Tanner, Bruce is describing the \"front shift rod bushing\". It's a plastic ring that the shift rod rides in just behind the gearshift lever. Come and see me at AirSpeed today and I'll show you one and give you instructions on how to replace it and adjust your shift lever.
As far as fuel goes, if you have stock compression, your car should run fine on regular fuel. If your particular engine was ever rebuilt to have a higher compression ratio, then higher octane fuel may be required to prevent \"knock\". Otherwise, it's a timing issue, or your engine is otherwise out of tune.