1lostcause

I've been following this thread with interest since my car is almost an exact copy of thehackmechanic car. Bone stock 73 except for a 32/36. I had the same dead and worn out retard distributor and swapped in a repaired 71 advance style. Being an old Mopar guy I used ported vacuum since that's how they were set up. After reading the article Dick R posted I decided to switch my car to manifold vacuum. Now granted this is seat of the pants but wow what a difference. It idles better and pulls a whole lot better through the gears. I had to richen the idle screw a turn and a half but did not touch the timing. It's still at 35 total. I plan on switching my old Mopars to manifold vacuum.

My house circa 1985. One of these cars is not like the others.

That pretty much is what happened to my car. Before I took the slop out it was hard to tell if it leaned and after I rebuilt is when I noticed the lean. As you can see my after photos look like your after photos. Until I find out otherwise the lean must be normal.

To answer a few questions raised: 1. The coupling has a bent over tab that used to activate a neutral safety switch that is no longer there (or was never there) as mentioned by '76mintgrün'02. 2. I removed the coupler sleeve in order to photograph the coupler pins. 3. The mount bushings are good, no play. I had them off to check. They were replaced by the PO. 4. I tend to agree with kbmb02. This is the way it's supposed to be. The leaning shifter sure looks weird but it is biased to line up with 3-4 and unless there is something wrong internally it was built this way. Nothing externally would cause this condition. To get the shifter to be vertical I would have to go inside and somehow make the selector shaft detent line up with 1-2. 5. It would answer a lot of questions if someone with a stock 73 4 speed would post a picture of their shifter in neutral.

Here's what it looks like from underneath while in neutral. Please disregard my cheesy foam. I forgot to order the proper one. As you can see it is canted about 5 degrees from vertical. The cause is the selector shaft coming out of the transmission. I replaced both nylon bushings and the forward pin (orange). I removed the detent assembly (blue) and it looked fine. It engages the selector shaft ribs (red) and determines where neutral lands. I thought maybe #11 (yellow) may have been installed incorrectly but I don't think that is possible. I checked the records and the transmission was O/H at 67K, almost 60K ago. So I'm left with 1. The lean is normal as others have stated but to me it just does not look correct. 2. The selector shaft is twisted or other internal issues. Very doubtful. Maybe I'm overthinking this. I'll be at the 02 Fest this years so I'll have plenty of cars to compare.

Here is a video of my shifter operation, Getrag 242. See if it looks correct.

Mine is the opposite. It naturally gates to 3-4, has a mild detent to select 1-2 with a strong pull to R. I need to check the service records. I believe someone may have been inside the transmission. I know the shifter was repaired previously. I'll do more diag today.

Not a problem. I actually thought I installed it 180 off until I realized that wasn't the issue. A little more info on the car. I've only owned it for less than 2 years and bought it from the original owner. It had a long list of issues, nothing terminal mine you. but the shifter was one of them. I have no way of knowing what the shifter position was since it has always been sloppy during my ownership. It seems odd that it wants to fall where it does. Could somebody check their first style shifter and see if you have tension in both directions? In other words is neutral in the dead center of the H and you have to apply pressure sideways to select any forward gear?

The car is bone stock. Nothing appears to be bent. Is it possible the coupler is 180 off? Does it have a certain direction it needs to be installed? I can't imagine there is anything installed incorrectly inside the transmission but it's been decades since I've been inside one of these transmissions.

I don't believe the shift lever can be installed 180 out in the early style shifter since the allen lock screw has to be pointed rearward in order to tighten it.

One of my winter projects was the wet noodle feel of my shifter. The car is a 73 with the early style shifter. The play was narrowed down to the 2 nylon bushings and the front/vertical pin in the 23411466130 coupler. Everything else was in good condition. After replacing the bushings and pin the shifter felt great with zero slop. The only problem is it leans way to the right when in neutral. Either I put something together wrong or it was this way before and I couldn't tell because of the worn parts. As it sits the shifter is directly below 3rd and above 4th. To get 1st and 2nd you have to overcome the spring detent in the transmission by pulling sideways then up or down. Looking underneath the selector rod that holds the 2 bushings is twisted slightly clockwise as viewed from the rear.

Sounds like we have a lot in common. Here's a current picture of my 73 Sahara. It's getting an engine and front suspension refresh over the winter. Bischoff was my favorite beer over there by far. Sadly you can't get it in the US. Far better than the Parkbrau they served on base. We called it Fartbrau. We were both lucky to be in West Germany back then. 02's were cheap and their parts were everywhere. I owned 3 while I was there. FYI: Send me a PM with your address and the can is yours. Prost.

Small world. The photo of my 71 2002 was taken near Sembach AB, I was stationed at Ramstein AB. The location was high on a hill east of Ramstein so west of Sembach. I passed through Sembach a few times. If you ever went on a rec center tour you had to stop at every little AB or Kaserne on the way to your final destination. Lot of OV-10's sitting on hard stands. I was a F-4 engine mechanic. How the heck did you get by with that hair cut?!

Here's my experience. I recently purchased a 73 from the original owner. It's a survivor and I plan on preserving it not restoring it. The interior was in great shape other than the drivers seat, left front carpet and the seat gummihaar cushions. I don't think the rear seat had ever been sat in and the right seat has seen very little use. I replaced the left carpet (thank you esty) and replaced all the gummihaar with dense foam. I don't recommend the blue gummihaar replacement stuff offered today. I went as far as to stuff the old gummihaar under the rear seat and in the seat backs so I wouldn't lose that wonderful gummihaar smell. So far so good. What to do about the left seat vinyl? I sent for samples. No one offers saddle basketweave, World Up. sent a sample of black that they run through a machine and emboss which looked ok. I really wanted to avoid the dye route with black so I ordered the closest to saddle and paid for the embossing. Well that turned out to be a waste of money. I neglected to notice that the brown I selected was thinner than the black they offer. The effect was the embossing produced a very faint pattern. Fail! Back to square one. Another issue with the embossed vinyl is you don't get the vertical embossed lines. You have to sew in the pleats, close but not quite right. My solution was to put an ad in the FAQ "Parts Wanted" section asking for the vinyl off the rear bottom seat cushion. It barely gives you enough saddle basket weave but as you can see I was about 6 inches short for the smooth vinyl. Since I needed the seats I just had my guy add the seam. I'll have to go back later and redo that small section but for now I have a recovered seat with original saddle basket weave. Now if you are doing both front seats you'll need to scrounge a lot of used vinyl.

I need to recover my drivers seat so I need enough material to do the job. I need two 18x25 pieces of basketweave. The car is a 1973 but other years may work. I would like to purchase a rear seat, upper or lower, to harvest the vinyl. You wouldn't have to ship the whole seat. I'm willing to pay for the labor to remove the vinyl and ship.

My 71 in 1980 taken somewhere off base in West Germany shortly before I sold it. And sadly about a month later I found it in this condition on base. About broke my heart.

Mine topped out at 107 mph. Occasionally I would take guys from Ramstein AB to Rhein-Main AB, about 90 miles, and I could do it gate to gate in a little less than an hour. That was hoofing it. A SSgt I worked with had a 66 Benz 220 sedan and could do it in less than 50 minutes but he was a lunatic.

Taken in 1979 0f my 71 cruising down the Autobahn at 100 mph.

My 71 at the Paris Air Show 1979.