No 2nd or 4th Gear '86e Early Manual Tranny

[cmwiley2]

I picked up a '87 325e for my 16 yr old son a couple years ago. The coupe started out life with an automatic but was swapped to a short shifted early model '86 or '85 manual 5 speed. The shifter has always been very sloppy and seemed to be out of position especially when trying to get reverse or 2nd gear, but it worked. Well the shifter bracket broke loose last week and the shifter linkage was dropping down on the drive shaft. I pulled the bracket and found one of the front mounting holes had broken out. The rear rubber bumper on the shifter plate was pulled out as well. I did a weld repair on the plate and reassembled all to find that I couldn't shift into 2nd or 4th gears. All the gears were there before the bracket broke loose. Any ideas on what's going on here?

[MR 325]

Most likely the shifter causing the issue still. I'd recommend replacing EVERYTHING shifter related. The biggest improvements are going to be from the selector rod joint and the shift tower mounts. You can see a diagram of parts on RealOEM.

[cmwiley2]

325ix Short Shifter

I'm tempted to think it has an extremely short shifter in it(by the previous owner) which may not have enough "throw" to engage 2nd and 4th gear. The part of the shifter below the ball that engages the link is the shortest of all that I've seen in a side by side comparison photo on here. (325ix model) Everything is very tight in the linkage with my repair to the plate. I can't see that I will get any additional movement/travel by replacing linkage.

[SmokeE30]

I'm tempted to think it has an extremely short shifter in it(by the previous owner) which may not have enough "throw" to engage 2nd and 4th gear. The part of the shifter below the ball that engages the link is the shortest of all that I've seen in a side by side comparison photo on here. (325ix model) Everything is very tight in the linkage with my repair to the plate. I can't see that I will get any additional movement/travel by replacing linkage.

The part of the shifter below the ball is supper short on stock shifters and longer on short throw shifters. The increased length below that ball means the shifter above the pivot point does not have to traval as far to move the lower bit that attaches to the selector rod to the same position for each gear