Loose shifter feel? This fix may work for you.

[DanteGTZ]

I swapped out my shift lever today for one from a Grand Am (I think) - The new one has a threaded rod for a shift knob so I could get rid of the joke of a shift knob that Chevy cursed our cars with.

Anyway, the swap out was very easy. While I was looking around, I noticed the reason for my extra vague shifter feel. The bushing at the end of the shift cable (the cable that attaches to the shift lever itself) was completely missing. Without the factor nylon bushing, my shift lever would move forwards and backwards over an inch.

Here are some pics of what I am talking about:





I ran to Ace Hardware and after a bit of searching I found a steel sleeve. I believe it was 5/16" ID x 1/2" long. It looks like a roll pin put has a bit more meat to it. Ideally, I think I'd want the sleeve to be 8mm ID, but this was as close as I could find locally.



NEXT, I put the sleeve inside of the end of the shift cable:



Now, the slop isn't totally gone but is dramatically reduced. Because the bushing on my cable had been missing for a while, the hole on the end of the cable where the factory bushing should have been was elongated - As such, there is still a bit of movement there. That, and the 5/16" ID sleeve is slightly too big for the end of the shift lever where the cable attaches. Neither of these is a huge deal, but I'm just mentioning it.

Lastly, there is a metal ball in socket on the bottom of the shifter assembly. There is a bit of slop left to right in there as well, but the best I could do was put some lithium grease on it to make the movement more smooth.



Hope this helps some people - Your shift cables may be ok, just need a bushing!

[ErichZ26]

http://www.boogerracing.com/boogerbushings.html

[woody90gtz]

Rodney Dickman also has a kit full of brass bushings for both ends of the cables. Big difference.

[DanteGTZ]

Well, damn. Didn't know any of that earlier today. I'll try the Booger set from my SRT4.