This was my fault that messed something up, but I don't know if its a easy fix or the Tranny is going to have to go to a shop.

My car is a 83 Trans Am, 5 speed manual transmission.

what happend was, I went to unbolt the plug to fill the tranny with gear oil. The bolt I unscrewed was the bolt that was above the back up switch. I thought that was the plug since it was the highest opening. I notice something odd about that bolt when i took it out. it had a grove around the tip of it. Well all I can do is put it back in. So I did that. I went to test the car. My Forward gears were fine, but reverse didn't work at all. It was like it was in neutral.

Can anyone help me out on what I should do. I'm on very tight budget. Basiclly, I'm broke, and i need my car to make money. And the Haynes manual just tells me how to remove and install the tranny.

 

I dont know much about what you did, but I figure if it doesn't go in reverse, you might wanna check the clutch. The same thing happended to my friends 90 Camaro (can't get it in reverse) he replace the clutch and it was fine, but you did something with the tranny so I don't really know.

 

It's all got to do with that pin or bolt you removed; that's the pivot for the reverse/fifth gear actuating lever. You now have some parts laying in the bottom of the trans case, and the only way to repair it, is to remove the trans, have it disassembled and those parts put back into place.
It's really surprising that fifth gear works now, since they are both operated by that same lever.