1. go under rear of car, remove clamp on large plastic cover, pull cover aside, manually put trans in third gear.
2. secure the rear rod where it passes thru the engine support bar with a pair of vice grips. one on either side of the bar. the rod should now be locked in place. try and move it forward and back. reclamp as ness.
3. remove the bolts that fasten the lever to the center tunnel. loosen the clamping nut on the shift lever to front rod coupling piece.
4. with the lever assem slightly forward of it's normal mounting position, push the shift lever gently to left so the bottom of the lever just makes contact w/the spring loaded plate that blocks 1&R.
5. slide the lower coupling piece on to the front rod, while maintaining the slight pressure. slide lever assem back to it's normal mounting position. push the shift lever forward about 1/4" (the coupling piece will move ever so slightly on the front rod). rotate the base 90*, while maintaining the position of the coupler on the front rod. tighten the lever coupler clamping nut, TIGHT! rotate the base back and put the base to tunnel bolts back in and tighten.
7. go under car and remove the vice grips.
8. try to engage 2&3 gears. note any excess movement in either of the gears. the fore to aft 'freeplay" should be about equal in both gears. if one gear is tight and the other sloppy or you're unable to engage one gear, you have to reposition the lever coupler on the front rod. mark your current coupler position on the front rod, fore to aft and side to side with a pointed sharpie, regrip the rear bar, loosen the lever clamping nut move, the coupler forward and back as need on the front rod to achive that equal freeplay. tighten the clamping nut, drop the vicegrips, again, and see if you can engage all the gears. you may have to start the engine to do this.

this can be daunting the first time. relax, try not to get frustrated, and work in a systematic manner. when you get all the gears and are happy with the engagement, button up the rear cover and drive off into the sunset. happy motoring.

k