98 neon shifting and shaking ?

ok daughter out of town so i got to drive the 98 neon for the weekend. ever since i got this car i noticed it doesnt shift into high gear smoothly when its cold and even after warming up it seems it wont shift till im going about 45 mph. im thinking a fluid and filter change anybody else ever have this? ive also been trying to pinpoint a slight shake/vibration in the front, ive read it can be anything from out of balance tires to a control arm bushing mine shekes a little near the drivers side wheel only when you put a little pressure by turning wheel left or right. it dont take much just a little pressure. it almost feels like a tie rod end. one last ? where can you get the clips that hold the front mud flap- fender liner

Sorry I dont have any info about the tranny shifting situation. Our 97 Neon has a slight shaking or wobbling when accelerating from about 30 to 45 mph - probably due to some slight out of round condition of the tires. We also get a vibration about 73 mph - which is due to two things; front wheels not being in perfect balance, and some of the front suspension bushings getting a little softer than they originally were. Its not something I plan to spend time fixing yet - but someday I expect I will be putting bushings in the lower control arm, and maybe new bearings in the top of the struts too.
The clips that hold those front fender liners; I got them by going to an auto parts place that also handles small trim clips. Not too many auto parts places do carry them. Even the places that do will likely have to look them up in a catalog and order a box or two of them.
Any place doing convertible top work, or collision repair is likely to either have such clips or whould know who in the region would retail them. They are the kind of clips that get replaced after a fender is squashed.