I have always had a bit of a problem in shifting my AutoStick. I'm posting up here because I believe that the problem I am experiencing is in the shift lever/shift stop plate/shift rod assembly. The AutoStick uses essentially the same set up as a manual. So, I'm looking for ideas from y'all 'cause I'm outta ideas on this end.
To help you translate AutoStick into Manual, take a look at the AS shift pattern......
Here's the context.............the shift action between First and Second (both ways) was quite good. Between Low and First the action was good on the upshift, very poor on the downshift. Reverse has always been easy to find and hold. So..........my basic problem has been the the downshift from First to Low and, at times, finding Low from Nuetral.
With that in mind, I took off the rear inspection plate (over the shift coupler), and took the car out for a drive. When I attempted to shift from First to Low it did not seem as if I could move the shift lever far enough to the left in order to engage Low. In order to get it into Low I had to depress the shift lever (as one would do when getting into Reverse) to get far enough left to get into Low. And when I looked at the shift coupler (when trying to get into Low without depressing the shift lever) it looked as if it were not rotating far enough to get into Low. When I did depress the shift lever I could rotate the shift coupler far enough to get into Low.
So.............I'm thinking that the shift stop plate is holding things up. I trimmed down the sides of the shift stop plate and enlarged the bolt holes so I could move the shift stop plate around a bit under the gear shift lever base. This did not seem to make any difference in the original problem and seemed to create some new shifting problems depending on just where I put that shift stop plate.
FWIW, the shift rod bushing is in good shape and there is very little play in the shift rod. The coupler is hooked up and transferrring all movements of the shift rod.
It seems to me that the shift stop plate is the villain in this little drama but since everything I've tried has turned up with zip improvements I'm starting to doubt my original conclusion about the shift stop plate. Could this be a problem inside the nosecone with the shift forks? Anybody have any ideas to try with the shift lever/shift rod/shift stop plate? I'm outta ideas right now.
