i have just bought.............

[wayneE30]

a short shifter and am a tad bit confused is it supposed to be small??

[Andy_magic]

It will be about the same overall length, but the distance between the the bottom of the lever and the bush will be slightly different, giving a different amount of throw on the lever.

[wayneE30]

so this looks ok then ?????

[TW166Y]

sound that is matey, just remember to change bushes when you do the swap, otherwise you may have a saggy box if you know what i mean, all e30's tend to suffer from it, its when you are in 1st or any gear for that matter but e.g when you put it in 1st you can still wiggle the stick and it feels like its in neutral, remember to change bushes or you will have the same problem!

[wayneE30]

is changing the bushes hard??

[Demlotcrew]

Damn that is short!

Andrew

[wayneE30]

Damn that is short!

Andrew

so its no good then??

[dsio]

You got that off an ebay seller that claims he CNC milled it himself?

Was it oddly cheap?

[E30Adam]

Looks a bit naff to me.

Can't beat the Z series swap.

[wayneE30]

yeah its off ebay i paid Ԛ£15

so is it any good????

[E30Adam]

yeah its off ebay i paid Ԛ£15

so is it any good????

You tell us once it's fitted. Doesn't look much good though.

[dsio]

A mate bought one for his 320i, and when he had everything apart, he found the ball was too big to fit in the cup. Sent it back, and 4 months later got another one, which was too loose (only just) but had an uneven shape too it and wrecked the cup.

The last one he had snapped at the ball - underside join, and now hes using a Z4 3.0. That guy needs a good lynching. I hope you have better luck though. From memory the feel isnt all that good :\ It was definately harder and notchier than the Z4 3.0 he has now (about as hard and notchy as they come from BMW).

They went all out on the short bit, thats for sure.

[wayneE30]

does it look the right size cause if it is'nt im not gonna fit it?

[dsio]

If you are replacing the bushings and stuff while you are at it (which you really should) grab a new ball cup and see if it fits first. The guy does sell a lot of them, so most of them should be ok, else his feedback would be terrible. Just out of interest, what is the length measured from bottom of the ball to the selector rod join? (in mm)

[wayneE30]

245mm

[dsio]

245mm would be interesting you would have to move the lever about 1mm to change from 1st to second.

I'm talking about from the bottom of the ball, to the top of the round connecting bit that has the plastic bushes on it (the bit that goes under the car).

[wayneE30]

sorry its 47mm


here's the adhttp://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8000959574&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1

[dsio]

The distance on the standard E30 shifter is 5mm.

The distance on the Z3 1.9 that most people here seam to use (and the one I intend to do) is 16mm which gives a nice shift.

The Z3M lever, which is the longest lever that people stick in the E30s, is extremely stiff and notchy, and often slows down shifting due to the extra effort.

The Z3M is 33mm

47 mm is considerably longer than even the Z3M, which is extremely hard as it is.

As I said, the Z4 3.0 in the 320i was hard to use and very stiff, and the ebay special (identical to yours) was almost impossible to use, particularly 5th gear, and reverse took two hands the first time I did it.

I might add, it was difficult to get into 5th and reverse while the bushings were tight.

If the bushings were still loose, and there was play in the lever, the slop and movement in the linkage, as well as the stiffness in the movement, you would not be able to drive the car at all.

[wayneE30]

so you'd say its pants then?


oh well it will make a nice paper weight

[dsio]

I think its a matter of you get what you paid for really :\

I must say I was considering those things, but was willing to wait for my mate to spend his cash on it before getting one myself. I was glad I didnt get one in the end.

The upside of it all, is you havnt blown a fortune. See, the guy says its good for a dozen different cars, some of which have far, far, shorter shifters than the e30 to start with (the E30 throw is physically about as far as you could design one.).

He claims he can use it to shorten these newer cars, which means it has to be very short. I think the E30 was probably not what it was designed for, and more an afterthought since it kind of fitted.

Some BMW specialist shops make decent custom shifters, some shops even make them with the ball on a screw thread, so you can adjust the throw up and down by twisting the ball, and even have adjustable height.

Making a shifter on a CNC machine for a large range of rather different cars out of cheap grade aluminium is kind back yard compared to everything else on the market.

I'm still going to do the short shifter, since my lever is bent, sawn off with a hack saw, and no longer holds the shift knob, and Ill do every bushing in sight when it happens. Cant wait to do it, as I've never done anything like that before.

I'll be using the Z3 1.9 from BMAparts in america (shipping heavy shifters, bushes and parts from america to australia costs $100 australian total (around 40 pounds) while the dealership quoted $350 for the lever, bushes, and everything.

Buying the proper parts, and using gear that has been proven and documented to work is always the best method I think.

[wayneE30]

oh well never mind i can give it a go and if it dont work i can swap it back

[Ziggy]

oh well never mind i can give it a go and if it dont work i can swap it back

No, you can go to the dealer & get yourself a 2.8 z3 one!

[koos]

how much are the Z3 ones for interests sake ??

[dsio]

how much are the Z3 ones for interests sake ??

Depends on whether you are paying in cash or kidneys.

The dealer quoted me what would be around 150 pounds for the lever, the bushings (complete) the ball cup, and all the bits that you should renew in the conversion.

I then got a quote of about 45 pounds including shipping for everything the lever to the ball cup to the bushes. That was BMAparts.com shipping from the US to Australia.

I dont know about England, but here, the dealers compete regularly to see who can empty your wallet the fastest. Dont even think about walking in with credit cards on you, they "file" them, so next time you want a heap of gear, they give it to you with a smile and you dont even hear about the price, they just charge you.

[E30Adam]

The whole setup in the UK costs about Ԛ£40 - Ԛ£50.

[redrobbie]

The whole setup in the UK costs about Ԛ£40 - Ԛ£50.

cheap, where's that from adam?

[Ant]

your local dealer can supply all the parts required dude.

The main e30zone website has a list of all varaints on the lever and part numbers/prices check it out dude

[redrobbie]

this site has got everything!

[wayneE30]

well im gonna fit it this weekend so we will see how it goes fingers crossed i wont have any problems

oh well we all learn from our own mistakes never mind