Daughter's teacher has a '68 Camaro, V-8, 3-speed on the floor. (original owner since new). It hlocks up quite often when crossing the gate, i.e. 1st to 2nd, or 2nd to 1st. I checked the bushings, rods, neutral alignment of the shifter. All good. Very little slop. (only 56k miles). The shifter itself feels loose. Did not check fluid level, or remove cover to check shift forks. Any suggestions. He wants to keep it original, so leads on a N.O.S. shifter would be appreciated.
The fact that it feels loose indicates bushing wear. If this is the original 35 year old shifter, low miles or not , the plastic/nylon is bound to be in a state of deterioration and probably brittle. I'd try to find a rebush kit for the shifter. I am wondering how old the gear oil is.
What you need is a set of bushings. IIRC, the originals were (are) nylon or similar material. It is affected by age as much or more so than mileage. It takes very little lost motion in the presence of corrosion or no lubrication for the gate to become finnicky. The pin has to line up on it's own a bit as you cross. There are numerous sources of Camaro resto/repro parts on the net and many more that are not. A couple to check are The Paddock or Year One who are both major suppliers of these kinds of parts. Run a google search for various forms of Chevy restoration parts and you will find more sources than you can easily run down. Once you find the parts, they are easily replaced with a little patience and mechanical finesse.
Lastly, I do not know which trans you have nor do I remember many of the details of them but, some manual transmissions use steel balls that sre spring loaded to center the shifter rods or forks in position. It is possible that something about this mechanism is not right or a spring is weakened/broken. That is generally a job for someone experienced with manual transmissions or at least an advanced DIY'er and may require the trans to be removed to get the job done.
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