The difference one bushing makes in my early Porsche 911 shifter

Hi folks -- the play and vibration on my 1971 Porsche 911T targa got bad enough that I decided to work on it this last weekend. My goal is to get this thing shifting so good that ultimately my daughter and son-in-law will want to take over the car when I am done. To that end I bought a Weltmeister shift lockout kit consisting of two strong springs and a special drill bit, and was ready to get into it on Saturday night. As I was taking out the shifter (5 bolts on the floor), I was stunned to find that I had no bushing at all on the ball cup!  What! I know I had purchased one years ago.  So I checked my parts bin and there was a new one -- never installed. Apparently I had neglected to install it when I replaced the bushing on the shifter rod and the rear coupler bushings. Only a shade-tree mechanic could have overlooked that.
So I put some grease in he cup, popped on on the bushing, and discovered that the shifter was now without any play and indeed needed to be worked in to get proper play!
So the springs await some break in, which should take place this Saturday if I get time.  First principles first!  Now shifting has no play and for a new driver, one does not have to have quite the intimate feel I had to have to find the gears and avoid "nicking!"

The absence of this little guy was the source of much of my problems!