Shifter slop

[Digitalwave]

Alright, since I did the manual swap about a year ago my shifter has gone to shit. I did a Z4 3.0L lever with EVERY piece in the linkage replaced with new OEM parts. It was great for a while but now you can move the shifter left-right like 6" (not literally) when the car is in gear. Whats the best way to permanately get rid of this slop? I was thinking Jordan's bitch clip replacement, but what else?

[EtaSport]

Going with a solid, or derlin carrier bushing should help. Also a new bushing at the rear of the carrier should help. I have also found that using solid brass washers instead of those yellow spacers will really stiffen things up, and obviously they will not go bad. Another thing is those darn bmw shifters that use rubber inside the lever. The rubber goes bad and they feel sloppy. I'd like a solid shifter made someday.

[Jand3rson]

I seem to remember Jordan saying at one point that the "bitch clip" mod he did was what contributed to him seriously fucking up his tranny in Seattle last year.

[Jordan]

No. That had little to nothing to do with that.

Me being able to shift faster then the syncros did, and me not backing off and continuing to force it is what broke 2 shifter forks inside the transmission.

TJ, I also have come to find my shifter getting sloppy. All my parts have 13,500mi on them or so. I want to got a shorter lever soon, and will be replacing everything with new parts then. Seems the lifespan of a tight ass factory shifter is about 1yr. After that its tapered off to crap.

UUC makes alot of products that will prevent this problem.

Another idea, as EtaSport eluded to.. the rubber isolated BMW levers can degrade over time. A all solid machined lever (like UUC makes) would be tits. You can create a similar effect, while still having the dampening of your stock lever for free.

Get several 3/8th in screws or so, and screw them into the lever body towards to base until they bottom out on the inner rod. Do this all around it with 3-4 screws. This will drasticly stiffen the slop from the rubber, while keeping some of its vibration defeating properties.

[Jand3rson]

Get several 3/8th in screws or so, and screw them into the lever body towards to base until they bottom out on the inner rod. Do this all around it with 3-4 screws. This will drasticly stiffen the slop from the rubber, while keeping some of its vibration defeating properties.

Where did you hear about this method? Sounds like a pretty good idea!

[Dave]

Where did you hear about this method? Sounds like a pretty good idea!

:stupid:
Pics of this would be good.

[Jordan]

We do it on race cars as a standard thing when using a OE lever...

I don't understand the need for a picture? I thought it was simple enough...

[Jand3rson]

We do it on race cars as a standard thing when using a OE lever...

I'll have to give that a try. Just regular old 3/8" screws, eh?

[golde30]

ahaa..finally my UUC shifter becomes the victor.

[Jand3rson]

ahaa..finally my UUC shifter becomes the victor.

They always have been. The cost is the only thing that derails most people. I know it's the only reason I never got one. I just might pretty soon though. Going from making $7.25 an hour to almost $12, with weekly averages of about 5-8 hours of overtime, makes things a lot easier.

[mspiegle]

re: the UUC stuff. I was kinda disappointed to find out that they didn't make a "DSSR" for the E30. My friend got their ultimate kit with the DSSR on his '99 M3 and it seems like a part that would eliminate lots of slop. After we put the whole thing together, there was about 2-3mm of play while the shifter was sitting in neutral (which is practically NO slop at all as far as i'm concerned). About 6 months later, I think that slop has grown and extra mm.. but still pretty good.

Does anyone else make something like the UUC "DSSR" for the e30?

[B2ThaZiZza]

What is this bitch clip you speak about? care to elaborate?

[rs4pro3]

I love my sheet metal consule, no slop even after a year of use.

[AndrewBird]

I love my sheet metal consule, no slop even after a year of use.

I love the shifter in my MG. It's the tighest shifter I have EVER felt. Going from first to second is "CHUNK CHUNK" with almost no slop when in gear.

Me being able to shift faster then the syncros did

I know what you mean. I do the same all the time into 2nd and grind gears. lol