"Does anyone know why my Formula would have a longer shift cable than what the factory says it should have? I'm swapping the 5spd from my Formula into my 86 SEv6 (4spd), and I'm using all the shift cables, shifter, tranny, clutch, etc, from the Formula. The shift cable on the Formula has frozen up - and has to be replaced, but none of the replacement cables are long enough!"
Yes, the Getrag cables are rounted differently...and yes, longer. New cables run about $90 when I bought one in May.
From: Robby C. Sperr
My '88gt, last winter was fine all winter. This year, my shift cable, the one that moves left/right was frozen in cold weather. After starting the car, warming up would thaw the cable. I got several suggestions on how to fix it. It is now fixed!
How? This morning it was -2f outside and the cable worked just fine. Last week, I disassembled the shift console and got to the linkage. A small clip was removed, the cable came out of the fitting and was available for my VACUUM SWEEPER hose. At the engine, I used a size 15 wrench and removed the cable from the linkage at the transmission. My son-in-law put the sweeper hose on the end of the cable in the cockpit to provide vacuum to "draw" wd40 into the cable. Worked like a charm. I would put a drop at the engine end, on the cable and watch it disappear. I did move the cable in/out some to help the process but in 5 minutes we were sure whatever water was in the jacket was gone. I thought about graphite to follow the wd40 but decided to try what I had to see if it might be fixed. And it is.
The neat thing about using a vacuum source to draw the lubricant is the fact you can put the cable inside the vacuum hose and at least for my shop vac, the "fitting" on the end of the cable in the cockpit just fit the hose. No leaking. My shift cable did not need lubricating so I did not do that one.
From: Jerry Isbell