Half of the slop felt in the shifter lever comes from the transmission u-joint. This piece is fairly easy to remove and replace.



You must drill out the rivets ( warning - they do not go through, don't attempt to knock them out! )
dissamble, clean, then drill and tap the holes to accept allen heads:



OEM parts; notice the thin rubber locator and undersized bushings, makes for lots of slop:



Exploded view of OEM parts, notice the rough cast marks and flimsy plastic pieces:



Exploded view which includes modified parts:



The metal sleeves, nylon bushings and grommets are all from ACE hardware; re-use rubber locators:



Fitted into the housing; nice and snug with smooooooth action
( for the hardcore out there, can use solid nylon bushings instead of grommets ):



Reassembled with stainless allen head fasteners:



Side by side next to the crappy Passat u-joint:




Another view... lengths, etc., are the same:



Along with my UUC, this makes for short, ultra-precise throws. Snick, snick...