'86 325es BL/SSed

[Thaddeus Wakefield Batt <thaddeus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

It just goes to show - you shouldn't believe everything you read.  I had
been waiting to find out about other's experiences with putting an E36 M3
shift lever in a pre 87 E30 (the one's that, according to Bentley, have
the sheet metal shift console, and rather than the cup, use a two-peice
plastic bearing secured by a circlip) but a coworker brought in the lever
today, and I got impatient.

Off comes the shift boot, out pulls the inner rubber boot, and lo and
behold - An Aluminum Shift Console! (oh, and a completely mangled plastic
retaining cup with teeth floating around in it.)  A bit of out and under
followed where the circlip that secures shift lever to the shift rod came
off easily enough.  back up topside to prise the two apart, and voila! Out
comes the old lever.

The E36 M3 lever came assembled with cup and aluminum shift console, so
once I tore out the remanents of the old plastic cup, i popped the new
lever and cup in position and attempted to reconnect the shift rod to the
new lever.

I say attempted because this was by far the hardest part - and it's still
not completely done.  it seems like there's no good angle to go at this.
I got most of the way there from the topside, but I still have maybe 2-3
millimeters to go before I'll be able to secure the circlip.

However, a spin around the parking lot indicated that indeed, the shifting
is awesome - absolutely 1000% better (probably a lot
has to do with the new cup actually holding the shift lever in place)  It
feels significantly more difficult to shift, but oh so dialed in.

Moral of the story?  

At least some 1986 325es vehicles (mine has an October build date) DO have
the aluminum shift console.

cheers,
- --thad

PS - still looking for a bmw head unit.  And what's that damn yellow wire
from the OBC for?

PPS - Thank You Ben Liaw!  If I hadn't gotten the lever and cup gratis, I
would certainly have gotten them from UUC.  Best of luck in your newest
venture.

FN:			Thaddeus Wakefield Batt
EMAIL;INTERNET;HOME:	thaddeus@domain.elided
TITLE:			Software Engineer
BMWCCA:			#1147928
BMW;primary:		1986 325es
BMW;toy:		1975 2002A for sale!

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