Manual Transmission -Shift Lever bushing replacement

[Andres G]

Hello All,

I've begun tinkering with more and more stuff on our car, following a list of recommended things to do on the car provided by the prior owner. From the first day I drove the car, the shifter felt a little loose, but just last week as I was driving to buy satin polyurethane varnish (I'm restoring the wood on the hardtop - more on that on a soon to come post) the shifter suddendly came much more loose than it used to be... it now requires working it waaaay over to the left to engage reverse and then doing the opposite to come out of it and engage forward gears.

Shifter bushings were on the to-do list (number 3) and I believe this project has now moved to #1. I read the very useful description on how to do this, but it seems I've failed to understand how to remove the carpet from the transmission tunnel to gain access to the plastic cover.

Can someone please tell me how to do this?

Thanks in advance,
Andres G

[Naj ✝︎]

Andres,

The carpet is generally draped over the tunnel and then tucked under the footwell carpets.

Sometimes they stick to the tunnel and need to be 'pulled' off !

If it has heen glued down 

naj

[Dash808]

I just replaced my bushings a few months ago too.  Like Naj said, the (original) carpet should be layed down over the tunnel and tucked under the floor mats. 
Try taking out your floor mats and lifting up on the carpet from the edges.  It should just come right up.  The rubber shifter boot is tucked/ wedged around the tunnel carpet as well.  That will come up too.
Pretty simple fix and what a difference!