I spent a day driving the car hard on the way to a meet. The gear would in fact come out of 2nd and pop into 1st just fine. Going back into 2nd was difficult and slow, but possible. 3rd gear fine 4th gear difficult and slow 5th gear okay 6th gear difficult and slow There is no noise coming from the transmission and after driving some more it went back to normal smooth shifting. I do have a Sachs 2.5 clutch kit. Is this normal?

 

Sounds like synchros are messed up or your shifter cables.

 

Vote for synchro

 

Check your links under the vehicle and towards the back of the car. Those things are made out of plastic/nylon. If they are cracking or coming off, they will give you a crappy feel when shifting. How is your reverse?

I had a similar issue about 3 years ago. It was one of those goofy things. Adjusted, put a zip tie to prevent it from ever coming apart and voila - never had an issue.