<E28> sloppy shifter

[Patrick Burns <patrick@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

So my new  179,000 mile and fourteen year old 5 speed 528e had the
worn out shifter deal. Hmm. New shifter parts are expensive. Hmm.
Short shifters are even more expensive. This is crazy, I'm not going
to spend that kind of money to fix a damned shifter for a street car.

Removed all the shifter stuff from the car (That spring clip holding
the pin in the T connector at the tranny is a _bitch_ to remove. It
looked like it was going to be easy, but with only room for one hand
up there...). Didn't have to pull the (stock) exhaust or the
driveshaft. Used a propane torch and small chisel to take out the old
bushing material from the bottom of the shifter and the T connector at
the tranny (steel shift frame). Made some new Delrin bushings about
0.4mm larger than the I.D. of each bore. Drilled the centers out to
about 9.5mm. Pressed them in. Took the rod that connects them and put
it in the lathe. The end that fits into the T thingy had worn such
that it wasn't round any more. Just shaved it down a little until
everything was round and pretty. Took some emery cloth and made it
shiny. Reamed each bushing until it _just_ allowed its end of the
connecting rod thingy to fit. Put it all back together.

No more slop. Used about 60mm of a $3 foot long section of 7/8" Delrin
rod that I got from MSC a while ago with some other stuff I needed (no
shipping charges on the Delrin rod, really). I guess that means I
fixed it for about 60 cents. :)

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