Shifter Linkages

[8v-of-fury]

Hello all! 

The 81's shifting is terrible.. Trying to grab 1st or 5th, 3rd is often the gear selected. Reverse, 2nd, 3rd ,and 4th all select fine and so does 1st usually.. it just seems right when you really need it to (Advance turn, hill, guy up your arse) i can not for the life of me find 1st!

I have been looking over the Missing Linkz site and I am impressed with his quality of work, however the site is a maze at best

I guess what I am asking is.. what exactly do I need from his site to improve the slop of the shifter moving the same distance in gear or neutral? also the problems of getting in to first or fifth?

I have noticed that the detent for 5th is almost non-existent.. could this be remedied by turning that adjuster on the trans?

Thanks a lot guys.

[lovinthedeez]

Your bushings are shot I bet.the local import parts center here sells the shifter bushing kit for five bucks.  It's the first thing that goes into any mk1 I buy.  the missing linkz bushings are more important when you go with the short shifter; which he (vwcaddy) makes a very nice and affordable one.  Never had any problems with the ones I've been getting. 

[maxfax]

What He ^^ said..   Unless you're me, the regular ole bushing kit will fix you right up..  Don't go adjusting anything till your bushings are good..   Getting the linkage adjusted is a royal PITA..

[lovinthedeez]

five bucks, five minutes, and then all you hear is click click click click click

funny part is that most of the slack is taken up by just the two relay shaft bushings.

[maxfax]

The relay shaft bushings seem to be the weakest link..  I'm forever wearing these out..  (Maybe I shift too much??)  I turned out some brass one's on the last Rabbit, wish I would have made a few sets at the time..

[8v-of-fury]

So i ghetto modded my shifter today by adding about 2.5lbs of steel stock. What a difference!

The entire linkage design is retarded, rods to push other rods that pull other levers and work this and that.. who in their right mind.. lol

So just a run of the mill shifter bushing replacement eh?

[maxfax]

I swear after the engineers at VW got done making the engine and the car, they realized, "Oh how we gonna make this shifter work?" And cobbled something together..   I think I could have, and may just yet, figure out something a little better..

But yes, bushings are standard maintenance.

[Kudagra]

On the missing linkz stuff..yea its alot of reading easiest way is...

Just look for the price around $150 in the Mk1 or Mk2 section. It will have everything you want and have the high temp stuff for your turbo (or when you eventually go to turbo)

[8v-of-fury]

So I've been thinkin this over, and money is too tight to be getting a missing linkz one right now.

I can't recall whether i asked down at the local parts shop if they have the bushing kit or not.. Does it come with all the bushings for the entire shifter linkage? or how does it work? Maybe if I get a cheap set, I can take the two relay bushings to a friend who i think still has a lathe and see if he can't run me off some brass ones eh?

Interesting! has anyone seen a good writeup on how to accomplish this bushing swap? or is it straight forward?

Its odd that I notice 1st is always had at times when it is not really needed to be "lets get goin!" but when you have a line of cars behind you.. its like 5-6 trys to get it.. PITA.

LOL

[maxfax]

WHen I have a worn shifter I'm always in the middle of an intersection trying to find ANY gear.. 

The bushing swap is pretty straight forward..  Take it apart, take out the old bushing, put new bushing in, assemble..  Be it a cheap ebay kit, or something more costly I've really seen no difference as far as how long they last... 

The darned relay shaft bushings always seem to be the culprit for me..   I made brass one's for the Frankenbunny and never looked back..  AS with any bushings, remember to hit them with the grease from time to time.. The brass relay bushings have to be a press fit into the bracket, so they are a tad challenging to get in there with everything in the car.. I need to get my mits on another piece of brass stock and turn out a few more of these for the silver bunny..

[Rabbit on Roids]

my rabbit shifter always worked good, the actual handle would just break off from time to time tho.

it really sucked. be going along, shift gears a little hard, and end up with most of the shifter detached in your hand. i dont know how long i drive around with vise grips sticking off the stub where the shifter used to be. the vise grip shifter was pretty much my favorite part of the black rabbit.

[8v-of-fury]

So i was just outside comparing the 84 with the 81. the 84 has at least three times the play in the relay shaft as the 81..

The two bushings that go around the cylinder part;


Yet the 84 has absolutely no problems ever of finding 1st or 5th.. why? so  I kinda studied it a bit more, and it appears the relay shaft bushings being tight are only gonna show in up and down movement of the shifter.. so actually getting in to and staying in that gear. The other rod in the awesome vw shifter setup controls side to side of the shifter, and being able to decipher between 1st 3rd and 5th on the shifter.

I was looking at this diagram;


and it suggests that the 4 speeds are the only one with the bend in the middle lever of this picture;


Mine has a bent one but it does not look like the one pictured, it just has one bend.. and i feel it is what is stopping the selector from moving the correct distance over to get in 5th... However it does not really explain why it is stopping it from getting in to 1st.

I do not believe it is the relay shaft bushings though, as I said the 84 that I have been driving the last 3 years has significantly more play in these bushings.. like so much its doubtful they exist. I am going back out to investigate some more

I will order up a bushing set to see if I can't remedy something.. lmao

[Rabbit on Roids]

the 84 shifter was probably adjusted properly at one point in time. and thats probably why it can still function. my GTI had NO bushings (were completely missing) in the relay shaft, and all my gears worked fine, reverse would pop out tho. re did the 2 relay shaft bushings and the relay ball, and it shifts wonderfully now.

[maxfax]

the 84 shifter was probably adjusted properly at one point in time. and thats probably why it can still function.

That'd be my guess too..  The relay LEVER will however make it crappy for finding 1st and 5th too..  Throw a bushing kit in there, adjust, and you should be golden..

[Smokey Eddy]

if you find a good kit and do i write up i'd totally follow suit here Jer. I'd like to fix my shifting as well.