Shift Linkage/Transmission Slop

[heinzboehmer]

I recently rebuilt most of my transmission in an effort to improve shifter feel. I did the clutch, flywheel, pilot bearing, throw out bearing, all springs and related hardware (except for the first and fifth gear detents because I couldn't get those out without removing the bell housing), shifter carrier bushing (including repairing the carrier that had ripped out from the transmission tunnel), and installed an AutoSolutions autocross SSK.

Shifts feel significantly better, but there's still a bit of side to side slop in the shifter. This slop is enough to where I sometimes have trouble finding third when shifting quickly from second.

Here's a video of the slop:

Is this just an inherent characteristic of the 420g? Or is it possibly due to those two detent spring I didn't change?

[rbg]

looks totally fine to me.

[Slideways]

Normal for this gearbox

[ATB88]

Your side to side play looks similar to mine, and my shifter linkage is completely new from my 6MT swap 2 years ago. I agree that it's a surprising amount of play.

[beefaroni]

I rebuilt mine recently including UUC Evo and new selector rod joint and I have about twice the side-to-side freeplay that you do. For me the slop is all in the selector rod joint pin. If I ever have the trans off I will machine the holes slightly larger and have a tight fitting pin.

[e46mpwrd]

Like all the above, seems normal. Mine is the same.

[yhp2009]

I think youve gotten as close to zero slop as possible with the normal oem setup. For something tighter youre probably looking at performance racing grade

[heinzboehmer]

Thanks for the responses guys. I was kinda hoping I could throw more parts at it to get it even tighter but I guess I'm going to have to learn to live with it like it is now.

After looking at a couple images of the bellhousing, I'm surprised as to how much space there is between the bearing and locking pins.



Since people who did a 6MT swap seem to still have this behavior, I doubt that it's due to a tired torsion spring.

I'm thinking that possibly on oversized bearing will help reduce slop, although no clue if it would still interface correctly with the locking pins. Maybe if I'm really bored one day I'll find a bellhousing and mess around with it.

[rbg]

There was a thread here on swapping ZF transmission from e90 335i to our cars, that one has much less slop and butter smooth. Look into that better if you have an itch :-) hehe

[heinzboehmer]

There was a thread here on swapping ZF transmission from e90 335i to our cars, that one has much less slop and butter smooth. Look into that better if you have an itch :-) hehe

Ah yes that might be a better idea. One of my close friends has an E92 335xi and the transmission on that car feels amazing. Might be worth to go that route vs trying to modify a 420g.

[timmo]

Ah yes that might be a better idea. One of my close friends has an E92 335xi and the transmission on that car feels amazing. Might be worth to go that route vs trying to modify a 420g.

The ZF in my friend's E90 335xi feels pretty similar to the ZF in my ZHP. Now you have peaked my curiousity, as I've never driven an E46 M3, I wonder how the Getrag feels in comparison

[heinzboehmer]

The ZF in my friend's E90 335xi feels pretty similar to the ZF in my ZHP. Now you have peaked my curiousity, as I've never driven an E46 M3, I wonder how the Getrag feels in comparison

In a word: notchy

[Sharocks]

That's normal. My AS SSK in my car for 7 years does that. Since it's a new SSK it needs a few hundred miles to break in. This is also when you figure out what way to shift it best. I have a really short shift so I don't miss gates but getting into 5th took a few weeks of trying new methods until I found what worked for me. Same thing in my M5, same time frame and same time to figure out what it likes best. Oh and same gearbox too.