This DIY will serve as an 'in the family' addendum to already excellent instructions provided by UUC for installation:
UUC Installation Instructions
and to the DIY done by my330i:
my330i DIY
Big thumbs up to UUC for their pretty excellent instructions, and a major thank you to my330i for detailing everything very well.
Staring with my "effort" on the matter:
As a baseline, I snapped some shots of the stock ZHP shift lever with stock ZHP knob:
Neutral:
3rd:
4th:
Quick rundown on the stuff before I started snapping pics:
(as always, undertake these projects at your own risk. i'm not responsible for you doing this wrong.)
First things first, you have to lower the exhaust:
-separate the 4 bolts at the bottom of the headers (these are $22 inconel bolts with pure copper nuts so be careful. they will be bubba tight. a little PB blaster or your favorite penetrating oil ahead of time will help things out. as a reminder, WD40 is not a true "penetrating" oil like PB or liquid wrench.)
-remove the center bolt of the exhaust hanger attached to the tranny housing.
-remove the two crossmembers. careful on the aftmost one as it is holding your exhaust up.
-lower the exhaust and set it on some blocks to keep it from hanging.
Next, remove the exhaust heat shield (the real reason you have to remove the exhaust, as it blocks all access to the relevant area):
-remove the 2 frontmost bolts holding up the heatshield and let it hang. access!
Next, lower the transmission:
-place a jack under the tranny crossmember
-remove the 4 bolts to the transmission crossmember
-lower the crossmember by the jack. make sure you don't let the transmission free hang; if it comes off your jack bring the jack up until it is holding the weight.
Once you have access, you'll see this:
Remove that circlip with some snapring pliers. They're not necessary but make life much easier. My pair is a set of channel lock snap ring pliers - those things have earned their cost time and time again.
From the top, you have to spin the nylon pivot cup with some needlenose to release the retention tabs that hold it to the carrier. You do this with a set of needle nose pliers opened up...dig the sides in and spin.
Once you do that, give a yank and you get:
Back underneath, remove the two pins holding the carrier to the tranny. To do this, spread open the retaining feature, rotate about 90 degrees, and slide out perpendicular to the driveshaft. The pins I'm talking about are #4:
Once these two clips are out, slide the carrier forward to remove from the rear bushing, and you get:
Also remove the circlip holding the front of the selector rod to the transmission selector shaft and pull it out, noting which end is "forward." I've marked mine with a zip tie.
Disassembly complete.
Quick comparo of new verus old parts:
At this point you install the new shifter pivot (UUC calls it the ERK or 'effort reducing kit') with three small allen screws on each side. Loctite is provided, coat them up and install all 6 loosely, then tighten while alternating sides:
Install just like you removed the old one. Back pin in first, then locate the front two bushings onto the tranny and reinsert the new carrier pins. view from the top:
Attach the DSSR to the selector shaft on the tranny using the new pins, washers, and clips provided:
Coat the pivot cups and pivot ball with the provided grease. Drop the new shifter arm into the new ERK'ed carrier, stuff the pivot bushing, spring, collar, and circlip into the ERK. Use the snapring pliers to lock the ring in. Pull up firmly on the shift lever to ensure it seats in the ring land. You get:
From underneath:
Connect the shift lever to the DSSR, again using the pin, washers, and circlips provided:
Reassemble underneath:
-transmission back in place and torqued.
-heat shield back in place
-both crossmembers back in place
-exhaust + hanger back in place
Up top, reinstall the rubber boot after you set the shift lever height that you want. As a heads up, make sure you maintain the proper knob orientation while tightening the height adjustment collar. I didn't do this the first time around and the knob wound up clocked about 10 degrees CCW. You have to actively hold it in the proper spot while tightening the collar.
Then reassemble the console, boot, knob, and you're done!
New throws:
Neutral:
3rd: (!!)
4th: (!!!!!)
Video of throw plus in gear play:
Don't let my MS paint skills knock you over:
Overall an absolutely fantastic mod. I had an rogue octane in my 2nd E36 M and I loved every second of it so I had a hunch that I'd dig the results.
Throws are crazy small but still precise, you can really feel what you're doing. Effort is marginally higher but still acceptable.
I started with the knob in the "lowest" setting but have since moved it to the highest setting to somewhat decrease effort and also just raise it up a little bit.
Anyway, enjoy the pics. Any questions, holler.
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Originally Posted by danewilson77
