one saturday morning and I had the car up on jack stands for him. I don't think he spent anymore then 5 minutes under the car and fixed the problem. Well my '67 has that same problem. Its been there since I purchased the car 10 years ago. Didn't affect shifting none but it never felt right to me epecially when I go to drive my current C3. What a difference in feel as the C3 was never touched with only 25k miles on the odometer. Does anyone know what pin or tool I need and what I need to do in order to align my 4 spd shifter in the '67 with said tool or pin? If I remember correctly (its been almost 40 years) I was told using a small allen wrench would do the trick. Hoping someone can enlighten me here.

 

If it's a stock shifter, you can order an alignment tool from any of the parts vendors. The shipping will cost more than the tool. It's not easy to get it into place between the tunnel and the shifter, you may have to put a 90 degree bend in it to get it in the slot. A Hurst shifter is the one that uses the allen wrench to line up a hole. The stock shifter uses a slot about a half inch wide. You can also look at a picture in one of their catalogs and make your own out of plastic or thin metal.

 

I use 1/8 inch allen key or drill bit would work also. I like the Allen better since the curve makes it easier to get in the tight spot. Disconnect the shifter arms from the transmission and let them hang down. Put the "tool" in from the driver side and one by one through the slot or hole in each arm and finally through to the notch in the passenger side of the shifter. This locks all the arms into the same alignment. Now you can adjust your arms individually starting from the same alignment. That is how I do it in my Hurst equipped 69.

Bill

 

The gauge/tool is explained in the shop manual. Dimensions: 1/8 thick, 41/64 wide(0.646), 3" long. I've made several from a stick of hardware store aluminum using a hacksaw and a file.

The GM shop manual is a good investment. Still available from the original publisher, Helm.

Harry

Edit.. The 0.646 dimension is the important one. You'll see that when you get in there to make the adjustment.

 

All you need to do is adjust the 3-4 shift rod until you get a smooth transition across from reverese to 3-4. You don't need the tool for that adjustment.

It's best to have a helper to do it this way.

 

Mike I tried doing it this way tonight but failed to get it right. Tried at least 5 times adjusting the 3-4 shift. Got it close but just not right. Can anyone give me a link to the alignment tool needed. I tried looking for the tool online and came up with many links to Zip Corvette but when clicking on the links they went nowhere.

Add On. Decided to make my own tool after doing a little more research on the subject.

 

Since stock shifter adjustment has come up a couple times lately I thought I'd pull mine out of storage, clean it and play with it a bit. There's no way mine will align with an 1/8" thick tool. It'll fit 0.058 max, which about the thickness of the coffee stirrer sticks I used as a prototype. I wrapped the end with duct tape to hold them together. If it was in the car it'd be a pain trying to get an 1/8" thick tool in there not realizing it won't fit. Anyone else see this on theirs? As noted above, the width is the key, so a piece of thick sheet metal would work fine.

 

The adjusting tool for the Hurst is 1/4 dia. Easily substituted with a 1/4 dia capscrew.

 

Made my Shifter adjustment tool Wednesday morning out of a piece of scrap metal I had laying around in my Pole Barn. Didn't even checked the thickness. Just eyeballed a piece and cut it with my air wizzer tool for cutting muffler clamps off. Made it 3" long and put it to the grinder a couple of times until it fit. Put a bend in it to make a handle and to have more clearance so I would have enough room to get it in the slot. It helped that I have a lift I have to say. Made a big difference from what I could see although I didn't take the car out for a ride as of yet. Was about to order one from a vendor as they are cheap but as someone said the shipping will kill you. I think the tool was $1.29 as it looked to be a plastic one but the shipping was $12.99. Funny I asked about this tool from the same vendor a month or two ago as I had ordered other merchandise but I never got an answer as to whether they carried the tool or not then. Wasn't going to wait until I had a regular order going in again so I made my own. Worked out well. Thanks for sharing the info to everyone who responded to my thread here.