Yeah, I haven't driven a 4-speed since my Volkswagen back in high school so I don't really know how this shifter should feel. I suspect that it is a bit looser and sloppier feeling than it should. Even my father who hasn't driven this car in over 50 years didn't like the feel and said he thought he remember it being nice and and tight and feeling very positive when shifting.
I have the official Hurst rebuild kit and I will be rebuilding it in the coming days so I guess I will find out, I was just curious if anyone could tell me what to expect.
Alright, you made me curious and I remembered I had a shift box handy. This is an F-body shift box but I don't think it matters in this case. So you can see the through bolt, well, almost see the through bolt that goes through the shift handle mount and holds that bridge plate
When removed, there is front to rear play that is then possible with the whole shift handle mounting box, this gap is entirely play, probably an 1/8" or so. That I expected because all the other retaining mechanisms for the shift handle mounting box are basically pivots, so you get some front to rear slop.
I did not expect the side to side slop, which has a spring loaded mechanism. It's a lot, a good 1/4" or more. The through bolt goes through this square hole, you can kinda see how the hole in the mount gets misaligned. More telling is the screwdriver that I used to line it back up, it's a lot of play
So, not having that bolt and bridge plate would mean A LOT of extra slop in the shift mechanism. It would definitely affect the accuracy of your shifts, especially with a longer shift handle. Installing that bolt and bridge plate should help tighten up the shifts quite a bit!
