[Zeke]

Here's how to adjust your shifter to compare to what you are doing. Put the tranny in first from under the car. By putting pressure on the passenger side of the lever, bring it over towards the driver's side and connect to shift rod by moving shift rod towrds reverse. Tighten the clamp. Then slip the lever into nuetral and see if it is straight up at the base. Or close, you can vary this a little to personal preferrence. One person can do this and two can do it easier. Should go into first and reverse easily after that. Taken from Red Beard's excellent site. Go to members, look him up and follow the link to his site.