Well went to the parents again today and pulled the shifter assembly out. Turns out there was a snap ring on the right hand side of the assembly that was missing, replaced the ring and all is well. I did notice it still grinds slightly when going into 4th gear, the grind seems to be reduced by either shifting at a lower rpm and moving it into gear slower, or by pulling slightly to the left when putting it into that gear. What do you guys think, is the gear just slowly wearing out?

Also never did figure this out, but I left my parents angry because everything was done and I appeared to have lost reverse. After having my Dad push me out of the driveway (I probably tried to get it into reverse for 15 minutes!) I drove the car 10 miles home, and in my parking lot it went into reverse just fine and has been working ever since. Any way this is related to my 4th gear issue? Its probably not but I figured I would ask. Car is drivable and shifts into ever gear now, that was my goal.