I'm having a friend swap the automatic from my old 77 Bobcat hatchback, which is no longer part of the fleet, into my Cruising Wagon. The wagon currently has a four-speed manual and it will go down to the guy who bought the donor Bobcat. The only problem I have with the manual tranny is that it seems to need what I've heard called a rag joint. I can't differentiate by feel first gear from reverse or third. It works fine, just have to test what gear I'm in before I get going. Any thoughts on this one? Is this rag joint hard to come by? I've been told it is essentially a piece of leather with the shift pattern cut into it, but I've never seen one.

FlyerPinto,
I am currently changing over to a manual on my street 71 and have run into the same issues as you but here is what I think are your two problems. 1. good chance your plastic shift bushing is toast (see pics below) and 2. the large rubber gromit that keeps the shifter from sinking down so that it thinks it is clear to move over to reverse (you should have to push down on the shift lever to get to reverse) is rotten like the one on the right (see below). I hope that helps.
71HANTO

PLASTIC GONE

Forgot about that been runnin the t5 for too long.