For anyone who drives a noisy, vibrating, obnoxious-sounding, gear shift-grinding Beetle, this story may change your life.
Having replaced nearly every engine-related component in my bug, I was still driving a car that drove me crazy. The noise made by the shifter was annoying at all times and nearly unbearable at highway speeds. I finally decided on Friday that I'd had enough and changed the bushing.
Pulling the rod was exactly like the instructions set forth at:
Anyway, after the project was complete and the stick shifter reinstalled, I took the car out and WOW! a new VW wouldn't drive any better. Shifting is buttry smooth. The vibrations and rattles are gone. I can actually hear my new engine purring. This one little project to replace a $1 part caused the whole engine replacement/restoration to finally come together.
The reason for the amazing transformation is that the shifter rod rests in a round metal bracket just behind (toward rear of car) where the shifter couples to the rod. An old, brittle or missing bushing causes the vibration and noise from the engine and transmission, the road, etc. to be transferred into the shifter rod, which I belive is a hollow steel extrusion. The result is noise just beyond the threshold of psychic pain.
Heading out onto the road...
Randall Brink