wolds

Hello all, I picked up my 83SC last weekend. I had a PPI done on the car before buying and was told that the shifter was sloppy, car has 96K on it. I ordered a shift bushing, cup and coupler assembly from Pelican and recieved my parts yesterday. My question is, should there be any noticable slop in the coupling? I'm thinking that it should be as snug as a U joint. Am I wrong? Warren

MillenniumFalcon

There shouldn't be any noticeable slop in the coupling. One of the PO's of my car rebuilt my shift coupling with short sections of fuel hose.... it shifted remarkably well considering it had a tremendous amount of squishy slop. Explains why 3rd gear has a soft synchro now... After I rebuilt the coupler, there was no noticeable slop.

I'm a P-car newbie, but I'm guessing the coupling gets quite a workout- I know my old VW bus used to need one every few years.

Wondering if anyone here has tried this guy's coupler bushings- wish I found him before I rebuilt mine: http://thecouplerwhisperer.com/index.html

Shannon123

'86 Cab
I agree....ZERO play in the coupler assembly. The dollars spent here are far and away the best bang for the buck I ever got. It brought to life the idea of 2 finger shifting....crisp and tight.

theiceman

Yeah draco used to be a rennlister when he devised the bushing then went to the dark side.
I hear it works very well.

Ed Hughes

Don't sweat it, new OEM bushings work fine.

wolds

Thanks all, I called Pelican after I made my initial post. I was told by Jason in tech support that a small amount of slop in a new coupler assemby was normal due to the type of bushings that were in it. Apparently, if you want zero slop there is a $$ alternate coupler, but he didn't go into detail as to what brand that would be. My car is just a nice driver, not a show or race car and I know from being on this site that shifting the 915 gearbox is what it is which I'm OK with. I just don't want to spend $115.00 on a coupler, install it and then realize that what I was sold was defective. Thanks, Warren

ivangene

$115 !! WOW!!


I know where you can get your old one rebuilt for less than 1/2 that and keep original parts in your car PLUS get a way better feel to shifting

theiceman

at 115 i wonder if that was the wevo solid coupler .

wolds

The PN I used was an OEM#, I might return it and buy the bushing kit from couplerwhisperer.

ivangene

115 is NOT a Wevo they are 199

stock couplers with stock bushings new are about 115 - old couplers can be fixed for like $10 with stock bushings - but upgraded for $35 with the whisperer's

here's my video of how to
Note, I have rebuilt about 300 couplers and this is not the most efficient rebuild but it's a good homeowner DIY approach