I wanted to review this product because I have been so happy with its performance, quality and the customer service behind it.
For literally years I have been chasing the "ultimate" short shifter. What I wanted was a shifter that had "zero" free play in gear, made short crisp shifts and inspired confidence banging through the gears not catchign any gates on the way or accidentally slipping into the wrong place. That it has taken me so long to find one that accomplishes all of this really has nothing to do with the quality or performance of previous products I've tried (they all were incrementally better, and the best of their design), the whole shifter mechanism needed a redesign. And that is where coolerworx nailed it.
I had been browsing all over trying to figure out how to further improve the shifter when I started to come across people using similar shifters/designs as the coolerworx product. After reading several reviews and watching videos (and noticed Chris Harris using one in his E30 M3 rally car) I decided I needed to somehow get one of these in my life and try it out (obsessive compulsive much). Shortly after, I came across the coolerworx product with a reasonable price and made in America so I called to see if one was in stock in black (it was) and it was shipped to me the next morning. Great customer service from the start.
A couple of days later it arrived and I felt like a kid on christmas morning. Packaged very nicely and beautifully finished in black.
The problem with even the best short shifters out there isn't the quality of the product, their design or function. It's inherent in the function of the transmission. Even the best combination of shifter and selector rod will be handicapped by the transmission it's attached to. In my case, I eventually ended up with zero free play in any of the shifter linkages, but in each gear there's still free play within the transmission itself. When making very quick shifts it was possible to misshift (catch a gate going into a gear, or put it in the wrong gear). Mostly for me this was an issue going into 3rd gear from 2nd gear on a quick snap of an upshift. Frequently I would push it into 5th or catch the edge of the gate on either side and make a mess of the shift having to try to find 3rd while the engine just hit 7k rpm and revs are dropping rapidly (thank you super lightweight flywheel :) ). This is no longer an issue whatsoever.
A few days after I received the shifter I was able to get some free time to install it. I purchased it with a universal base and in hindsight it probably would've been best to use the e36 base but it was hard to tell until I had it in my hands. Being the avid DIYer the small modification I had to make to the base was no big deal. And I am sure coolerworx would've shipped me a different one, but I didn't want to wait.
Since only 4 of the mounting holes initially landed on sheet metal, I notched and bent the rear two sections of the base outwards so they would land on metal. This also allowed me to reuse the oem shift boot.
Some detail shots of the awesome finish and quality.
All the tolerances are very tight, rotating surfaces have ball bearings and most of the joints are adjustable and/or able to be serviced/disassembled. The hardware is all quality and the surface finish is very nice as you can see. Not really sure if it shows well in the pictures, but the main pivot (mounted with countersunk allen bolts and countersunk washers) is adjustable with 3 positions making the shift either a little shorter or a little longer. I have it mounted in the middle hole (which is how it shipped) and it feels very natural.
The main advantage of this shifter is the ability to "set" each shift gate via set screws (shown below). Once the shifter is mounted, you select each gear and adjust the screws to dial out any free play (of which there isn't much to begin with). The other advantage to the set screws is that you can "lock out" reverse and 5th via the set screws if you choose to do so. To access a gear that's been locked out, you pull up on the ring under the knob which releases the pin that normally limits gear selection along with the set screws. I currently have mine setup to lock out both reverse and fifth gear.
Mounting the shifter in the e30 does require the center console and ash tray to be clearanced/removed/modified and will no longer allow a shift boot (unless you make something custom). I started to make a panel to cover the exposed section around the shifter which should look great when done.
I finally got a chance to rip on the car this weekend through a couple of early morning canyon runs and I must say the shifter is phenomenal. I have absolutely no uncertainty changing gears now wondering if I'm going to hit fifth, or catch a gate. It just snaps into gear; very satisfying. Effort is a bit higher than a normal short shifter, but it's not in a bad way. More of a confident click into gear. With the clutch/flywheel that I have combined with this shifter, changing gears is finally limited by my ability rather than mechanical components. I've never been so satisfied nailing a rev matched downshift or snapping an upshift under wot.
Highly recommended!
I will post a picture up when the install is complete.
For literally years I have been chasing the "ultimate" short shifter. What I wanted was a shifter that had "zero" free play in gear, made short crisp shifts and inspired confidence banging through the gears not catchign any gates on the way or accidentally slipping into the wrong place. That it has taken me so long to find one that accomplishes all of this really has nothing to do with the quality or performance of previous products I've tried (they all were incrementally better, and the best of their design), the whole shifter mechanism needed a redesign. And that is where coolerworx nailed it.
I had been browsing all over trying to figure out how to further improve the shifter when I started to come across people using similar shifters/designs as the coolerworx product. After reading several reviews and watching videos (and noticed Chris Harris using one in his E30 M3 rally car) I decided I needed to somehow get one of these in my life and try it out (obsessive compulsive much). Shortly after, I came across the coolerworx product with a reasonable price and made in America so I called to see if one was in stock in black (it was) and it was shipped to me the next morning. Great customer service from the start.
A couple of days later it arrived and I felt like a kid on christmas morning. Packaged very nicely and beautifully finished in black.
The problem with even the best short shifters out there isn't the quality of the product, their design or function. It's inherent in the function of the transmission. Even the best combination of shifter and selector rod will be handicapped by the transmission it's attached to. In my case, I eventually ended up with zero free play in any of the shifter linkages, but in each gear there's still free play within the transmission itself. When making very quick shifts it was possible to misshift (catch a gate going into a gear, or put it in the wrong gear). Mostly for me this was an issue going into 3rd gear from 2nd gear on a quick snap of an upshift. Frequently I would push it into 5th or catch the edge of the gate on either side and make a mess of the shift having to try to find 3rd while the engine just hit 7k rpm and revs are dropping rapidly (thank you super lightweight flywheel :) ). This is no longer an issue whatsoever.
A few days after I received the shifter I was able to get some free time to install it. I purchased it with a universal base and in hindsight it probably would've been best to use the e36 base but it was hard to tell until I had it in my hands. Being the avid DIYer the small modification I had to make to the base was no big deal. And I am sure coolerworx would've shipped me a different one, but I didn't want to wait.
Since only 4 of the mounting holes initially landed on sheet metal, I notched and bent the rear two sections of the base outwards so they would land on metal. This also allowed me to reuse the oem shift boot.
Some detail shots of the awesome finish and quality.
All the tolerances are very tight, rotating surfaces have ball bearings and most of the joints are adjustable and/or able to be serviced/disassembled. The hardware is all quality and the surface finish is very nice as you can see. Not really sure if it shows well in the pictures, but the main pivot (mounted with countersunk allen bolts and countersunk washers) is adjustable with 3 positions making the shift either a little shorter or a little longer. I have it mounted in the middle hole (which is how it shipped) and it feels very natural.
The main advantage of this shifter is the ability to "set" each shift gate via set screws (shown below). Once the shifter is mounted, you select each gear and adjust the screws to dial out any free play (of which there isn't much to begin with). The other advantage to the set screws is that you can "lock out" reverse and 5th via the set screws if you choose to do so. To access a gear that's been locked out, you pull up on the ring under the knob which releases the pin that normally limits gear selection along with the set screws. I currently have mine setup to lock out both reverse and fifth gear.
Mounting the shifter in the e30 does require the center console and ash tray to be clearanced/removed/modified and will no longer allow a shift boot (unless you make something custom). I started to make a panel to cover the exposed section around the shifter which should look great when done.
I finally got a chance to rip on the car this weekend through a couple of early morning canyon runs and I must say the shifter is phenomenal. I have absolutely no uncertainty changing gears now wondering if I'm going to hit fifth, or catch a gate. It just snaps into gear; very satisfying. Effort is a bit higher than a normal short shifter, but it's not in a bad way. More of a confident click into gear. With the clutch/flywheel that I have combined with this shifter, changing gears is finally limited by my ability rather than mechanical components. I've never been so satisfied nailing a rev matched downshift or snapping an upshift under wot.
Highly recommended!
I will post a picture up when the install is complete.
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