Page 34.7a of the Bentley manual shows a modification made to the shift rod 
bushing at the tranny end of the shift rod. The modification adds two boots 
and a new improved bushing. Vanagons built after June 1987 include this 
change. My syncro was built before then and did not have the mod, so I 
decided to install it myself. It was cheap, relatively easy, and tightened 
up the shifting noticeably. The addition of the boots will keep the bushing 
greased for a much longer period too. Here are the required parts:

Qty	Part #			Desc		Price (ea)
2	251-711-167-F		boot		5.03
1	251-711-207-E		bushing		2.14
2	N-011-008-18		nut		0.44

The two nuts are required to position the bushing assembly 6.5 mm further 
forward to accomodate the additional boot. It's a pretty straight forward 
operation:

Put tranny in neutral.
Remove two bolts holding bushing assembly to gear carrier housing.
Shift rod is now free, drop it down to ground.
Remove pin holding "socket" at end of shift rod.
Remove bushing assembly.
Clean everything up, grease, and reassemble with new parts.

All told, took me about 1.5 hours.

-Mark McCulley
'87 syncro Westfalia
'74 bus