Buying a 5sp, is a gear shift with play reason for concern ?

[GT Wagon]

Allow me to expand on this. I'm looking at getting a 97-99 GT Wagon to replace my aging '91 LS Wagon. I test drove a '97 wagon with 190km's (115k miles) on the odometer. The first thing I noticed is the shifter has quite a bit of play in it. This goes for being in neutral AND in all the gears. Shifting is still accurate but there's no doubt its got play in it. You can wiggle it from side to side more than I think should be normal. My wagon has 240k and there's noticeably less play in it. For comparison, today I also test drove a '99 GT sedan with 108k's (60miles) and that shifter was nice & tight, a little better than mine.

Do you think this is just a matter of replacing the bushings around the shifter or is this indicative of larger problems with the tranny itself ? I recall my '84 Toyota Supra had lots of play in the shifter and it was just that the plastic bushings underneath the shifter were completely worn out, $50 later & an hour worth of work made it nice & tight again. The rest of the car seems decent, however I had no experience with this generation and I'm just needing the experience of others to let me know if I should be passing over this car or not.

[shazapple]

Most likely its just bushings and such. I remember a post on Nasioc where the guy just totally replaced everything, and it made his shifting a lot tighter. All the components down there were rusty and worn.

[sheepdog]

The subaru transmissions don't really vary too awfully much between models and years from my experiences. If you ask me, I would put the money on that the bushings are worn out as long as it goes into and out of gear smoothly and easily and doesnt slip out of gear or anything.

[GT Wagon]

The subaru transmissions don't really vary too awfully much between models and years from my experiences. If you ask me, I would put the money on that the bushings are worn out as long as it goes into and out of gear smoothly and easily and doesnt slip out of gear or anything.

Well that's a positive sign. It shifts well and never slipped out of gear on me. Have a rough idea what the parts are worth and how long to replace them ?

[Wiscon_Mark]

get Kartboy shifter bushings, best stuff around. I think its 20 bucks for a set for your shifter, and the other stuff, I'm not so sure about. See the vendor links for the kartboy website.

Mine had a lot of play until the bushings were replaced, and its nice and comfy now :D

[Huffer]

As long as it goes in the right gears, at the right time, and stays there, you're in good shape.

Check to make sure the belts have all been done, and the minute you drive off the lot, change the oil and coolant out.

You'll want to chuck some Redline in the tranny and rear diff too. :D