New shifter or re-bush?

[lloyd3]

Haven't even looked yet. Are copies of the 60s versions still available? 

[lloyd3]

I should have done the shifter re-build back when I had the car redone in 2008. At that time there were folks who advertised their shifter rebuilding services.  Unfortunately, I had to spend money on other things at that time in order to keep the restoration moving forward. When I hit the $30K point, I had to go into triage in order to get the car done and back home (as it was, it was gone for almost 5-years). Now the car is sitting in my garage stuck in 2nd.  I don't think the shifter rods are broken, but I haven't had the time to even mess with it yet.  Anybody have any ideas about what a good fix might be?

[General_01]

http://www.brewersperformance.com/products.asp?cat=52

[crj1968]

Its probably not the shifter, but the trans.   

Unhook the rods and check it out

[Brock Lee]

I rebuilt mine using bushings I bought from my local body shop. They have a kit that contains different sizes and materials. Found all the bushings I needed to get it up and running in that.

[lloyd3]

Good information Gentlemen, thank you!  $200 for a rebuilt shifter mechanism sounds almost too-good to be true.

[lloyd3]

OK, I've reeducated myself on the subject of shifter arms, rods and stop adjustments.  Could I have damaged something in the A-833 by shifting hard with a "sloppy" shifter? What is the likelihood of that happening?

[lloyd3]

Got under the car today for just an exploratory look (a bit under the weather here just yet).  One of the bolts that holds the bottom of actual shifter body on to the tail shaft housing has fallen out, allowing for some of the slop in the shifter that I was feeling. The shift arms and rods all look just fine, with no visable wear issues.  There wasn't an obvious reason for why the car won't come out of 2nd yet (which is what I was hoping for), but I'm going to try to find a replacement bolt to see if tightening things up a bit might help.  I can't imagine that I bent a shift fork, but that would explain some of what I'm dealing with.

[lloyd3]

Finally, got it fixed. Found a good guy and turned him loose on it. Lots of very sloppy, un-snugged bolts & bad (cracked and broken) bushings on the shift rods. He got everything tightened up, adjusted, and hit it with Loctite. Shifts like a dream, gates are smooth, predictable, & dependable. Finally!!!

[c00nhunterjoe]

  did he put the plastic bushings or the metal "race" bushings in the pivots? Personally, i like the solid ones for abusive shifting

[lloyd3]

On short notice, only the plastic (he called them "fiber") bushings were available.  I don't tend to hit things very hard anymore so I'm fine with it. If it gets funky again, I guess I'll know what to look for.

[c00nhunterjoe]

Hurst makes both. The "performance " ones are only 15 bucks. Worth it in my opinion.

[lloyd3]

No doubt. Probably should stock up now.