From: Dan Prantl [dprantl@hotmail.com]
Sent: Monday, September 08, 2003 11:00 AM
To: 928
Subject: [928] Side-to-side shifter sloppiness *solution*.

Listers,

I thought I would post on the symptoms and solution of 5-speed
side-to-side shifter sloppiness since I didn't really find much
information about it on Nichol's site or in the Rennlist archives.  All I
could find were references to the forward shifter cup which is not the
problem in this case.  Thanks go to Jim Bailey and Jon Holdsworth for
their help.

Warning, it's long so if you think this will never happen to you, delete
now.

The symptoms:
The shifter can be moved loosely from left to right all the way from
touching one side of the plastic shifter trim to the other.  Gears can
still be selected but even in gear the shifter can be moved side-to-side
at least 1 inch.  There is little or no fore/aft play.  As this condition
gets worse, it becomes increasingly difficult to overcome the 1st
gear/reverse gear resistance because there is no longer enough room / too
much sloppiness on that side.  Also in the advanced stages of this
condition, fore/aft sloppiness starts to develop as well to the point that
there is *just* enough room to engage 3rd and 5th gears.  In the advanced
stages, the car becomes almost undriveable so don't think that you can
ignore it forever!

The culprit:
A metal rod exits the top of the transmission towards the engine directly
above the torque tube.  Attached to this rod is the rear shift coupler. 
The coupler has four distinct parts: a T-shaped piece of round black steel
with splines at the end of the T, an aluminum housing that goes around the
T with a hole on the other side, two round rubber/plastic bushings that go
around the arms of the T, and a concial screw that screws into the side of
the aluminum housing.  This coupler slides onto the rod coming out of the
transmission and the conical screw seats itself in a small hole in the
rod, securing the coupler in place.  The end of the splined T fits into a
hollow rod that goes to the shifter and is secured by a clamp tightened by
a bolt and nut.  The trans side rod, coupler, and part of the shifter rod
are all covered by a large rubber bellows boot.  The part number for the
coupler on my US '86 is 928 424 029 00.  You can paste that into the
search field at 928 International website to see what it looks like (thank
you 928Intl): http://www.mailordercentral.com/928intl/search.asp .

The problem:
Over time, the bushings on the coupler get old and brittle and begin to
disintegrate.  It helps to look at the picture of the coupler when reading
the following.  At first, the flat parts of the bushings clamping the
square part of the black T before the splines disintegrate, causing some
side-to-side sloppiness and putting more stress on the round parts of the
bushings on the sides where the arms of the T reside.  Eventually, the
round parts also disintegrate causing even more side-to-side sloppiness
and also some fore/aft sloppiness.

The parts:
I would recommend that you buy the following parts:
- Rear shift coupler, $60 - $80
- Rubber bellows boot that goes over the coupler, $20 - $30
- Conical screw, $4

The replacement:
There is good access to this coupler from the right side.  Some model year
928's may find it easier to remove some parts of the exhaust and shields
for better access.
- First you must pull the rubber boot back towards the transmission.  It
is easiest if you put the tranny into 3rd gear.  For me, it was quite
difficult without mangling the boot, especially since mine was quite old
and a little hardened from the heat of the exhaust after 17 years.  You
need to pull the boot back far enough to expose the conical screw on the
coupler.  If you put too much pressure on the boot, you may shift out of
3rd gear.  If you buy a new one (which I recommend), the job will be much
easier if you just cut the old boot off.
- Undo the bolt that secures the clamp to the splined section of the
coupler.
- Go inside the car and pull up the plastic frame around the shifter. 
With it out of the way, shift into 2nd gear and then back down all the way
it will go.
- Back under, there should be enough space to slide the splined end of the
coupler off the shifter rod.
- Undo and remove the conical screw on the coupler (4mm hex).  Be careful
not to strip it, otherwise you will have a fun time drilling it out (how
do I know that?).
- Pull the coupler away from the transmission and out.  If you didn't cut
the boot, it comes out after the coupler.

Reassembly:
Basically just the reverse of the above.  Don't forget to slide the boot
onto the transmission rod BEFORE you slide on the coupler.  And make sure
to secure the boot properly at both sides; the boot has lips that slide
over edges so that it stays in place.  Also put some antiseize on the
conical screw, as it can get stuck in there after a few years.  You will
need to adjust the side-to-side position of the shifter before tightening
the shifter clamp.  I had to tighten the clamp a lot to keep the rod from
slipping.

I hope this helps someone sometime.

Dan
'86 928S 5-spd w/LSD