I've started a winter project of rebuilding the shifter linkage, from the shifter to the transmission. This will be the second time I've done this project on this van, it's been at least 100K miles since I did it the first time.

I spent a couple of hours under the van yesterday removing all of the linkage parts. It was a bit troublesome disconnecting the front and rear shifter rod sections but I managed to get it done. The next step is to remove all the undercoating on the two rod sections. I had undercoating applied about 20 years ago. I think I'm about 60% through with that messy endeavor. 

I also plan to replace the shift lever with one that is solid and install a short shift kit.

-Mark