FINALLY drove my baby to work today after getting brake work done at last and now I have an issue. Drove fine on the 20 min commute, but when i went to get off the interstate the gear change seemed a little sloppy. When i pulled into work and parked, went to put it into first and the shifter was twisting instead of just going straight up and down. I was able to get it into 4th and let the clutch out a little and it grabbed. I played with it a little and now it seems to be completely disconnected from the transmission (I can pull the lever straight out and away from the transmission). Waiting to get tools to get in there but does this sound like anything anyone else has experienced before? Please tell me something just came loose and isn't completely broken.

 

Factory shifter or aftermarket?

 

Factory.

 

Remove the shifter boot from the top of the console. Be VERY careful, because the "leather" fabric is wrapped and glued around a flimsy plastic "frame" that pushes into slots in the console top. VERY easy to break,they get really brittle with age.

Shake the lever to see if there is any looseness. The entire shifter assembly is supported by a bottom metal plate that bolts to the top of the trans. It is held on by 4 bolts, one on each corner. Unlikely that those would all come loose, but if the complete shifter assembly moves around could be thos bolts being loose. If the base plate is solid, and only the lever seems loosey-goosey, could be the bolt that holds the lever assembly to the stub that sticks up out of the base plate is loose. Unusual for a stock shifter, common with aftermarket. The stick it mounted in a cylindrical shell that has a rubber compound in it to dampen vibrations. The rubber may have rotted, but again not something common. But with the advanced age of these cars anything is possible.

If all the bolts are tight and it still seems loose, could be something internal to the base assembly has worn out. There is no attachment of the very end of the shifter to the trans shifting rods. A ball on the end of the stick shaft inserts into a hemispherical socket in the shift rail, and has a nylon "cup" to provide lubrication and dampen vibrations. Damaged cup? Wouldn[t seem to cause that much looseness.

If you have to tighten the bolts, you will probably have to pull the top of the console. I can't give you the details on that for a Camaro, because the Firebird console is probably a bit different. You can download a free copy of the 1996 factory service manual, courtesy of GaryDoug:

[url]http://www.mediafire.com/?40mfgeoe4ctti

The shifter is covered in Section 7B, starting with the first few pages in the section. Console is covered in Section 8C, starting around page 8-17.

 

Update time. So turns out it does have an aftermarket unit in it, or maybe just a hurst handle not sure. The base plate bolts that go directly into the transmission were fine. It was the bolts that go into the top of the shifter that were loose. Pic enclosed. Not my actual unit but close enough.

 

Common problem..... use lock washers, or double nut them if possible.

 

Now I just need to figure out where the spring goes that fell out when I picked it up. It’s for centering the shifter cuz now it doesn’t