replacing a 5 speed gearbox with a four

[thebeach2008]

hi ive just brought a t25 1.9 watercooled and the previous owner replaced the broken 5 speed box with a four speed, however the gear selection is a lottery, sometimes you get 1st others 3rd and reverse is the same, if you can find them they then go in fine, the gear lever is all over the place, my question is can a four speed box replace a 5 speed straight, or does the gear linkage all need replacing, or is it just a case of setting it up correctly, as I know that the 5 speed has a 1st gear under reverse but I would have thought that this is the only difference, surely the rest is the same, any help would be great cheers gary

[Kermit'skeeper]

Check every bush and joint between the gear stick and gearbox. It's such a long linkage that it only needs a small amount of play to lose the accuracy at the gear stick.
If you have to push against a spring to get into reverse gear then you still have the 5 spd gear stick.
If you have to push the stick down and across for reverse then it's probably been swapped for the 4 spd stick.

[thebeach2008]

thanks for that, I check them out many thanks