I've got this annoying rattle coming from the tunnel, I've replace the rear coupling and tonight replace the selector shaft bush and retaining ring.. but the rattle is still there. All I can think is that the ball on the end of the shifter maybe worn.. It has a fair bit of movement when its in gear. Has anyone else had this problem ?

Cheers,
Conan

My guess is the front bushing broke or has popped out. Seen that happen before.
The tab that holds the coupling could be split

Did you space the rear coupling so it is done up tight

Never seen slop issues with the cup and ball

I've checked the selector shaft bush and its sitting in correctly with the split pointing to the left side of the car like the manual states. The coupling I replaced with a billet one piece one. Is the shifter meant to have a bit of side to side movement even in gear as it just the design of the shifter ?

Working from the gearbox back then the hockey stick should have none to barely noticeable movement when in gear. The there's the coupler which you say is a billet item so if well made will have no slack in in what-so-ever. Then there's the plastic bush just aft of the gear leave aperture. Here the bracket hole the bush fits into can wear and cause movement whether is gear or not.

Finally there;s the gearlever ball and socket. Generally if properly greased the ball and socket should be fine but the slot the pin of the ball fits into can wear and therefore you get play whether in gear or not.

So just a case of checking each item to9 find the roblem

The ball on the end of my shifter has no pin..

There is a small amount of side to side movement where the hockey stick connects to the billet coupler.. It sounds as if the rattle is coming from up front but it could be travelling down. I'll start at the back again and recheck everything.

Cheers.

Any chance the clutch and/or accelerator cable tubes have come loose? Had this in one of my cars.

I had a bug that had a rattle coming from the tunnel and could be felt in the gear stick - turned out to be previous owner had put in extra long seat belt stalk bolts that were hitting the selector rod!!

turns out it was the where the hockey stick connects to the coupling, too much slop.. fitted an o ring between them and problem solved.. I must have bought a very "high" quality billet coupler..