Goddamnit!!! **** since its gotten cold its literally been one thing after another. I'm getting so sick of working on this ****ing car that I'm strongly considering selling it at a huge loss. I've been trying to get to the bottom of my super loose, shifter, and I discovered it was because the intermediate shift lever was loose. I went to tighten it up, and the boss cracked and the threads pulled out. It is the hole on the top of the tranny circled in red. What should I do? I just don't feel like fixing it properly, knowing something else is going to break a week later. I know its not that big of a deal in terms of repairs, but this might be the last straw for me. And just to clarify the transmission is very much still bolted up. Somebody suggest me a way to repair this without pulling the tranny, or convince me not to dump my car because its getting to be more than I have time to deal with.

 

if the cracks arent too bad,
epoxy on the bolt threads and in the hole, tighten down until it just catches snug and let it set for a day or so

 

I did something similar, I put some JB weld on the 2 pieces of the boss that cracked off and stuck em together, once that sets I'm going to JB weld the piece back on, giving the bolt threads to bite onto. Once that hardens, I'm going to stick some 2 part (not jb weld) instant epoxy onto the threads and run it in, then let set. After about 20 minutes, I figure I'll have as good a chance as ever to get it torqued up tight enough that the linkage wont rattle. Temporary fix till I have to pull the tranny, which may end up being this weekend if this doesnt work. ****!

 

IIRC the threads on that bolt are pretty small, like 8mm right?
It's not a stressed piece, just a pivot for the shifter...should be OK but if you're under the car in the future give it a check from time to time.

 

Wait, maybe I'm wrong about the proper setting of the linkage mechanism? I just ordered Kyle's short shift linkage and his heim joint intermediate shift lever but the factory piece must be allowed to pivot a bit given that its just a bent piece of steel. Does this imply a certain looseness is to be expected there? I just put in new shift rod bushings + new shifter cup bushing + sleeved the shifter pin where it joins the shift rod that runs to the tranny. My shifter is still ridiculous, flappy and loose. With the shifter assembly removed (because I'm sure the issue is near the tranny) I had someone jiggle the black shift rod and I could see the play at the intermediate shift lever. When I grabbed it, the shift rod got tight in the car. However when I tried to tighten it, it broke the boss with very little torque applied. I just don't know how else to tighten my shifter up.

 

The rubber washer things are the pivots for the bent steel bar. These should all be replaced with the threaded rod balljoint thingy which gets rid of some slack.

The other slack is from the white bushing in the middle of your picture that looks like perpendicular tubes, it is just plastic and loosens up over time and doesnt fit the shaft so tightly anymore.

 

the loose shifter is most likely the pin on the shift lever, did you check that? the pin wears into a barrel shape and damages the rod that goes back to the trans. there is a repair procedure on my web site that I use (www.wbnoble.com) - search around, I think it's under "articles I wrote", but it's been a while - there are different procedures elsewhere on the web

 

William, the issue is definitely in the rear of the car. At this point, the shifter is out of the car and the looseness is very obvious in the black rod that goes from the shifter all the way to the rear of the tranny linkage. When someone jiggles that, the play can be seen in the intermediate shift lever and if I grab that, then the long shift rod (and shifter assembly) gets tight in the car the way its supposed to be.

 

If you want to get rid of the car pm me

 

Lart, you'd be the first to know if I ever truly did want to part ways with it. I'll take the time to fix it right, I was just pissed off in the heat of the moment. The car hasnt exactly been reliable this winter. I'll be pulling the tranny next week to get this squared away, I'm just going to helicoil it. In the mean time, post a cool video of the lartmobile doing some pulls. It will make me feel better