Dave vs. the shifter.

While changing my clutch the other day, (see preceding post) I ran into one of many snags. This particular one involved the gear shifter. In order to get at the clutch one must first drop the tranny and one of the many step to lowering the transmission is to remove the shifter.
Removing the shifter would seem like one of the easiest parts of the entire process, and it actually is, but due to an error in the Hanes manual( It seems I wasted 17 bucks),I was led astray. After stipping out what I thought was the correct bolt ,out of sheer frustration, I ended up cutting the shifter off with a hack saw.
I proceeded to lower the transmission, change the clutch, and reinstall the transmission. Now came the question of what to do about the shifter. I came up with what seemed like a brilliant idea (ok brilliant for 9 pm on easter Sunday when you haven't had dinner yet). I would drill a hole in each of the adjoining pieces of the shifter, insert a metal dowel(in this case the shaft of an old screwdriver) in the hole, and apply a good metal apoxy.
It seemed to work just fine,though in the back of my mind,I knew it wouldn't last.
Sure enough, a few days later while getting on the interstate, I slammed it into gear and it broke off. I was then stuck on the side of the road and I needed to get to class. To top things off it sarted poring rain( Thanks Jesus! I know you might think it's funny.....Who am I kidding I would have too if it wasn't me) After digging around for a few minutes I came upon an old pair of vice-grips. I clamped it down on the base part of the shifter and then placed the shifter ball on the vice- grip handle. It eneded up working nicely. I drove around like that for a few days 'till I could get someone to weld the shifter back together.
Lesson learned?.....Don't leave home with out a pair of vice-grips