so on my 89 cabriolet I always heard a noise while the clutch was out (both in gear as well as neutral) ... sort of like what you would expect to hear when a throw out bearing goes bad. so after draining and filling the tranny, I popped the tranny end cap off and replaced the throw out bearing. Well, the noise is still there... so I'm a little perplexed what would be causing the noise now. the tranny in my cabriolet is NOT the factory one. Its an AGS coded 020.

 I have also noticed it leaks tranny fluid from the drivers side of the diff between the axle and the diff itself, and it looks like the axle may not be all the way in the tranny (there is an area that looks cleaner than the rest of the axle, like it has popped out about an 8th of an inch or something. How are these axles held into the diff? is there a way to pop it the rest of the way in?

I also cannot seem to find 5th gear... even after replacing all the bushings as well as the main shift rod bushing with one of those delrin bushings. any ideas? When I was replacing the throw out bearing I did SEE fifth gear in the tranny... so I know its THERE!

yes yes and yes.  After replacing the bushings I adjusted the shift rod so that the shifter is more upright now rather than almost touching the drivers seat while in second gear. I still need to rotate it a hair more though, since I still have to push down just a bit on the shifter to get it in first or second.

Any way I could bring it by your way tommorrow (saturday) and show you what I'm dealing with? Maybe you could give me an idea of what it is...

I plan on coming to the cruise-in tonight and I have a recent acquired bently on mk1's in the van so I can show you the alignment for the shifter and can tell you have to tell you how to change that output flange tranny seal.