Good day all!!
Good news!! I got the drive shaft from the shop... They did a great job, but I haven’t gotten it installed yet, so I’m not positive it is the correct length yet... That would be my fault if it isn’t the correct length... I’ll have to adjust accordingly if it’s not right...
I also noted that the shifter arm can move side to side a little... Getting it centered shouldn’t be too difficult... I swapped out the gold lock nuts for the wider base strut tower lock nuts... I pulled a bunch from the different BMW’s at the YPIY the last time I went... I had to get the door handle assembly... That was a huge pain to install!! I’m just saying!!! Anyway, you may also note that the shifter is pretty far forward of center... I don’t think this will cause any issues... But only time will tell...
I had to omit some pictures here... They ended up being WAY too big...
This is what I had the other day for the shifter arm... This is prior to JB Weld...
And the angle I’m going with... The 540i trans is longer than the 3.0L version, so the connections are a lot closer to the huge opening for the shifter stuff... So, I can make this almost straight if I need to...
Well, I said I wasn’t going to include this, but I may as well show yous all what DIDN’T work... I did have high hopes this would hold a lot longer than it did... I did let it cure over night before I did anything with it...
I hate to say it, but I think I will hold off on showing the really crappy job I did with the roll pins!! I got it to work, but I MUST find a better way!! The arm is tight and solid, but I drilled far too many holes in my attempts to get it right!! I’ll fine tune this!!
I pulled the rubber bushings out figuring I might have to tack weld the arm... I didn’t need to do that, so I’ll just install the bushings tomorrow morning and throw everything together!! Now, everyone needs to have all their fingers crossed that the drive shaft is perfect, down to the millimeter so I don’t have to shim the guibo like I do for the front on un-modified X5’s...
That’s it for tonight... See yous all again in the morning when I have an update on the assembly!!
Cheers!!!