Shifter Bushings and Coupler

[M5guy]

My 86 930 (4 speed) occasionally balks at the neutral to first shift. No grinding, and having grown up on nonsynchro first gear cars, I never put the car in first while moving. The other three gears, up and down, work fine. It feels like a shift linkage issue. Car is at 94k miles and otherwise gearbox is very smooth.

So which bushings do I buy? And should I just replace the coupler with oem, or press in new bushings, or buy an aftermarket coupler?

Thanks!

[pkabush]

I’d try adjusting your stock coupler first. If that doesn’t help, you could buy the Wevo coupler.
I haven’t used one but, all the reports I’ve read have quite positive.

[davidpsalt]

Very easy to diagnose - remove the cover plate on the floor near the rear seats and inspect the plastic bushings in the shift coupler. Mine were disintegrated hence the horrible shifting response - I picked up the OEM replacement coupler ($100), watched a Youtube video on how to index the shifter once installed and I was back on the road with great shifting! You will find there are also a couple more white plastic bushings for the actual shifter which were cheap and easy to replace since I was in there and had everything all apart.