Short story- don’t let the internet scare you into thinking that this is a hard job. Stories of “bitch clips” haunting E30 owners seem to be wildly exaggerated.
Since I already had my exhaust partially removed for bumper trim replacement, I went ahead and pulled the rest off, and dropped the driveline and transmission mount. Simply lowering the output end gave me plenty of room to flip the clip up and remove by hand. Part of why it was so easy was they there was basically no rubber left in any of the bushings.
Here’s the list of parts:
The Garagistic kit eliminates the spacers and circlips in the linkage. It’s also been updated since the online instructions were published so that you no longer need to file down the shifter- instead the mouth of the DSSR is built to Z3 width. Spacer washers are included to take out the slop of you keep the standard E30 shifter.
That being said, this did end up being a 3 month long job. I use my local dealer for most OEM parts, assuming cost isn’t a factor. I like to create the demand directly in BMWs system in the hope that they continue to support E30s. However, it’s their policy to correct part numbers if you order something that isn’t assigned to your VIN. The E21 transmission mounts were just about impossible for them to get right.
Since I already had my exhaust partially removed for bumper trim replacement, I went ahead and pulled the rest off, and dropped the driveline and transmission mount. Simply lowering the output end gave me plenty of room to flip the clip up and remove by hand. Part of why it was so easy was they there was basically no rubber left in any of the bushings.
Here’s the list of parts:
| P/N | Quantity | Description | Note |
| 23711175424 | 2 | Rubber Mounting | E21 Mounts |
| none | 4 | Nylock nuts & washers | Hardware store for larger trans mounts |
| 07129906196 | 1 | SELF-LOCKING HEX NUT | |
| 25111220707 | 1 | Bearing, shifting arm | |
| 25111220912 | 1 | Rubber boot | |
| 25111221849 | 1 | Bolt D=10MMX40MM |
|
| 25111220600 | 1 | Bearing, shift lever | |
| 25117527252 | 1 | Shift lever | Z3 1.9 shift lever |
| 25117519669 | 1 | Manual Transmission Shift Bushing | |
| None | 1 | Improved Selector Joint - E30, E28, E24, E36 - | Garagistic |
| None | 1 | M42 E30 318 I/IS DSSR | Garagistic |
That being said, this did end up being a 3 month long job. I use my local dealer for most OEM parts, assuming cost isn’t a factor. I like to create the demand directly in BMWs system in the hope that they continue to support E30s. However, it’s their policy to correct part numbers if you order something that isn’t assigned to your VIN. The E21 transmission mounts were just about impossible for them to get right.