gear box problem. shifting into first

[Rope-Pusher]

If I get a chance, I'll take a trip to the local junkyard and try to find an example VW to look at. I would think that you have some adjustable fittings that may need to be reset. This could also still be caused by worn out end-fittings. Usually, there are bushings around pins or ball studs, to allow articulation of the linkage. When something gets very worn, it exhibits more lash, and motion is lost. This may be what caused your problems in the beginning, but I don't know why you are unable to depress the shift lever far enough to get reverse since the repair kit was installed.
Typically, when you have rod shift linkage, the rod is moving fore and aft in the vehicle to accompany the fore-aft movement of the shift knob (shifting into a gear or out of a gear) and the rod (or tube,as the case may be) twists to accompany the cross-car motion of the shift lever (selecting a shift gate). If there is something blocking the shift lever from pushing down for shifting into reverse, I would think it is in the shifter itself, not at the transmission, because, as you see, the reverse block-out is at the shifter. If you took that feature off the shifter, you could shift into reverse at any time, even accidentally, which is why the reverse block-out was added.