Shifters

#1

I have a junkyard z3 shifter to put in which I have been told is the best deal for short shifters. I just bought a 12x2 inch delrin rod to make a new nob and bushings out of. My father now has a metal lathe and a wood lathe. Both are high quality ww2 vintage. I see that the AKG shifters are super tall, but probably a lot better than my z3 shifter. Assuming I make all the bushings super tight how tall should I make the shifter. What’s the recommended throw at the top of the shifter between gears.

#2

There is no “recommended” throw for the shifter. I prefer a shifter that is approximately equal to the stock configuration and with a tall Jaffster shift knob. That results in enough displacement that I can tell by touch what gear I’m in and the larger motion reduces the chances of a money shift. The tall knob means that there is less distance from the steering wheel to the shifter.

In my opinion precision in the shifter is more important that a shorter throw. I use an AutoSolutions race shifter that has no plastic/rubber parts except the delrin ring around the shift lever ball. That makes the shifter very tight and precise.

#3

I’m not sure if I can make the part around the ball. Maybe if I make it in two halves and clamp them together or something it would work. Now that I think about it that probably a good idea.

I’m thinking distance of the throw is more important than the distance from the wheel for speed in shifting anyway. I have a habit of taking my hand of the wheel and putting it on the shifter to early anyway. I’m not sure if that’s a bad habbit or not.

#4

I would say that is a bad habit. Keep both hands on the wheel as much as possible.

While you do want to minimize the time it takes to shift, you also want to make sure that you don’t miss shift. My personal opinion is that a short shifter increases the chances of a missed shift.

#5

i have the AKG shifter, the throw is about 2.5" gear to gear. i am a big advocate of the shifter because i have gotten used to it and can watch myself pull away from cars due to how much faster i can shift, i know its not the motor because i have a weak motor compared to the rest of the field. However, it is easier to miss shifts, i have only done it once, but it cost me a position when i did, but it is only difficult sometimes from 2nd to 3rd. however, if you spend some time with it, you’ll quickly get used to it and find it is money well spent in my honest opinion!

#6

I can’t imagine that the shifter makes a big difference in shifting time. I have a Z3 shift lever but as fast as I can push the clutch in and let it out, I can shift. I even have a clutch stop to limit the travel. I would guess there is something else helping you pull away.

#7

I agree, the slowest part of a shift is operation of the clutch.

#8

The rubber bushings at the front and back of the shift carrier or whatever you want to call it are oil soaked and squishy. My engine and trans mounts are poly, so I’m wondering if the trans still rotates enough while shifting to prevent me from making some solid delrin ones. Ideally they should be metal spherical bearings but I have plenty of delrin to make them and if I wasn’t doing this the cheap and hard way I would have bought a good aftermarket shifter.

The gear selector rod with two 10mm pins coming out the side is thoroughly worn out. The selector rod joint bushing at the trans was mia so after years of sloppy shifting the 10mm pins are over .030 out of round. Does anyone have a source for the rod/pipe with the 10mm pins coming out the side. I cannot find it on bimmerparts or IE. I’m thinking of taking some old head bolts and cutting them off and grinding the head down to replace the worn out pins. I think they have 10mm shanks but I couldn’t my pile of used head bolts to measure.

#9

[quote=“turbo329is” post=62126]The rubber bushings at the front and back of the shift carrier or whatever you want to call it are oil soaked and squishy. My engine and trans mounts are poly, so I’m wondering if the trans still rotates enough while shifting to prevent me from making some solid delrin ones. Ideally they should be metal spherical bearings but I have plenty of delrin to make them and if I wasn’t doing this the cheap and hard way I would have bought a good aftermarket shifter.

The gear selector rod with two 10mm pins coming out the side is thoroughly worn out. The selector rod joint bushing at the trans was mia so after years of sloppy shifting the 10mm pins are over .030 out of round. Does anyone have a source for the rod/pipe with the 10mm pins coming out the side. I cannot find it on bimmerparts or IE. I’m thinking of taking some old head bolts and cutting them off and grinding the head down to replace the worn out pins. I think they have 10mm shanks but I couldn’t my pile of used head bolts to measure.[/quote]
For the shift linkage I’d make everything out of metal that you can. I think that even with metal shift linkage bushings the result will have enough slop that lateral movement of the tranny is unrestricted by the shifter bushings. Consider…the shift bushings allow vertical movement so the only movement they will try to restrain is the lateral component of tranny movement. The shifter carrier, or whatever you call the 2’ long bar that goes from tranny top to the tunnel, has a long movement arm. That means that a tiny bit of movement at the bushing will allow a lot of movement of tranny.

If/when I have to pull the tranny on New #6 the shifter carrier rod bushings are going to metal. I can recover the front one from Old #6 and someone here posted a clever idea on the rear carrier rod bushing.

Re. bar with 10mm rods. Post a pic so we know exactly what you mean.

#10

[attachment=1727]202jyp.png[/attachment]

The bar with worn out pins is #9 here. The squishy bushings I’m talking about are at 2 and 4. I’m thinking they need to be spherical to allow lateral movement of trans in relation to the car.

#11

The bushings at #2 & #4 aren’t as important as the selector rod (#9), its bushings, and parts #12 and #7. With high durometer engine and transmission mounts, the OE bushings for #2 & #4 are fine if metal bushings are used and a stiffer selector rod and a delrin bushing is used for the shift lever. A good example is the AutoSolutions Race shifter.

#12

[quote=“turbo329is” post=62134][attachment=1727]202jyp.png[/attachment]

The bar with worn out pins is #9 here. The squishy bushings I’m talking about are at 2 and 4. I’m thinking they need to be spherical to allow lateral movement of trans in relation to the car.[/quote]

Inspect the selector rod carefully we have had two fail where the tube is flattened and the connecting pins are attached to it. Both cracked and bent making gear selection impossible.

#13

[quote=“poppy” post=62136]

Inspect the selector rod carefully we have had two fail where the tube is flattened and the connecting pins are attached to it. Both cracked and bent making gear selection impossible.[/quote]

The tube is fine but the pins are worn out. I would prefer to just buy a new one if I could find it anywhere.

#14

If you are going to spend time making things the hard way make something like AKG does to replace that rod. Its often worn out on our cars and this design makes more sense. I think other make something similar as well.

http://www.akgmotorsport.com/catalog/catalog.php?category=e30%20Shifters

#15

[quote=“mahoneyj” post=62138]If you are going to spend time making things the hard way make something like AKG does to replace that rod. Its often worn out on our cars and this design makes more sense. I think other make something similar as well.

http://www.akgmotorsport.com/catalog/catalog.php?category=e30%20Shifters[/quote]

I was looking at those before. Maybe if I can find the right materials laying around.

#16

Which one is the “bitch” clip? I managed to pull the engine and trans with the shifter attached without breaking anything, so I didn’t have to deal with any bitch clip shenanigans.

#17

In my 91 car I ran a stock shifter for 3 seasons and it worked quite well. A little sloppy, but it rarely missed a gear and very rarely 2nd gear at the start. Near the end of the season, my transmission was near end of life, so I replaced it with a rebuilt unit and I installed a new AKG stage 1 shifter. The last two races of the season and I missed 2nd gear at both starts. Was it the transmission or shifter?I think the throw is a little on the short side for these transmissions. I like the height of the shifter, the tighness of the linkage, the looks, and quality of them, but I do think the throw is too short. On my 19 car we had the stage 2 shifter which is even shorter. we changed that one to a stage 1.
Once I find a spare few minutes Im going to call the and talk to those guys and request a longer throw.

#18

The bitch clip is #3 in your diagram. It is difficult because the metal clip locks into a tab on the transmission housing and you have to try and get a screwdriver in on top of the tranny at the right angle between the housing and the clip to release the tab.

#19

The bitch clip is #3 in your diagram. It is difficult because the metal clip locks into a tab on the transmission housing and you have to try and get a screwdriver in on top of the tranny at the right angle between the housing and the clip to release the tab.[/quote]
IMO the part that is an ass-kicker is that you can’t see what you’re doing. If you’ve not removed the bitch clip before, it’s hard to figure out with just your finger tips just how it’s held into place. After you’ve done it once, it’s no big deal, but that first time is a pita.

#20

I only got around to doing one bushing I planned on. I removed the old bushing by sticking it in a soup can and putting it in the fire for a few minutes.

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