Well, I sent the 944 in the shop today as the shifter had about 2 inches of play side-to-side while in gear. The problem was that aparently the shifter pin was stronger than the shifter rod's material. The pin actually rounded out the shift rod's end. Well, I tried to fix this by putting in a new shift lever and bushing a while ago, and that lever aparently had a softer pin material. Now, I have a rounded rod, rounded pin and very aloppy shifter. To change the rod out, you have to drop the transaxle and swap everything out then. That is why the shop has my car and I'm not touching it. I just wanted anyone searching on the subject to know that the shifter pin and linkage bolts aren't the only thing that can cause sloppy shifting.
THE GOOD NEWS: around $700 later on Thursday I'll be able to shift like normal again

 

wow, at first i thought you were just talkign about the shift lever. and i was about to cry if you really paid 700$ to have a sop change that because it requres 2 little screws. btu then i read it agian saying it was actually the rod that conects to the transaxle. yeah that job would suck. Ive done it before in my garage though. its nothing that would take more than a day to do. but hey i changed my clutch and drove my car back out of my garage within 6 hours so maybe im just fast.

 

I hope you aren't talking about the slop in the shift rod where the shift lever pin goes through it. Because if they are both worn out the shift rod can be reamed in the car, nylon bushings installed, and a new lever installed. You do not need to remove or change out the shift rod. I did this repair on two cars now over a year ago and they are as tight as new. Took me just over an hour the 2nd time around. Cost of bushings was less than $3.00, plus shift lever if you need it.

Here's the link:

http://www.dietersmotorsports.com/tech/tech-july-03.htm

 

yeah, if your tranny has been removed once in it's 20 year life, it is a pretty straightfoward pull and replace. it would take me about 3.5-4 hours to pull and replace tranny, so that plus about what, 30min to replace that rod?

But, it's not the easiest and most fun job, the quote sounds reasonable.

 

Are you sure the end of your shift rod isn't repairable before you pull it out?

 

I drilled the shift rod out for the brass bushing mod... That would have solved it too I would think.

 

Man, 700 bucks.....I would get the welder out before that.

Are you really spending that much to fix shifter play?

Why not wait until the drivetrain needs work?