First of all I havea 200c/i with a 3-speed manual.

When I am parked and in neutral or in reverse, shifting into first seems to work every time (granted I don't do it enough to notice it like I would shifting normally) but while I am moving, 1st and 3rd seem.. to just not kick in sometimes. 2nd gear works flawlessly though. Like just today I was driving it around just to keep it up and going and I was down shifting from 2nd while turning on a corner and as I went into first.. it just doesn't kick in. I end up just revving the engine and slowing down considerably. I have to put it back into neutral and back into first a couple of times, sometimes I get frustrated and slam it and that works (sometimes). SOMETIMES, but not as often, shifting into 3rd is a little shady too. What could the problem be? I am looking to put a 4 or 5 speed into it when I upgrade to a 302 after I run the 200 outta juice but this is definitely a problem.. I don't really want to spend a lot of money restoring the original transmission because, well, I'm replacing it in time. Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

It sounds exactly like a linkage problem. I had the same problem and Starfury pointed me in the right direction even though I didn't have stock linkage. This page should answer how to adjust. https://mustangforums.com/m_4022903/tm.htm