how to fix the free play on the manual gear lever of my E30

[stormhunt3r]

guys, my E30 gear lever has a lot of free play and it's some times quite difficult to engage reverse or quick downshift. Brought my car to the mechanic and he say have to remove the transmission before they can replace the bushes and rings. Is this the only method? Furthermore, is there a short shifter for this car? Pls advice..thx

 

[boonaroo]

not too sure about the tightening method but yes there is a short shifter you can get. the car I inherited had one already so I wouldn't know where to get it. That being said, I came across a listing on the auto-art website. not too sure how current it is.

 

[evilnickwong]

I think for most of the parts I replaced to fix the free play in the shifter, the mech only needed to bring down the driveshaft to create working space, but could otherwise leave the gearbox in place.

As for short shifters, you can either get an adaptor that bolts on to your stock lever to lower the selector rod joint to create shorter shifts, or you can get a lever from a Z3 or Z4 that will act as a short shifter as well.

 

[elwine30]

no, your mech is wrong. you need not bring down the gearbox to change the linkages. The free play is caused by the linkages of the gear knob. you can change to the Z4 short shift. You can check with Calvin Tan's website.

 

[fabianyee]

Depends which gearbox your car is using, if it's the M20 prefacelift G240 gearbox, there are more bushes to change. And yes, you would need to lower down the gearbox to have some working space.


If it's M40 G240 gearbox, no need to lower down the gearbox.

These are the diagrams I found on Realoem.com

M20 has a plate

M40 uses the rod:

 

[stormhunt3r]

Mine is the M20 gearbox. Please correct me if i'm wrong..

So i still have to replace the worn bushes even i were to replace the gear lever to a Z4 gear lever.

thx fabian for the diagram..

 

[fabianyee]

Mine is the M20 gearbox. Please correct me if i'm wrong..

So i still have to replace the worn bushes even i were to replace the gear lever to a Z4 gear lever.

thx fabian for the diagram..

of cos have to change the bushes.. If don't change, u put in Z4, Z5, Z6, Z8 oso no use...

 

[Jules]

had this issue before.

Check that item 7 ( the rubber grommet ) is located properly.

Tighten item 1 ( there are 2 ) if possible. I change this before also.....

everything can be done from below car - so u need hoist or crawl under car with secure jacks in place. your mechanic when competent enough can do this....

have fun.

 

[stormhunt3r]

thx all for the info. Will send my car to the mechanic to see which bush needed replacement. I've replace some of it in the past according to my mechanic but it doesn't solve the problem.

 

[jumpman]

guys, my E30 gear lever has a lot of free play and it's some times quite difficult to engage reverse or quick downshift. Brought my car to the mechanic and he say have to remove the transmission before they can replace the bushes and rings.

Is this the only method? Furthermore, is there a short shifter for this car?

Pls advice..thx

hey,what kinda freeplay are you talking about? do u mind to explain more? cos i might have a similar problem and it would be great if it can solve my problem as well. thanks!