Anybody who has installed a short shifter in a v6 getrag

[havavb]

Hey guys I was attempting to install my new short shifter last night, and the selector rod wouldn't fit through the hole at the bottom of the shifter. long story short a poor judgement lead to smashing it through with a big hammer ended bad as it was tighter than a nuns privates parts. So luckily for me found a new selector rod close by for $50. Today im thinking of trying to file the inside of the shifter hole, or try make the selector rod a bit smaller. My question is has anyone come across this problem when trying to install a short shiter? Here is a picture for reference:

As you can see trying to hit it back through the hole ruined the rod. So the other side will be my trial and error I don't want to spend another $50 or more on a piece of metal worth 20 cents at scrap. Im in no rush to install the shifter now as I want it done properly. I dropped the shifter off at my friends shop which he used an air chisel I think to get the rod out. When the selector is through the shifter how much movement should it have? (picture above) Any help would be much appreciated

 

[havavb]

So now the old selector fits fine since I had the gear stick hole drilled slightly bigger, now the problem I have is the new (used) rod won't go through? I managed to get it halfway through then nothing won't budge either way so I had to get a hammer and ratchet extension to hit that out. Has anyone had to do any of this to install there short shifter? Cause Im sick of stuffing around it with it. It should be a simple swap over.

 

[sleek_vp]

hey bud, i know it's a thread bump, but how did you go with the rest of the installation and also were you able to select reverse and 5th gears when it was finished?

 

[Turtl3]

5th and reverse r on the same rail, so if u bought a cheap short shifter then u may need to use a dremel, or die grinder+burr to take the top, inner, right hand edge off of the actual short shifter block. Itll either be that...or its fowling on the trans tunnel ( which i dont c happening)

Edit: OH! Or the bottom, inner left hand edge of the block needs to he chamfered.

Take the boot off and see if u can see it fowling anywhere