How 'tight' should the shifter be when in neutral? I recently test drove a '75 915 that looked to have less than 90k miles on it and when in neutral there was very little throw in any direction although I could get into all gears pretty easily and it wanted to pretty much default to the 'center' location.

With my car, when in neutral the shifter has almost zero resistance when moving it side to side making it feel very 'sloppy'. Rebuilt tranny, all bushings have been replaced from the firewall back.

Mine always had a good deal of side-to-side slop or looseness or play, but shifted fine & tight - even after the transaxle rebuild, although that tightened it up some. New bushings will take away a bit more. That play helps the typical DD driver know when they're in neutral, & aids in shifting into the relatively widespread of the 914's tail & side shifter 901 tranny.

But I believe you need to have some play side-to-side in neutral, otherwise shifting into any gear will be much harder. IIRC the factory manual has the spec for the play, so if you don't have a hard copy of one, then by the DC at AutoAtlanta (which also has a bunch of other 914 docs scanned on it too, so it's much more than just the 8 volumes scanned), then have it handy on your shop laptop/desktop/pad or print out hard copies & put them in some nice maroon binders just like the factory ones (binders at Staples or Office Depot, etc.), then keep it handy to get your greasy fingers all over it just like the old school days!

You also may be able to tighten it up a bit at the tunnel's shifter linkage, if that wasn't done yet (check for excessive wear at the knuckle there too).

Good Luck!
Tom
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The reverse/1st spring keeps the shifter in the 2nd/3rd plane. There is a kit from Automotion to increase this spring rate. Otherwise the Rennshift is a nice shifter that adds another spring to get to the 4th and 5th plane. Both solutions are an improvement over stock.

Robert, do you really have to reef on the lever for the 1st-R plane?

Nope, and it's not hard to nick reverse when going to 2nd. I never do it anymore but I don't really feel the spring that's supposed to keep that from happening.

As I am sure we all know there are a number of parts that work together well in a 914 linkage to create the slop in the system. So the places for the slop seem almost endless. In addition to the springs as noted, the firewall bushing was the biggest source of slop in my shifter. Tangerine Racing firewall bushing was the best improvement I made for getting the slop out.

I just installed this bushing, cant wait to test it out. but Tangerine Racing suggests grinding the head down on the shift rod linkage when installing or else you might not be able to access all gears,Woulthey also mention you might have to move the tranny back some. did you have to do any of these 'possible' fixes with your bushing?

Look closely at the contact point for the shift lever and the detent plate.

I had no issues but I did make sure the bushing sat flat on firewall which required some minor grinding of the backside of the bushing. This was due to the car not the bushing. I took a few millimeters off the head just to be sure and it all worked great.

Hmm, I was wondering the same thing. I have one sitting here that I was going to install while engine is out but the cautionary warning have me worried about creating a big headache.

OK to be clear I have no affiliation with Tangerine Racing. Everything I have ever purchased from Chris has been top of the line. Maybe my experience is unique but I would think it is more likely the standard. If anything I think Chris under sells his products. If you understand the Zen nature of the 914 shifting arrangement I think it is apparent that depending on the wear of certain items a bit of adjustment may be required. So make sure the nearing is flush and you will likely have no issues.

But once it is in and working you won't believe the difference it makes.

I installed it a few minutes ago and will grind down the head for good measure. Won't know how it works till engine back in but I'll let you know.

I can see how it can bring things back into proper alignment. I did see how the original area around the bushing has worn unevenly over the years.