E30 Zone

bought me self a shiny new quick shift for my 325i, tried to put it in today but i couldnt get the bloody old one out. i got instructions with it and i looked through the intructions on this site but no luck. i'm stuck on where i have to turn the plastic ring to be able to release the shift, it turns about 45' clock wise and anti clock wise but it dosent seem to be enough to get it out i've tried with all my strength to turn it more but its just not having it!!!

any help?

cheers

have alooky here mate!

tbh, you should have got a BMW SHORT SHIFT, but not to worry!

CLICK HERE

Saboor

As th man said, the bmw one is easier and cheaper.What u should do is get under the car(safely) unclip the circlip and remove the rod, then get back in the car, turn the washer and then PULL hard.If u break the old ring, no probs as u should have a new one with the short shift.

i didnt get a new ring thats the problem, so i'm trying really hard not to break it. ive read thats walkthrough to, it dosent really explain how to take the ring off, cause it harder then it looks. it just wont turn lol apparently it takes half an hour, lol i spent i hour on it yesterday and got no where. the ring, how far do i need to turn it? i can turn it about 45' is that all it needs? then i just pull hard?

cheers

All i did on mine is push the lips in with a screw driver and just pulled it out, alot easier if you take the linkage out the car, which can also be a pita with the prop in the way...

That's one way, but got a new ring from bmw it's about £2.00.So not to worry too much mate.

It should pull up as long as you have the linkage disconnected and the lugs lined up with the notches in the mount on the box, it should be turn anticlockwise till it stops. Do watch your chin though as it can take quite a pull, it's tight in there. You can tap the cup round a bit more with screwdriver and hammer but be careful if you want to keep it. I have used a long bar and tap from underneath before but if the lugs aren't lined up the cage will crack, tho as RAV says, get a new one from the stealer they're not expensive and should really be replaced as they wear too.

Was you gearshift sloppy prior to you changing it? E30's are bad at wearing all the linkeage bushes and this is a good time to replace them all. I've got a great walkthrough if anyone needs it. You can remove the whole arm while one the car and do the whole job.

Bobbydoughnut, my shortshift is still sloppy, shorter but sloppy, is that walk through for the linkage on the gearbox?
Appologies to iceox for buttin' in, but need to know this one.
Cheers

I have it written up somewhere RAV, got it online years ago. Erm it's pretty big walthrough all fully pictured and spot on, would it be of use to get it posted on here? Not sure how that gets done.

Me niether, just about sorted out my sig pics, and that took a good couple of hours
Could you send me the link to the web.
Cheers

Unfortunately the link I had doesn't work anymore but I have saved the walkthrough and all the pics so if I can get it up here or something, i'll maybe ask the mods if I can do that, it's whether they think it's would be of use I suppose

No probs

Ice...you have to rotate the cup far anough until the lugs on the cup have clicked out of the notch in the housing, you need to rotate until it stops... then that little but more for the lugs to push in



RAV, these are the quality of pics from that walkthrough

Sound mate, good pics make it easier when u can relate to each part of the job.

ah cheers mate thats what i need to see, cause on the walkthrough, it makes it look as if theres a thread which needs to be unscrewed. i'll give it another try tomorow, getting under the car is a ball ache lol. yeh post that walkthrough on cause my gear shift is very sloppy at mo

cheers
josh

if its sloppy then youll be needing to replace the parts asd per the link i posted earleir mate!!!

Sid...you're totally right mate but as the chap on the link say to replace all the other bushes/selctor rod joint/clips and other bits, where most of the sloppyness comes from when in gear, most of the bits in the photo...is a much bigger undertaking, he mentioned 8 hours.
Ice do replace the cup if you can as this is one of the most worn parts on an old shift mechanism

Oh and this can all be done in 2-3 tho if yer handy...

Part No 1 in the above pic is the main culprit for sloppy linkage, and has been modified during the E30 production run. The one in the pic looks like the modified one with a wider bush than the original.
If you have the original type, you will need to renew the arm with a pin on each end which goes between part 1 and the bush on the bottom of the gear lever.
If the bush in part 1 has worn badly enough, the pin on the linkage will be worn as well, and will need replacing anyway.

That'll be this chap here then Brian...?

Bobbydoughnut wrote:That'll be this chap here then Brian...?

That's the one!

but keep in mind that this pic up above needs to be bent in order to miss hting the prop! but that is mentioned in the link posted so you can understand it better there.

Boobby,

great detail there mate! are those your parts before you installed them all? i managed to get most of the parts replaced:

new z3 rod; linkage, bushes, clips and rubber boot; tight as tight can be now! was like stiriing soup before; though im still having trouble with reverse sometimes!

Boobby...aaawwww cheers Sid

That's the full replacement kit that you need to do the complete recon, I have a fine walkthrough on how to replace it all, on the car. Cuts the time to do it by a huge amount. I got it off the net a good few years ago now but the link doesn't work anymore...glad I saved it and have added a few more pics to it so there's 50 odds

I guess you had to put the 'bend' in the selector linkage, the walkthrough on here for the QS is great but it doesn't quite cover how much and in what direction unfortunately so it's trial an error, that's the only issuet with using the Z3 gearstick. It snds like the selector isn't quite aligning the rod properly when selecting reverse and it's catching the gate slightly.

sorry mate! lol..i do tend to make rather a lot of typing errors! be great to see the write up once the mods do get it up and make it a sticky or an article