The levers on the transmission MUST be in neutral as well as the shifter before you attach the shift rods. If you get them out of sync you have another problem. A tool can be made to keep the shifter in neutral while you have the trans in neutral in all gears. THAT my friend is the female dog to accomplish. I made one that worked well, but it was a royal pain to insert. Hope you only have to do this job once. take a large break before attempting it twice.

Now I'm confused.

Gary, the two main trans levers on the side of the case should be straight up for neutral. The reverse lever, which is the one I hope is causing you issue should be in its forward position. Sorry I don’t remember which way the lever points for that one. I say hope because what you describing happened to me on my car, all hooked up and stuck. After a few choice words I realized I had bumped the reverse lever when I hooked up the reverse rod and it was in gear and neither of the other levers would move. Disconnect your reverse rod and move the reverse lever to its forward position. With that lever forward and the other two straight up, you should be in neutral and ready to hook things back up. You may have to move the main lever to neutral to get the reverse lever to move or vise versa. I don’t think the trans like being in two gears at one.

|UPDATED|7/14/2018 7:21:25 PM (AZT)|/UPDATED|

Gotcha.  Just don't see how it can since I didn't move any levers on the tranny.  I'll do what you suggested.  Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.  Thanks. 

|UPDATED|7/14/2018 7:57:56 PM (AZT)|/UPDATED|

Sounds good and good luck. Before you hook any of the trans levers to the rods, make sure your shifter is in neutral and you have the proper side to side movement. With the shifter in neutral, now hook up your levers (two main levers straight up). Let me know if your still having problems and I’ll crawl under my car to verify the neutral position on the reverse lever, that’s the only one I’m not sure of it’s neutral position.

AMEN! My brother. That's what this site is for. To HELP people who are our friends. So..... Renew that membership and stick around. Keep your pointer here, and get info you may use in the future. Do one better, get yourself and that Beautiful Vette to one of our national gatherings. Cincinatti is starting in just over a week. There is ALWAYS room for another brother, and C-3. Once you attend one, you'll never forget it and attend again. See ya on the road.

Congrats !! Glad you got it back together and that it’s much better than it was !! For the record, the adjustment tool that Shark was referring to was actually designed to be used to keep this scenario from happening. I have one, used it once and as he stated, it is a major PITA. The good news is it keeps the shifter in neutral while you hook up the rods. It’s also used to adjust the length of the rods to get back to that perfect neutral position. The bad news is how to get it in, and much worse how to get it back out once everything is hooked up. Now go out and enjoy your new four speed !!