UUC Short Shift Kits - group buy?

Riggodeaux · #1 12-31-2013, 10:28 AM

Rob at UUC called me late Friday to report he now has 'tested' short shift kits for our manual E53s. I see an old 'group buy' forum post by lionkang. Please PM me if you are interested and I'll see what kind of group buy deal I can negotiate from the headcount when I talk with Rob on Monday. I'll also post a review once mine is installed [probably late next week]

campy82 · #2 12-31-2013, 10:43 AM

Is this for 5 or 6 speeds? Interested.

Riggodeaux · #3 12-31-2013, 10:45 AM

Both. All manual transmission E53s. Everyone, please just PM ['private message'] me with your contact info so I can do a list to negotiate a deal. The UUC website [updated to show E53 fitment] shows the list price at $355. I hope to do better ......

Ricky Bobby · #4 12-31-2013, 11:43 AM

Id be surprised if he took 10 percent off with 10 kits ordered.

Riggo nice job keeping in touch about this, it's been a few years coming, but lately the manual trans thread has been pretty active. I'd really like to see some installed impressions before I plunk that kind of dough on a short shifter.

For instance, are there any other bushings besides the short shifter needing replacement to make the shifter "tight" again? A short shifter with sloppy bushings elsewhere in the linkage is a sloppy short shifter IMO.

Would like to hear from Rob what other bushings would need replacing, on conjunction with installing the short shifter to give a true new shifter feel. Mine has a little bit of slack at 70k miles and 10 years old, but I'm sure some with higher mileage are even looser.

Riggodeaux · #5 12-31-2013, 11:48 AM

I'll do my best Bill Shatner 'negotiator' imitation and see what I can do on price. I'll also note the specifics of the bushings, etc. fix; when I spoke to Rob at UUC in late October, he mentioned what they normally do and that the adjunct replacement rod [forget the name ....] doesn't work with the E53 application. Depending how long the install it takes, I may just watch 'em do it and take pictures. Their shop is maybe 20 miles from me, up GA 400 north from Atlanta proper ....

Riggodeaux · #6 12-31-2013, 12:38 PM

As I review my notes, I believe the UUC DSSK rod does not work with E53s, and that its the gearshift rod joint [no. 12 on the realoem diagram], a $15-20 OEM part available from UUC and the other usual suspects [ECS Tuning, Turner Motorsport], BMW part no. 25117580281, a common sloppy shifting culprit, that UUC replaces [along with, I believe, replacing the oval bearing sleeve with a delrin version]. I'll be sure and post the details with my review after the work is done.

Riggodeaux · #7 12-31-2013, 01:08 PM

For those considering a short shift kit or just refreshing bushings, I suggest you look at the instructions on the UUC website [for other bmw models] and also the good short shift kit and bushings refresh tech articles on E36s at Pelican Parts, which sells UUC kits. I used to have an E36 convertible, and considered this closely, but didn't get as far a shift kit before I sold it. The E36 was one sweet convertible, though, with black leather and black convert top, hot as he double L in Georgia summers .....

Hopefully, I'll be able to post pix and a thorough review once mine is upgraded with the UUC Evo-3 shift kit, delrin bushings/shift rod joint replacements, and the clutch delay valve [CDV] delete, which they will do while up on the lift.

Ricky Bobby · #8 12-31-2013, 01:05 PM

No worries on the price, considering he is the only game in town and its such a small volume of shifters to sell, I don't expect much price break. Literally its a good price considering someone is even going to make these. Free shipping would be nice though.

Subscribed for your installed updates, as well as listing of part numbers of any additional bushings during the install that we should be prepared to replace in order to give the "fresh shifter" feel