I fitted the Z3 1.9 Roadster lever to my car about a year ago and I have to say, I've been very pleased with the results but I've just found out that the Z3 2.8 lever is just about perfect.
It's a fine balance between a short, fast shifting lever and becoming too notchy as a result of too short a throw.
There is only a minor downside to the 2.8 lever but they seem insignificant due to the great feel of the shift.
The 2.8 lever requires removal of the propshaft vibration damper. Removing this didn't seem to have any adverse effects when we did the conversion on Ziggy's car today. The only other difference is that there is no bend in the 2.8 lever as you will see in the picture below. The original E30 lever and the Z3 1.9 levers have a bend in them above the pivot point so that the lever sits centrally in the centre console when in neutral.
The 2.8 lever sits slightly forward but again, this is insignificant as it's not bad enough to worry about. Infact, unless someone told you about it, you probably wouldn't notice (except Demlotcrew).
The pictue below shows the 3 levers side by side. On the right is the original E30 lever, the middle is the Z3 1.9 and the left hand side is the Z3 2.8. You can see how much more of a pivot there is on both the 1.9 and 2.8 levers compared to the E30 one but the difference between the two Z3 levers is also quite comparable.
If I were to recommend a lever to so the short shift upgrade, it would have to be the Z3 2.8 lever, it's just perfect IMO.
