Newbie: Shifting problems

[mjr1957 at ntlworld.com (Mike Richardson)]

Hi everyone
Just joined the mailing list after a long search on the net for all things scirocco.  I'm Mike and I live in Portsmouth UK, and I've just purchased my first scirocco after thinking about it for years.  It's a black 1600 GT 8v of 1987 vintage, overall condition is very good and the engine is sound.  My troubles started within 10 minutes of collecting the car, first I stopped off for some petrol and filled it up to the brim, this resulted in petrol leaking out from somewhere just forward of the back wheel.  It's not obvious where it's coming from so I'm hoping that it's because I overfilled the tank.
I then tried to reverse the car into a parking space and after a jolt completely lost reverse gear, in fact I could only get the car into 3rd or 4th - nothing else.  At this point I was considering phoning the guy that sold me the car and telling him his fortune but I remained calm and called roadside assistance.  The AA guy immediately spotted the problem - the rear selector rod had detached itself, he showed me what to do if it happened again.  I continued on my way but noticed that gear selection was a bit vague, instead of a firm H it was more like a very loose skewed H if you know what I mean, also second is difficult to get into.  Does this sound like just worn bushes or do you recommend that I replace the entire linkage assembly?  I was thinking of buying a short shift kit but I'm not sure how much of it I need.  Any recommendations? I don't want to spend a fortune.

regards

Mike
Portsmouth, UK

Scirocco 1600GT 1987