Update!
Went back to the tire place, and managed after some arguement to get some money back for the mess they made. I showed them the above photos. They didn't budge. The guys refused to admit any fault, blamed everything from the manufacturer to my mechanical ability in installing the piece for the problem, and worse, managed to accuse me of bending it on my own, despite me making it clear from the moment I got back in the car after they had driven it that something had gone wrong. Bastards.
At any rate, I left there and went straight to PYP. After picking up a nice M47 shift lever from a wreck, and installing it in place, I found that even that shifter wasn't sitting right. HUH?!!! Confusion....
Craig was super nice and came over yesterday to help diagnose the problem. After some sleuthing, it was decided that it must be something in the linkage that was bent. The tranny crossmember was off, so we lowered the tranny a bit, and Craig's surgical precision helped to remove the shift rod, with the tranny still in the car. Skills I tell you.
After comparing a good rod bit, and the one removed, it was clear that while the shift lever may be bent a little (if at all), the problem was that indeed the shift linkage rod was twisted right at the front near the ball pivot.
In the photo, the top one is bent, the bottom one stock. Hard to see, but if you look right at the front by the ball pivot, the rod heads a few degrees off and up to the left. Both forks are sitting flat on the ground, but the top rod slants enough by the pivot, that by the time it reaches the shift lever, theres about a 3/4" difference in shifter positioning. So, basically, the kid at the shop must have rammed something enough to twist or bend the freaking linkage! Unreal.
Craig spent a good half hour or more putting the good linkage back in with no real line of sight....the pin through the pivot and the sleeve over it went back in. More skills. Problem solved. A big thanks to Craig for all his help yesterday!
