Gear shifting problems

On the grooved shift stick shown: if you're careful and are (or know of) a good welder, the notch can be filled with stainless steel weld. When you dress the weld flat, any blue color from heat will go away, and the stainless closely matches the plating so replating is unnecessary. But you MUST then change to a finger-less gate surround in place of the hardened fingers.
One friend with an '87 GT5-S snapped his stick completely off, and when someone tried to repair it for him, they found it was not a single piece of steel but 5 or 6 thin layers, edge-welded then chromed to make up a late model stick. Early sticks are definitely a single layer of steel and interchange with the unrepairable late ones.