Well, it never cooled off enough yesterday afternoon to feel like crawling under a rig--not to mention, the young ladies out front needed supervision and the shade, breeze and beer were pleasantly cool.
Got back on it this AM.
The shifter box under the shifter lever, from the rear:
I'm lying on my back on a creeper under the rig with my half-rack abs wedged against the undercarriage, struggling to use a cell phone as a camera while holding a light in one hand and the phone in the other. The phone is picking the focus based on some algorithm. But you can make out that there's a 23mm plywood block on the right side of the shifter--cut and sanded to a tolerance of one RCH--and a quarter on the left side. Between those, the lever is now firmly wedged in place where it should be when in neutral.
Taking a look at the other end of the shifter linkage rod,
it ain't right. That silver thing--the shifter cup--is supposed to be perfectly vertical, fore-aft and left-right when in neutral.
I need to loosen the clamp on the coupler of the shift rod and get that aligned--but I only have two hands and am fighting some spring pressure.
Problem solved.
The camera, of course, chose to focus on the most handsome object in the field, but the cup is now vertical in both directions.
Tightened the clamp, put away tools, cleaned up, had some lunch and drove around the local roads to run through the gears.
I've never driven a classic VW that shifted like this now does! It is the least vague shifting VW Van ever!