I removed my shifter with the mechanism and the rods, swivels and levers still attached to do the driver side floorpan in my car. When I put it back together, the car wont go into first gear. Sometimes you can get it to go in by taking it through all of the gears and then trying to shift back into first. Any ideas? I'm guessing just an adjustment issue. Thanks for all help.

Will it go into gear with the motor off? IF so it may be the clutch not fully disengaging. A clutch that doesn't fully disengage can prevent a tranny from going into gear.

1. Check the clutch adjustment.
2. Adjust the shifter and be sure the linkage is correctly installed.

For your year car the levers on the side of the tranny should all go up unless you replaced the tranny with an OD tranny.

Remove the pins that hold the adjustable swivels to the shifter and place the shift levers on the side of the tranny in the center position. Place the lower rear lever (reverse) in the forward position.

There is a hole/notch on the bottom edge shifter housing and holes in the shift plates (not always in reverse plate). Place a pin (allen wrench works good) in that hole to align the shift plates on the shifter, then adjust the swivels so the rods slip in and out. If you have stop bolts on the front and back of the shifter loosen them, place the car in 1st and adjust the rear one to just contact the shift plates and lock it down. Place the shifter in 2nd and repeat for the front one.

I hope it helps.

PS I am assuming this is a 4 speed.

Yes the car is a 4 speed. I used the method that you said for adjusting the shifter both times besides the part about the stop bolts. It has a stop bolt in the front but the one in the rear is missing. It still wont go into first, even with the motor off. The car went into all gears fine before I removed the shifter and linkage, but now it's just 1st gear I cant get.

Try removing the 1/2 rod on the side of the tranny (middle rod, rear on the side plate) and moving the lever (not the shaft but the lever with an adjustable wrench on the sides of the lever. Do not turn the nut or use a wrench on the flats of the shaft that the lever bolts on to.


If it doesn't move into first, place pressure (Don't shift from the center position) on the 3/4 & reverse levers and see if it will let it slide into gear. Try pressure in both directions. There is an interlock system inside the side plate that prevents it from being in two gears at once. If your tranny is smooth between the two shift levers you have the older style side plate that uses a couple of ball bearings a spring and rod to prevent it from being in two gears. Very durable and works pretty good. If you have a bolt or round spot between the two levers then you have the newer lever interlock that breaks often. If you can not get it into gear manually have somebody hold down the clutch pedal and check to see if the disk is releasing through the inspection cover on the bottom of the bellhousing. It's not there on most after market scattershields though. On those jack up the rear of the car, place in gear and depress the clutch. If you can rotate the driveshaft then the clutch is releasing.

If the clutch is releasing and the shifter won't manually go into gear after being sure the 3/4 and reverse are in their proper spot then it's time to remove the side plate.