914-6 tail-shifter rear shift rod end - trouble?, Shouldn't this come apart somehow? Options

[smj]

I got my tail-shifter shift linkage bushings from Pelican on Friday; today I happily jacked up my 914-6 to try to put them in. I knew there were differences between the linkage for the -6 and the -4, but I'm not clear how much of what I'm seeing is factory and how much is Mickey...

I did start off following this thread: http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=109708 But things diverged pretty quickly. For example, there's a U joint at the firewall end instead of the pair of pivots:



Well maybe that's the way it should be. Looks like somebody replaced the one nut not too long ago... Moving on, here's the sad state of affairs at the far end after I unbolted the support bracket:



Bushing is toast, of course - looks to be rubber, not plastic. The firewall end of the rear shift rod has flanges for the U joint. Wait a minute... How the heck do I get the bracket off?!? I looked for a set screw at the back end of the rear shift rod, but it looks like a rivet:



What the... I poked around at what I think should be a set screw, but it isn't hex shaped inside - and I can pass a 2mm Allen wrench all the way through, it's completely hollow. Here's the best I can do for a close up of both sides:



So... Is this some Mickey Mouse "improvement" somebody's made along the way, or is there a trick to getting that end/bracket off of the rear shift rod? The clear sign of welding about six inches in from the end does not comfort me any...

Thanks! I'm gonna go get some coffee and pray somebody's got a tip for me while I work at the shifter end of things...

[smj]

Okay, I mentioned the rubber bushing at the front shift rod bracket. Here's what it looked like - and whoever was in there was not at all stingy with the grease, there were gobs and clots of it everywhere...



This all came apart easily, including getting the rubber bushing out and the new bushing in:



Getting the shift rod through that bushing made up for it though - not easy, especially with all the grease on everything. Had a bad moment when I used Vice-Grips and realized I hadn't put enough tape on the jaws, had a little scoring on the smaller diameter part of the rod, and couldn't get the shifter cup holder on... sideways. Whew - got that sorted, and was nervous for the rest of the day that it was going to be a horror show trying to shift through that tight bushing. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

Doc said I'd have to get creative... I mentioned that I tried cutting a bushing and working it into the rear shift rod bracket. Struggled mightily, but failed. Cut out a 1/4", failed again. Was able to pop the 1/4" remainder right in though. Hmm... So here's what I wound up with as a temporary solution:



I know, not good but better than bare metal. My failed attempt at the cabin shift rod coupler caused the old firewall bushing to disintegrate. So, I started over with the cut bushing, which failed. Took out a small section, failed again. Eventually got another half bushing in there:



Again not recommended or expected to last, but it lets me see if I've rendered the car undriveable until I can deal with the coupler and roll pin properly. In the car, still in the air, it felt like I could shift into and out of gear. Hmm... Maybe I haven't ruined everything forever...

By this time it's 11PM. Get the car down, grab a shower, and the first thing I notice is that I've rendered the hand throttle useless. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/headbang.gif) But you know what, it isn't backfiring constantly the way it always has, so there's a silver lining? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)

Start her up, put it in reverse - doesn't feel half bad. White lights, good. Hey, car moves by itself, hooray! First gear - again shifting isn't too bad. And it moves forward, hooray! Let's take it out...

Shifting into second no longer reminds me of my $800 Golf III beater - "Third gear? Go forward, then feel for a pinch, then work it left, then forward, then left, then forward a little more..." In fact it feels kinda good.

Shifting into third and fourth feels good too. I take some laps around the neighborhood with stop signs, and Neutral - First - Second - Third are all pretty dang good. Decided to take it on the highway to see if it's still popping out of Fifth. Everything's going fine and then - Pop! - exeunt Fifth gear, stage right. I can go back in for a while, but eventually it'll pop out again. Damn. But I'll do some searching first, and if necessary start another thread.

So preliminary indications are that if I educate myself about roll pins and wrestle the shift rod coupler into submission, I can have a vast improvement in the shifting action. I also have a bunch of other photos so that with the second installment to come, I can put together a tutorial for the -6 linkage similar to the one I cited at the start of this thread.

Thanks a bunch for the feedback, really appreciate it.