Sloppy Seine shifter set up - likely the ball socket?

[tdskip]

Hi folks - hope everyone is having a good Saturday so far.

I have some sorting out to do on the '73 911T that I recently picked up and the first job is to deal with a sloppy shifter. This car has a Seine set up and I've had a great experience with that set up in the 1974 911, but the one in the '73 is pretty ropy.

I pulled the access panel to confirm the coupler is good - it is, looks new with new bushings and no play there.

That lead me to think the most likely cause of it feeling sloppy is either the ball/cup or the set screw has backed out. Maybe the bearing bush? Sound about right? Other ideas?

Thanks!

[Otter74]

bad shift rod bushings could cause a sloppy feel and I suppose it’s possible that a loose pivot pin or worn ball socket or something could do it, but unlikely. It’s easy to observe the more or less the whole shifter assembly by pulling the rubber shift boot off - this may help you a lot in diagnosing where the play is. I’d suspect the shift linkage bushings first. The front one is the “bearing bush” in the image above; the middle one is just in front of the handbrake, and can be seen by pulling the handbrake and heat lever plate out three or four inches, and the last one is in front of the rear access plate.

[stownsen914]

The set screw coming loose can absolutely cause sloppy shifting. That's pretty easy to check. As otter suggests, try observing the various parts of the linkage while moving the shifter - that should reveal slop in any joints or bushings.

[tdskip]

Thanks gentlemen, pulled the cover and got a flashlight on that and observed that the ball socket bushing allows movement, will start there.