Chris, it will be great to see you. I'll have to think about other parts I might need from you

If you have a busted gearbox, I could use another one of those lower cups from the shifter, cause I took mine off a great box that I'd like to keep intact. Not an urgent need by any measure though.
By the way, the one that came off the parts car had the different (wide rubber) bushings. Puzzled me a bit about how to fit them into the slots, and then I greased the rubber a bit and used a shop jack to pop them into place. Took no time at all. Didn't even lift the spider off the ground!
Matt, yeah I was stupid to drive around with that bent rod. Now I feel I'd better do an overall safety check.