snowboarder4life

i broke one of those bolts on my '89 and i remember not having too much of a problem getting them out. They're probably just loctited, if you could get any heat on them, that might help.

302f150

I didn't take that off when i put my short throw shifter in......that big gold plate with the rubber, comes right out. It will slide over the handle, i had the console out when i did mine, so you might have to do that, but you can probably screw around with it and get it out at an angle. then the 4 bolts that attach the shifter to the transmission will be accessible

apedosmil

Leverage is key. Get a johnny bar or a breaker bar or whatever you want to call it and turn, im sure they will come off.

steel1

Just did mine, same shifter, didn't have a problem removing the bolts. But in your case if you have the 4 screws removed for the inner boot, then you should be able to stretch that rubber enough to clear those 2 handle bolts. Be carefull putting those 4 inner boot screw back in, the holes in the body are not threaded, they thread into 4 u-nuts which tend to move around when you re-install the inner boot.

Cool92GT

Thanks for the help. I'll try to stretch the inner boot over the handle but I don't want to tear it. One other question. Once the shifter is installed, just how bad is the gear noise from the transmission? Is it really distracting? Is there anything that can be done about it to reduce the noise? thanks alot everyone

302f150

mine isnt bad, you can hear it a little with the tranny in gear cruising at higher speeds and slowing down mainly, then again i didnt bother with the lil inner rubber boot.