Hi all,

So I'm trying to align the shifter, as I have some classic signs of it being out of alignment (having to hunt for 1st gear, and it sometimes pops out of 2nd).

For some reason, I can't get the neutral lock pin to go down. The pin itself looks rusted, but from pictures posted in this forum I think that is typical. Even after loosening the three T40 bolts and moving the shifter around, I just can't get the pin to go down into whatever hole it belongs. It also feels quite tight/stuck - there is no play in the pin position whatsoever.

I know you can perform the alignment without the pin, but how can you be sure it's aligned properly?

After bolting everything back up, it seems like 1st and 2nd are better but now it doesn't feel like it goes all the way into 4th.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

Try soaking it in some WD-40 to help loosen it up. Mine was difficult to move as well.

 

I didn't know what that pin was when I first took apart my shifter and reinstalled. I ended up not being able to shift into 2, 4, or 6 when it was all back together.

I found that for neutral without the pin, take the screw out that attaches the shifter to the linkage, and use a flashlight to line up the recess in the linkage with the shifter. You want it to be perfectly aligned, and it's easy to tell when it's not. Once you have that squared away, tighten the bolt down so it doesn't move.

Then unbolt the box at the torque tube. This requires some mental spacial visualization. If it's not going into 4th all the way...think about what the shifter isn't doing. When you go to 4th, it's pushing the shift linkage forward. If it's not going all the way in, that means the linkage needs to move farther forward, so push the box forward just a tad. SMALL adjustments get big results here. Snug the bolts at the TT down, start the car, and see how it shifts with clutch in. Then try putting it in gears and see if it'll move forward. Don't need to drive, just see if the gear is engaging. continue to adjust until it works great in 1,2,3,4.

This is unofficial, but how I adjusted mine by ignoring the pin. The car shifts better than it did before I screwed it up.

 

Thanks guys. Your description makes sense DetroitPlac. Now that I think about it, 1st/3rd seem pretty deep, so I think you are onto something with it being too far back. It's got to be off center left/right as well, because it will spring back from the left side but not from the right side (where 5 and 6 are).

One thing I noticed, is that the Haynes manual says to totally remove (not just loosen) the shift linkage bolt, then try to drop the pin. If it doesn't drop, they say to loosen the other two bolts, move it around, and try to drop the pin again. Seems like a couple people have had luck with removing the linkage bolt and aligning it to its hole as well.

I had the idea to totally remove the shifter, so I can get the pin out and spray some WD40 on it and down into where its supposed to drop.

Will try your suggestions when I get back to work on it tonight. It's definitely not easy working in that tight cabin, especially with the light being so scarce!

 

Will try your suggestions when I get back to work on it tonight. It's definitely not easy working in that tight cabin, especially with the light being so scarce!

Job made easy with a vert...

 

Unless I'm misunderstanding what you're saying, you don't loosen the shifter from the shift box, and move it to align to the hole in the shift rod.

What you do, is make sure the shifter is snug to the "shift box"...4 bolts. You also make sure the shift box is secure to the torque tube....2 bolts. You then place the shifter in the neutral position, and confirm that the "pin", or other suitable tool of the same OD, such as an allen wrench, will freely slip through the "gauge hole" in the shift rod. If it doesn't, you loosen the clamp that's on the shift rod...1 bolt, and reset the rod so the pin slip into the hole. You then re-tighten the clamp, and road test.

 

Managed to get everything aligned. Here's what I did, in case someone else runs into this...

First, I completely removed the T40 bolt holding the shifter to the shift linkage.

Then I took out the shifter, and took the alignment pin out. I then loosened the two T40 bolts holding the shift assembly to the car.

With these loosened and the shifter out, you can perfectly line up the neutral lock pin hole and the shift linkage/T40 bolt hole AT THE SAME TIME. That's the important bit - make sure you line up both of them perfectly (there are a few mm of play in both holes, so try to get it as centered as possible).

you've got BOTH aligned, stick the neutral lock pin in and drop it down. Now you can insert the rear-most T40 bolt and tighten it, followed by tightening the rest of them, and finally putting the shifter back in.

Once all the bolts are secured, the neutral lock pin can be removed and everything should be perfectly aligned.

So gears 2-6 feel perfect now, and the **** will even pop back to the center on its own when pushed left or right. I've read that the ability to center itself is a sign that the alignment is really good (it didn't do this before).

It still has a weird feeling going into first sometimes... I suspect this may be due to the transmission fluid having not been changed in god knows how long. I got the car with 106k miles on it and it hadn't been well maintained. Could that be the reason for it having trouble getting into first? Sometimes it goes in perfectly, other times it feels like it's just a bit off and will pop out.