[Bodalenko]

Yes the 86 manual gearbox can be an absolute prick of a box to move through, especially till warmed, but I mean really!

If you haven't got the hang of it in after 3-4 hours of driving time you probably should have stuck with an auto.

Truth is that within 5 years or less proper manual box cars will be gone and with millisecond gear changes it'll probably result in less weight and better performance.

Perhaps the OP's gearbox has been abused by a previous owner and the synchros are stuffed or almost stuffed.

As for leaning how to shift, up and down, I recommend keeping a changes nice and easy and changing gears around 3000rpm until he has his accelerator off >clutch in> gear selected>Clutch out>accelerator on skills developed and timing down pat. That's about how easy it is. Sit in the car with the engine off and practise it. The wear it causes on the parts would be negligible if any.