I was wondering if anyone had diagrams of the shifter housing for a 88 NA. Not sure what it's called but the sounds kinda right. I just replaced the bushings in my shifter and found some broken pieces that didn't belong to the old worn out bushings. The price I'm most concerned about is a large paper clip looking piece that was broke free. Any words of advise are always appreciated

 

Perhaps you're referring to the "shifter spring".

Top of the list under "Shifter Bushings"-> Mazda Trix: Transmission

 

Yah the ear on the left looks like what I found. What exactly does it do? And with that ear broken at the second bend what problems do you think I'm gonna run into

 

it returns the shifter to center from the 1-2 gate. they commonly fail.