i recently bought a 86 gxl i have been restoring it slowly due to low funds but i noticed that the shifter spins. it still shifts fine but it kind of concerns me. i i dont have much knoledge on transmissions and how the shifter is installed but it dose look like the shifter has been taken apart odviously by one of the previous owners not me because the leather cover around it isnt quite set right. could the spinning shifter cause any problems or already be a problem? any help on how to fix this or what could be causing this would really be appreciated.

 

wait,

the whole stick spins around? there is a little metal nub that is in the transmission to keep the shifter from spinning around. so unless he somehow shaved that off (which is retarded) then there is no possible way it can sit there and spin around. there is a groove in the shifter stick at the bottom that aligns with that notch.

now the shifter **** can kind of fall apart and the **** can spin around. in that case just get a new **** which is a no brainer.

 

well ya it is the whole stick that spins around wich is y this is so confusing because i know from looking at short shifters that there is a notch that the stick sits in so i have no clue how this could be happening

 

well i'd say go ahead and pull it out to find out whats going on.

its very simple. a few 10mm bots and remove the boot and thats pretty much it.

if possible take pictures so everyone who views the thread might be able to tell you what happened. but if thats not possible, then draw it on mspaint or something.

 

ok i will do that tonight thanks for the help

 

Mine does this and the guy I bought the car from said there's a pin that he lost. No big deal. I kinda like the shifter moving the way my hand does. That way I don't have to worry about keeping my hand straight while racing.

 

Assuming you have the stock shift lever, it's likely that the rubber isolator has delaminated and the upper section is free to spin.
I'm not even certain it's possible to "lose" the locating pin on the stock setup.

 

well i fixed it. it turns out the pin that goes in the slot on the shifter that keeds it from spinning had worked its way out some how so few taps with my wrench and were back in business. thanks for the help guys