Life to a tighter shift, death to the bitch clip.

[Bill 84 318i]

I don't remember much about the shifter assembly when I worked on an m20 tranny...which is the bitch clip - the thing that pivots up and down that you replaced with a nut and bolt? Shoot me some part numbers and I'll look it up - I'm curious.

I wonder how buzzy your knob is gonna be - not that I would personally care I don't think.

[Jordan]

Bill.. You are correct, The bitch clip is the latched pin that holds the shift carrier to the transmission. I replaced it with a 19mm nut/bolt.

Shift knob buzz? I dont think I will be able to notice it given the fact that every last ouce of sound deadening has been removed from my car.

[Bill 84 318i]

Are you saying it's hard to pivot the bitch clip up and push it out sideways? I don't remember having too many problems with that.

Hehe, I'm sure the knob won't be too buzzy loud, but it'll be buzzy like you can give it to a girl as a substitutition for a particular battery powered toy.

Having no sound deadening will be nice.

[e9nine]

but it'll be buzzy like you can give it to a girl as a substitutition for a particular battery powered toy.

ha ha ha.... someone has some REAL In Car Entertainment now :twisted:

[UNHCLL]

"BMW designed the M3 to serve as a marital aide over 4000RPM... This was to smooth over the assinine cost of the original purchase price and placate the women."

8) ;)

[Jon325i]

UUC sells derlin bushings to replace the stock black one. They cost money tho, and I didnt have it to spend, so i fabricated a cheap $2 solution, that most likely is tigher.

I have used one of those UUC ssk kits in my previous E30. Although it did do a decent job of eliminating some of the shifter slop, it didn't remove as much as Jordan's $2 solution did. Before long I will need to do a clutch job in my present E30 and I'm thinking about applying Jordan's upgrade when I have the tranny out of the car.

Great work Jordan :up:

Jon

[Jordan]

Ah, thanks for stirring this thread back up.

I got everything in the car, and the shifter all hooked up. Side to side slop, falls within the area of a dime. Neutral is the size of a dime!

However, sooner or later I will be considering a different shit lever. The Z3 1.9l is no where near as short as I desire. I'm overly happy with how tight and crisp the shift pattern is, with absolutely no notchiness at all, but it just isn't as short as I would like.

[Bryson]

don't get the M coupe knob if you don't want it to be notchy -- just a heads up

I'm also using your little trick next week when I install my new tranny

[Jordan]

What does the shift knob have to do with notchiness?

nothing...

I have a Titanium ///M knob in the car right now.

[E30godz]

for some reason i like a little bit of play in my shifter...the Z3 shifter in mine...i feel at least, has the right combonation of notichiness and throw to make it feel very sporty. Better than anything else i've ever shifted!

[Sean]

I think it's time for me to learn how to drop my transmission and do this stuff myself... 8)

[Rob]

I somewhat disagree jordan> You're right that a shift knob has no effect on the actual smoothness of the operation of a tranny; however, a smaller knob will exaggerate the sensation of notchiness a little bit more I think. At least its placebo effect,

[schnitzer teil-jäger]

knobs
shorter = quicker and less throw
longer = smoother and longer throw
lighter = more notchiness
heavy = smoother (flywheel effect)
well made = stays on
cheap made = damn screws come loose and it falls off

notes:
If you want a short shift and a long knob you have to buy shifter with a very short above ball length.
Shift knob has nothing to do with under ball length
Shift knob has everything to do with total above ball length.
Buying an aftermarket kit is only to get a steel ball. you can get short factory levers but with plastic ball. And you can use bushings with both.
w

[Bryson]

wow, i'm a retard.... I meant M coupe shift lever. I'm not a moron, I swear... :)

[Inspar8r]

Notchiness is good for me.

I want mine to be notchy as hell. If i'm goin got shift, i want to know that i'm in 1st gear, and none other.

A ferarri with the gated shift pattern is as notchy as it comes.

The Z3 1.9 is disgustingly smooth without ANY notchiness. Matter of fact, save yourself from the Z3 1.9 and just cut your shift lever and recut the center groove, then sensation is the same after you are done.

That said, i'm going with the Z4 2.5, and it sounds like jordans mod will make it even more notchy, which to me is a performance mod.

A Z3 1.9 shift lever is like M3 springs on a non-M e30
A Z5 2.5 i'm hoping is like IE's Stage 3 race springs with custom valved Konis.

We'll find out tuesday