Help identify this little piece... fell from shifter?

[Sean Murphy]

Hey there... 

If anyone knows what this little guy may have fallen from I'd appreciate the insight.  I gave the shifter a little wiggle before starting the car this morning and I heard this hit the exhaust pipe on its way down.  I crawled under for a quick look but couldn't tell where it may have come from, and shifter/transmission diagrams didn't help me either.  Hoping for some insight before I get too intrusive looking around.  

Thanks!

-Murph

 

 

[bergie33]

Plastic? Rubber? Look broken, or just one piece?

[Sean Murphy]

16 minutes ago, bergie33 said:

Plastic? Rubber? Look broken, or just one piece?

 

Hey @bergie33, it's metal (magnet picks it up).  

It had grease on it, and it's concave on one side, and rounded on the other, as if it's a small piece from a sphere.  All the edges look finished, not broken.  I'm going to have a closer look under the car in a bit.

Thanks for having a look!

[Dudeland]

Take a look a the guibo.  It kinda looks like a tab off of some sort of clamp.   I am usually great at these puzzles, but I am stumped. 

[Sean Murphy]

Thanks, @Dudeland.  I'd rather you not be stumped!

I got under the car to poke around and take some pics, and it's a mess.  I'll have to do some homework on what may be causing the leak under there, but it looks like it has been leaking since well before I bought the car last year.

I uploaded a video with some more angles and details on the little piece, along with photos of the mess I found under there.  The guibo seems to look okay (I think it's the guibo... that was a new one for me).

Anything like this where the shift lever meets the linkage?  The hardware holding those together seems a little chewed up in the photos.

 

-Murph

[Mark92131]

Your shift selector transmission seal is leaking pretty bad and coating everything in trans fluid, (i.e. rust preventative).  It also looks like the bushing for the dowel pin that goes through the back of the shift selector and connects the stick shift has cracked, (see yellow arrow).  I have no idea what the mystery part is?

 

Good news, the transmission cross member mount is an E21 or Bavarian upgrade, the bad news, it won't last very long with all that rust preventative dripping everywhere.  Also the reverse light switch looks like it could also be leaking.

 

Mark92131

[tzei]

Does not look oe. Does your shift level feel more loose now? Maybe someone ”fixed” lever bushings with just something?

[Son of Marty]

Look at you back up light switch, it might be a bit of the plastic end between the 2 wire spades.

[John76]

What's this clip for?  Maybe connected to your mystery part??

 

[TobyB]

I wonder if that's part of the actuator for the 'emissions' switch that was on the shifter linkage.

 

That stuff never lasted very well...

 

New bushings will make that shift a LOT nicer.

 

t

 

[Mike Self]

15 hours ago, John76 said:

What's this clip for?  Maybe connected to your mystery part??

That clip is factory, and meant to hold a wire--either the reverse switch or the seat belt warning wiring on the 72 and later cars.  It could also be for the e-brake warning light, but IIRC at least my '73 has that clip, and it doesn't have the e-brake warning light.

 

mike

[tzei]

Euro models have e-brake/hand brake switch at the h/brake hinge (under boot) in cockpit.

[visionaut]

i vote it’s some road debris off another vehicle that your car picked up…

[Sean Murphy]

Hey there, haven't had time to climb under the car and further explore this past week.  

@Mark92131, thanks for having a close look.  I'll have to do a little homework on replacing the seals.  I'm guessing pulling the driveshaft is in my future, which from what I've seen in other posts, is going to make it a lot easier to work on the shifter linkage as well.
@tzei, it didn't seem too much looser at first, but I took the car for a quick test drive today and it seemed to get worse with every shift.  Happy to have made it back to the garage without something more falling apart.

@visionaut, hilarious!  There's plenty of gunk for things to stick to!

 

Thanks all for chiming in.  I'll try to pull things apart this week.  Does anyone have tips on rebuilding the shifter linkage?

 

-Murph

 

['76mintgrün'02]

35 minutes ago, Sean Murphy said:

Does anyone have tips on rebuilding the shifter linkage?

 

 

Here's the article.

 

 

There've been some fun discussions on the topic over the years.  A little Searcharoo should provide you with more reading material.  I cut/lengthened mine beneath the ball to shorten the throw up top.  I added around 3/8".  Much more and it'll hit the driveline.  Definitely replace or refresh the link with a pin.  It transmits a lot of slop when it's worn.

Tom