Shift Lever and Short Shifters

[HCMW Adam]

What does this gain beyond a lot of shifter motion and vibration?

I am not going to say that this would be superior, or even a good idea. I was just thinking about what dsphil said about the longer lower shifter length causing misalignment with the gear selector rod. This is what I came up with to keep that rod in the same axis as the transmission internal rod. I was mostly interested if this idea could be implemented in the existing space. After a little hand drawing I decided I think it could work. After that I my mind was going so I modeled it to figure out some more details and constraints.

The front end is mounted to the tranny like stock. The back end is mounted to the trans tunnel like stock. I think the increased vibration will come from not having a dampened shift lever and from not having plastic or rubber bushings at each joint. This could be implemented with stock bushings to retain a little bit of civility.

[HCMW Adam]

The shaft is 14.84mm and the pin is 5.96mm. I would use the stock selector joint design to provide some axial movement. That clevis joint connection looks weak.

The clevis design was a pain. I scoured McMaster-Carr looking for stock industrial parts to accommodate all of the necessary members. The clevis has a 1/4" slot in in it and a 5/16" diameter pin. I wanted to use a 1/2" diameter steel rod for the gear selector rod and this was the only clevis that would remotely fit that area. In my fist model I just drew a block with a slot, hole, and thread. Might make more sense to make that from scratch and not cut on the shaft so much.

I can make a bunch of stuff from scratch and make it look professional. I was really trying to come up with a quick and easy way to implement this to try it out. If it sucks then no big deal. If it seams like a good solution then I will make it again with nice looking parts.

[HCMW Adam]

Got it pretty much the way I want it. A few dimensions to define still.

[R3Z3N]

Installed this longer RTD shifter a few weeks ago for my E30 S54 with GS6-37BZ Z4 6 speed:

[HCMW Adam]

Installed this longer RTD shifter a few weeks ago for my E30 S54 with GS6-37BZ Z4 6 speed:

Super clean interior. Shifter looks great in there.

[The Dark Side of Will]

[ATTACH]125412[/ATTACH]

Got it pretty much the way I want it. A few dimensions to define still.

Any reason you couldn't use a rod-end at the forward end of the upper link as well?

Also, your design will require more left-to-right displacement than the stock design.

[Mastrcruse]

A forum member helped me via private message. I was blind to the fact that the mount has two holes. So for those also wondering the same - since I couldn’t remember after months - the tabs near the hold for the lever insert into the holes on the carrier mount and then the carrier mount goes into whichever hole it’ll seat nicely into.

[HCMW Adam]

A forum member helped me via private message. I was blind to the fact that the mount has two holes. So for those also wondering the same - since I couldn’t remember after months - the tabs near the hold for the lever insert into the holes on the carrier mount and then the carrier mount goes into whichever hole it’ll seat nicely into.

Thanks for sharing the pic. It is stuff like this that is going to help when I finally get my lift back up.

[Victell]

That old auction is still up and has more pictures of the shifter.

https://www.catawiki.com/en/l/32574675-parts-bmw-m3-e30-short-shift-1970-1990

I found an old auction for a similar design from Belgium, but the arm is mounted to the transmission, not the chassis: