[masterdave]

I had the same issue when i bought my car, it turned out that the whole shaft had split where it meats the universal joint at the bottom of the stick. Basically the shaft is a hollow metal tube with a piece welded in to it at the shifter end. This piece from so much constant motion had come lose, cracked the welds and split the shaft. I was able to get the shaft out through the E-Brake hole, but it was not easy. All in all the shaft was about 75$ the bushings, which i replaced cause i was in there, were another 25$ and some extraneous bolts and nuts another 10$. so 150$ after shipping and every thing, but the car shifts like new. Remember when you put it all back together, to align the universal joint to the trans correctly, Hugh R put a link to the article with the steps in it. I was able to do the job in about 6 hours, but that was because i had to replace the shifter shaft which took some yanking and hammering. If you are quick and diligent you could most likely get the bushings done in 3 hours. I put some axle grease on them as well, any type of thick grease should do, im sure there is some thing that is more appropriate but i wanted to get the car running and it was what i had on hand, its held up fine for the past 4 months.

If that is not the problem but you are going through all the work to check the bushings you may as well replace them while you are in there and save your self the headache latter.

Best
Dave