Solidify early shift console

[Varinn]

I have plenty of vertical slop in my shifter, planning on machining a couple aluminum mounts for the fronts and replacing the rear piece with a new oem rubber bit. Anyone able to measure item #1 in this pic?

[MR 325]

Why not just replace the 2 worn out "number 1's" and fix it with OEM parts?

[Varinn]

That is my fallback plan, a lot of people were saying its still very soft and sloppy in my searches last night. I doubt its as bad as they all say but its worth a shot

[E30Gus]

By far the best improvement I've made with this sheet metal shifting setup is to make an aluminum mount to replace #7. Definately replace all the other bushings but a solid rear mount make shifting very accurate and notchy.

[Varinn]

What were the dimensions of the aluminum mount? I will likely make my own out of UHMW. I have never seem this trans out of the car however. As far as I understood it the #7 mount connects the shift assembly to the body in which case I would assume too rigid is a bad thing because it could damage parts as the motor/trans move in relation to the body

[E30Gus]

I basically found a rod and tapped both sides. I made it the length of the rubber bushing that goes in there. I don't remember the exact dimensions but it was ~1" dia.
I've had it in the car for a couple years now without any problems. It may help that I have poly bushings all around so that the engine and tranny don't move much during driving. You may be correct, this might not be the best if using rubber mounts.