tr4guy

My 1980 911 SC sometimes has difficulty going into 1st gear. I sometimes need to fiddle with it, sometimes it grinds just a bit going in, sometimes it does it just great. Then going to second gear I need to pull back and give a little extra push to get it to engage completely. Is there an adjustment on the linkage or is this an internal problem or has anyone else experienced this? It has about 75,000 miles on it now. Thanks for any help.....

ron mcatee

Sounds like the bushings and the coupler need replacing.

tr4guy

Is that the bushing and couple on the shift linkage???

ron mcatee

There are two locations. One is a ball socket cup that goes under the shifter. The other is the coupler that mates the shifter rod to the transmission input shaft. The bushings are probably gone and need to be replaced. Or, you can replace the coupler with a new one. You can look up the parts on the Pelican website.

masterdave

+1 for the bushings. There is actually a 3rd location as well under the shifter, it is an O shaped bushing that goes around the shift rod. Remember to put a good deal of grease on the bushings or they will squeak like crazy.

I had a similar issue on my 78SC that went a little bit deeper than the bushings. My issue was that, the shift rod was cracked. The rod its self is a tube, on the end where it meets the stick there is a pin put in side of it and welded in to place. Think of a 3/4 in tube with a 3 inch long and slightly less than 3/4 inch pin stuck in the end of it with about 1 and a half inches sticking out. Then a hole is drilled through the side of the pipe and the pin, and a smaller pin is put in to keep it all together. In my case the rod had cracked along the length of it, the very continuous shifting pulled the inner pin out of the rod, and the perpendicular pin forced its way through making the crack worse. This made it hard to shift in to 2nd and 4th as when the stick is pulled back, the pin slips out and the rod does not move.

I know that may be a lot to picture, I would advise taking your shifter off and checking to see what is going on down there. I was able to see the crack in the rod quite clearly. If that is the case, some may tell you that you need to drop the trans to change the rod, you may see people saying that the only place to remove the rod is through the hole where it joins the trans. I can tell you right now they are wrong. The rod can in fact be removed through the E-Brake hole (once you have removed the E-brake lever completly) and with some force you can get a fresh shifter rod in through there as well. If you need any advice on changing this I would be more than happy to offer it.

Some thing else you may find useful to do while you are in there is clean up the shifter joint. When i took it all apart i found there was a lot of junk (hair, dirt, grime, a few pennies) in there. I took the universal joint apart and cleaned it all up. Flushed all the dirt of all the pieces and put a good deal of bearing grease on them, put it all back together, and now it shifts extremely smoothly.

Regards
Dave

tr4guy

Thanks Spider and Dave......I appreciate the info. I'll get a look at it real soon. I did check out the parts too. Thanks again.

2Utes

I have also found the adjustment and bushing replacement to be beneficial.
To help with the shift into 1st, I slip the shift lever towards 2nd a bit and then into 1st. For reasons I cannot explain it seems to help the shift into 1st most of the time. I never downshift into 1st since the transmission does not seem to like it very much.
Also, if you are not sure what transmission gear oil is in use, a swap to Swepco 201 or the proper Kendall 90 weight could help all shifting actions. Search for Peter Zimmerman threads to find the Kendall he recommends (I cannot remember which specific one).

masterdave

+1 on the trans oil,

I forgot about that. I did it after my bushings and shifter shaft. It defiantly helped, you will need 10-15 feet of hose with a funnel well attached to the end to get the fresh fluid in. I find it best to sneak the hose in through the wheel well, over and under stuff, and right in the side of the trans where the fill hole is. I would pick up some extra, as i spilled quite a bit trying to figure out how to do this the first time.

ivangene

I didnt read all of this but

Kendall ns-mp oil
better than stock coupler bushings and properly adjusted
cup and ring on shift tower
which shift tower is out remove pivot pin and sand edges of the rod till there is a smooth "slip fit" - lightly lube internal pivots
might as well put on a factory SSK and a Seine (or equivalent) spring
learn to be patient into second gear

theiceman

..dont discount synchros

tr4guy

It sounds like try the coupler before looking for the Syncros..... Dropping the trans will be the second choice for sure.....