I'm replacing the carrier bushings for my shifter and I wonder whether it makes sense to upgrade the selector rod as well. Has anyone put one of these in their E30? http://www.turnermotorsport.com/html/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=DSSR187 I've got a lot of play in my shifter and some notchiness. Sometimes I get 'locked out' downshifting 4-3. Is the UUC rod worth the $135 extra bucks on top of the bushings? I've heard yes and I've heard no.
I'd do the bushings and an E36 short shift kit, you can get them from BMA for a good price and they include everything you need. Then when thats done see if you want spend some more money, I suspect you will not.
That's pretty cheap. UUC stuff is usually a lot more expensive, and the main reason why I didn't buy their kit. I got a Z3 1.9 rod and new bushings all around, but still get an amount of play when in gear, though about half of what I got before. I'm sure that amount of play would be reduced with UUC's stuff, but I couldn't shell out that kind of cash for it. I'm sure you will be happy with that kit. Edit: I just saw that this is just a selector rod. You should get the shift lever as well, and all the necessary bushings to make this a complete short shift kit. The shift lever kit is what is so expensive; the UUC kit is over $200, so what you're looking at is a total of about ~$350-400, not including labor!
You can use any of the E36 shift levers and end up with a slightly shorter throw, to a much shorter throw depending on which one you choose. There is a thread on R3V about it.
This is probably one of those things where the question is, is it worth it to you? What else ya gonna do w/ $135? If the answer is, ohh....say, eat, because that's your food budget for the month, then I'd say, maybe you better live with a sloppy shifter. But, if you, say, have no debt of any kind, are caught up on all bills and forseeable expenses, and the choice is between adding one more bottle of $135 wine to your 25,000-bottle temperature-controlled wine cellar in the basement, or the shift rod, I'd say, buy the shift rod. I have an autosolutions shift-kit which I've been perfectly happy with (autosolutions.net), although I think mine predates their cnc-machined shift rod and I have the stock one (I've had it since the late 90's, roundabout). I forget without taking a look, but if I have a stock one, I would plan to upgrade at some point that it would be convenient. Access is limited to the shifter from beneath the car, so whatever you do, I'd suggest do it all at once rather than piecemeal, budget allowing.
Yep, that's the calculation I did. I returned the selector rod to Turner Motorsport today. My income is currently receding and my credit card balances are increasing. I am satisfied with changing the bushings for my shifter and upgrading my sway bars for the time being. The rod was definitely an indulgence--not that the other mods were necessities!
I just read all 40 pages of the R3V thread after driving Botond's Z3 1.9L shifter. Now I know that a shorter shifter is worth it to me. But I'm wondering whether the E36 M3 lever would be a bit taller in the cabin (and it is a bit shorter throw). Anyone know much about the difference between the two? It's OE part 25117527247 and it's not available from BMA. I wonder if it's worth messing with.