UUC short shifter installed!

E30m42cab · Jul 25, 2007

I finally got around to installing my UUC EVO III short throw shift kit in the cabrio!!! It took my buddy and I 2 and a half hours to get it done. We had to jack up the tranny, take the mounts off, and lower it down to have enough room to remove the front shifter carrier pin. Pain in the @$$!! Everything went back together smoothly though, and no "back yard" modifications were done to get it to fit. All around, a very nice package from UUC. The only new (OEM) part I installed was the shift linkage. The only thing I would have liked to have seen come with the package would be a delerin bushing for the rear carrier to compliment the delerin bushing on the front of the carrier. A weighted or double sheared selector rod is available for most BMW's, but not for a E30 318i cabrio without Air Conditioning because the guibo is oversized and requires a bent selector rod

Anyways, all went well, the shifts are nice and short, close together, and will take a little getting used to. Combined with the UUC Big Boy clutch stop (which I would recomend to everyone), it's one of the best improvements to my car that I've ever done. It's like adding a little spice to an old relationship! Much easier to find reverse now!

Doughnut · Jul 26, 2007

About bloody time you put that bloody UUC Kit in the bloody cabrio, bloody, bloody...

Seriously though, you done well, good to hear that your happy with it Scotty!

AWD_Guy · Jul 26, 2007

Thats what is preventing me from installing one, the fact that i need to drop the tranny....

Did you undo the tranny from the block or just undid the mounts and let her come down a little?

frolf · Jul 26, 2007

you can still do a ssk without replacing that bits attached right to the tranny.

E30m42cab · Jul 26, 2007

AWD_Guy said:

I did this job on a hoist so it'll be a bit harder to do from the floor. All I did was remove the mounts and let 'er come down. The problem was getting the clip off, and unless you can get it from behind the tranny, you're going to have to pry it off by comming along the top of the tranny, from the bellhousing towards the drive shaft. I would recomend two people to do this. I would also not recommend doing on the floor of your garage otherwise you might burn the car down to the ground, or kill yourself out of frustration. [xx(]

E30m42cab · Jul 26, 2007

frolf said:

The thing is, alot of the flex in the shifter (on old cars) is down on that rubber bushing on the tranny... it's super easy to pop out because it's so useless. The idea of a short shifter is changing the goemetry of where the pivot ball is. When you remove the carrier to replace the bushing, you're also attaching a new raised up socket for the pivot ball, so removing it and puting it together (6 little hex screws) on a table is going to be easier, and will generally make the shifter feel a little bit more secure to the car.
I'm sure you can do a ssk without removing it, but it's old and crappy, so why not? If you're doing a B&M or some other lower regarded shift kit, I guess you don't have to remove it because they don't provide you with a more solid mount than some piece of rubber BMW came up with to avoid a little bit of vibration from the engine... heaven forbid.

It just seems to me like it should be replaced.... maybe not on a "newer" car like yours, but it was definately time to replace mine. She was quite sloppy.

E30m42cab · Jul 26, 2007

Doughnut said:

Man, I tried it on the floor of my garage (and failed) when I first got the bloody thing, so then I was just waiting for my buddy's hot rod to get off bloody the lift.

What's new and exciting with your car? How is she coming along?

Doughnut · Jul 27, 2007

E30m42cab said:

Hoists are by far the mechanic's BEST tool, I'm loving being able to put my car up on the lift at work [:)]

New and exciting with my car, I just resprayed whole car with new coat opel grun metalic, however I'm not happy with the result (peal and overspray killed it) though not to bad for my first spray job so i've been told.
I'm looking into getting new seats atm, aftermarket ones that are tasteful.
It's really hard to find seats in light tan, so full black might have to do.
also put an engine vac gauge in that tells me if i got a new leak [:I]

Peace.

E30m42cab · Jul 27, 2007

Doughnut said:

That will be quite hard to do... you'd almost be better off having your seats re-covered.
Where did you install the vacuum gauge in the car, and where did you hook it up to the engine?

Doughnut · Jul 27, 2007

I know, I'm hating my dash setup sooooo much right now, so ugly with all the different colours, missing trim around CD player different coloured shift boot.
But hear it is, my most recent shot of the cockpit of my car, bloody hate it right now, vac gauge is in vent, and is conected to the vac throtle advance in parallel...

E30m42cab · Jul 30, 2007

What are the three switches for on the ashtray?

Doughnut · Aug 3, 2007

Blue is wired in series with the remote wire for amplifiers in the boot.
Red, for the fake anti theft flashing led light (currently in "off" position, so when its switched "on, it looks like that switch isn't for it../
And green is for second stage blower fan on the radiator, a/c button is for first stage.
the switches illuminate and look quite nice at night.
show me a pic of the current interiour on your vert!
excuse dirty post i am still slightly drunk as i just turned 18 2 datys ago

Actually, heres a more recent photo of iteriour! it has new ebay special shift boot with ///M colours:

E30m42cab · Aug 7, 2007

Cheers! Happy Birthday!! I just got my new computer up and running... so now I've gotta take lots of pics of the cabrio for ya. I haven't even taken any pics since I lowered it.

I used to have one of those exact switches in my old 86 325e. It was for a set of Autopal 100w/each flood lights that I mounted underneath the front metal bumper. I used to drive up north on backroads alot, and the extra 200 watts of H3 flood lights would light the hell out of the night. My friends used to tell me to "turn the sun on" and I would lead night time convoys of my friends up north

The best thing about those lights was that they were 5.75" and would fit directly into the highbeam bucket, so I would run 4 of them plus my dual H/L on. So I'd be running 560watts off of 6 lights off the front of my car at night!!! (not with oncoming traffic of course). Yeah, it's illegal, but I don't want to hit any deer/moose/racoons/skunks/etc.

Doughnut · Aug 8, 2007

E30m42cab said:

All giant rodents!
The stock lights on my bimmer (low beam) is quite poor, it is very dim and i should do something about it ASAP, seams the chrome reflection on the inside of the beam is all gone :'(
Cheers for the birthday wishes!

E30m42cab · Aug 8, 2007

what kind of lights are in there, just sealed beam or the projection lenses? If they're just sealed beam, Hella and Bosch make a direct H4 replacent.

Doughnut · Aug 9, 2007

E30m42cab said:

Neg, they are not sealed beams.
I Bought a set of replacement low beam lights off overseas ebay not to long ago (bout a month), only to get shafted and sent the wrong beams [mad]

, couldn't send em back.

So that was my effort, will try again at a later date.
Peace.

E30m42cab · Aug 9, 2007

funny how it's an '84 with the elipsoid lights. good luck finding half decent used ones.

(I'll get those updated pics up soon... on the weekend when it's not raining every day)

UUC short shifter installed!

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