trans issues, help, fwd no 1st Options

[smrtkd69]

ok, long story short, i did the clutch on my fwd, at same time i did slave cyl. i decided to swap in my mystery trans i had sitting at the shop. come to find out to no avail the bastard will not shift into 1st gear, at all, no matter what i do to linkages, so i drove ne ways because other gears felt useable. and they are, they're all perfect, that is except for first. one step (lol 4 steps forward two steps back from my old trans) when i push in clutch and move into 1st it feels fine. then i go to release clutch and it will shoot it back out. if i try to hold it in gear it just grinds like mad (whoops should've known better) . what is someones educated opinion. my other trans was pretty bad, but at least i had a 1st gear. i dont have $ for a rebuild or else i would have done it already. ne body wanna trade me two half good trans (that can probably be combined into a one good one) plus cash for one good turbo fwd trans. i dunno, or does ne one just have one for sale that drives well, or parts car with one intact, im willing to go ne route, just something affordable. o and btw, i have all sorts of stock and some aftermarket parts if someone would trade. just ask. i dunno im rambling because im very upset because i start a new job on monday and i thought i was doing myself good.

[KOU In3]

With the car off, try to put it in gear manually used the tranny mounted levers with the shifter cables detached.

If you can get first that way then it is a linkage issue.