Thanks for the advice John, I'll hope hor the best. I'll have a 
chance to really check it out this weekend. I'll post to the list.

Steve

jlfoster@siu.edu (John Foster) Wrote:
| 

| I had somewhat similar shifting problems on my 86 GL a few 
| years back.
| Cleaning and lightly greasing the shift rod at the bushing in 
| front of the
| transmission cured it.  There is a similar bushing on the 86 
| behind the
| gasoline tank.  I would also check the operation of the 
| shifter mechanism
| under the shift lever and going into the transmission.  There 
| are joints
| that can gunk up in these places.  
| 
| I would be certain everything the full length of the shifter 
| assembly is
| moving smoothly before worrying about anything inside the 
| transmission.  The
| external parts are far more vulnerable to wear (as well as 
| easier to get
| to).  In fact, it probably would be a good idea to clean and 
| lightly
| regrease all the moving parts in the shifter mechanism every 
| 50-70K miles or
| so as routine maintenance.   I recently did this on one of my 
| other cars as
| part of a clutch replacement job and was extremely surprised 
| how much
| difference it made in the feel and ease of shifting. 
| 
|                                 John Foster  
|