I need some confirmation of a few items. I think I misread the WSM and need to redo my shifter’s alignment.

1. With the car in neutral (and in the 4th/5th gear plane due to the centering spring), the shift lever should be nearly straight up and slightly leaning 2-3° TOWARDS the driver, correct?

2. What size of wrench is appropriate for the jam nut on the shift arm ball cup?

3. What size of wrench is appropriate for the detent on the forward shift arm?

 

I just got done readjusting the shifter and ball cup. This is what she looks like in 2nd gear now. Does this appear correct? Before the adjustment, 2nd/3rd had the shifter standing straight up.

 

1. I would say that is meant to be in the 2-3 plane.
2. 17mm
3. 17mm

 

You can set it how you like it, side to side and fore/aft, with limitations. I have found that 2/3 being about straight up and down (side to side and fore/aft) good for 77-78. A good reference on the 77-78 is a "correctly" shaped (narrow) shift boot, fully installed, will help guide you to the right area. These early boots have less tolerance for being out of the normal operating range...ie, blown shift coupler bushings usually end up ripping the boots or breaking the base plates as you go for 1/R. I would install your complete base plate and boot system and adjust last. You'll know where it needs to be. The boots introduced in 79 had a lot more range of motion.

 

This is a bit of what led me down this path. My shift boot is from Classic9 so I suspect it's fairly accurate but I don't know for sure. But when I previously had the shifter to be adjusted straight up in the 2nd/3rd gear plane, it would then pinch and rub the shift boot when I shifted to the 4th/5th plane. This led me back to the WSM which appears to state that the 4th/5th plane should be straight up (and leaning 2-3 degrees towards the driver). I'll go look at some of your postings of #1 and see what she looks like.

As is usual with my obsession with details, I'm most interested in getting it set so that it's true to factory spec. And I'm hoping that having it set that way will also reduce/eliminate any rubbing of the leather boot.