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Add stiffening plates to reinforce and it should work ! |
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Cheers!!! |
Good day all!!
I think I missed it by thaaaaaaaat much!! There are two lessons to make note of here!!! One is to measure twice (or six times in my case for the drive shaft) and cut once!!! If being one and a half millimeters off from perfect is close enough, I am close enough!!! The other important lesson here is to be PATIENT and wait for the parts to get installed, then mod the others!! I aligned the trans and center support bearing for the drive shaft, like I had planned, but now the shifter arm is too short... Because I didn’t WAIT for the drive shaft to get finished... I ALMOST need to buy another shifter arm and start over with it... I might be able to add some aluminum stock I have at work and weld it, but......... Okay, pictures... Here is the drive shaft with the trans resting on my cross member support... http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/922/LMtoIJ.jpg http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/924/Hj7z00.jpg Look how tweaked this is!! Not what I was looking for!! Kinda discouraged at this point, but things get better!! http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/923/q99kOy.jpg And the huge gap at the top (I only tightened the bolts for the drive shaft... the trans bolts are free to move as I spin the drive shaft)... http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/922/2AYsYo.jpg Lowering the trans without the mounts installed... This is also why I didn’t gusset the last part of the cross member... http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/923/Q3X44U.jpg And a little more... http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/922/8Jqeme.jpg And the final even measurement... TOP... http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/922/BcKCKL.jpg BOTTOM... http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/922/SbRlAb.jpg This is a little close, but....... http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/923/X5Hyre.jpg http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/924/bE3Q1b.jpg Okay, don’t make fun of my hack job pinning the shifter arm!! Please... I don’t think this would last long either... It is amazing how much stress is exerted on this arm... This is third gear... http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/924/tGkZe8.jpg And this is fourth... http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/922/JUmCOe.jpg The next three are my selector rod adjustments... This one is closed up as far as it will go and still be aligned... http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/922/LHir2A.jpg This is ONE revolution out... http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/923/uC6SDW.jpg And one more revolution... Hardly noticeable... http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/923/L2mIGC.jpg And the fun part!! Kinda!! This is my son’s old shifter... This would be considered a short throw by comparison to the stock 3.0L X5 version... So, while it doesn’t have the crazy bend the stock X5 has, it doesn’t move as much either... Has anyone bent the shifter without destroying the isolation rubber?! I might try that!! This is third gear... http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/923/QqwgWr.jpg And Neutral... http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/922/uxMvXt.jpg And fourth gear... http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/924/9PMvMO.jpg Well, that is all I have for now... I get to go back to the drawing board for the shifter arm... I think I can weld up the selector rod at the third rotation out... But, it might be better if I wait till the arm is done before welding up the rod... So, what do you guys and gals think?? Almost there!!! I’m looking into getting a POWER SUPPLY to do my coding... A bit of research indicated that a basic “charger” won’t cut it... Hence the reason I haven't coded anything yet... I’m looking at getting an IOTA DLS-75... It is a bit cheaper than the alternative... Some crazy German unit costing nearly $470... The IOTA is about $150 or so... Cheers for now!!!! |
It looks like you're really closing in on the finish line. Can't wait to see the results of all your efforts!
It may be too early to ask, but do you have a ballpark idea of the cost to do this conversion? I did the paddle shift mod to my 4.6 a couple years ago and it's a slightly better driving experience, but isn't in the same league as three pedals and a shifter. I'm really hoping this is something that will be doable for me. |
Nice! Glad to see you are making progress. I'd wait on fully welding up the selector until the arm is in place.
As for what to do with the arm, I'd either fab a new one out of steel (if you can) or just gusset and plate the current one. |
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I will get a total today or tomorrow... I don't really think I have that much more to purchase as far as parts are concerned... As far as coding and programming goes.... I think most will need to get a friend to take care of that for them or purchase the hardware and such to do it themselves... Getting the stuff to do it yourself won't be a waste since you could help out your friends and also tweak all your BMW's as you like and not pay dealer costs to do it... Quote:
I took a long look at the arm I've been working with and I am about ready to give up on it... So, that leaves me with a few choices... So, to find the answer to the question, we need to pick apart the question itself... Why?! Why did BMW use such a crazy design for this thing?! Someone did not think this thru very well!! The angle alone is murder on the parts... The design of the pivot housing is counter-productive... It is tilted forward, which requires an aggressive bend in the shifter itself... WHY!?! Do I have to use THIS arm to make it work?! Okay, so I was thinking about going in a different direction with this (Thanks smokey for mentioning fabbing one out of steel)... It's not steel, but it is going a different route than what the BMW gurus would do... BMW uses the arm to push and pull from the transmission... This makes the shifter seem like it doesn't move inside the vehicle as much since the arm and rod both connect to the same item, the trans... My idea is to lock the arm to the vehicle using the three mounting points the automatic shifter assembly uses... I would even use the existing front bushing with my idea... It is just an idea, so don't get upset if it doesn't pan out!! I got this E36 shifting arm to use early on, but went a different route... HOWEVER, I can rotate it 180 deg and use the existing bushing support, but mount the other end securely to the rear bolt hole... Locking this in the center of the opening solves a few issues... The pivot bushing is horizontal allowing more room for the shifter to move... No welding (so far) and little modification required (so far) to get it installed... and no crazy bend in the shifter itself... The only issue I see is how to keep it from twisting... I'll get pictures of this in a few hours... I have two days to figure this out!! I would love to have everything finished prior to programming!! Oh, and someone please remind me to fill the trans with MTL before I start the X!!! Okay, cheers for now!!! |
I'm going to ask a really stupid question. You may have already answered this in an earlier post and I just missed it.
If the transmission came out of a 540, and the 540 uses the same engine as the X5, why aren't you able to use the shifter arm and selector rod from a 540? What's different between the 540 and X5 that's forcing you to fabricate these parts? Oh, and don't forget to put MTL in the transmission before you start it up! :) |
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I don't think any question is a stupid one!! Some answers are more obvious than others, but no real stupid questions... The difference is not the engine or trans, it has to do with the design of the transmission tunnel... The 540i uses a very tight clearance and the shifter is almost even with the top of the transmission... So the arm and selector rod are pretty much straight... The X5 engineers decided they were going to raise up the shifter location, in what seems like a sort of tower on the transmission tunnel... It may have something to do with the transfer case, but never the less, it is much higher than the top of the trans... So, the arms have to travel down on an angle... Hey!! Thanks!! I need to put MTL in my transmission!! :thumbup: Cheers!!! |
Good day all!!!
Here is my idea thus far... I got this to use the transmission end, not the shifter end... It might be fate or whatever you wanna call it... So, this is prior to cutting... The thing I failed to capture with these first few pictures is how deep the assembly sits when using the existing support... Lower is not a bad thing, but I fear it might be a tad too low and cause issues with the shifter boot or rubber protection cover... http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/922/TAerjb.jpg http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/923/v5pKdK.jpg http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/924/7XAime.jpg http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/923/bMoaKB.jpg So, maybe not use the existing support and hard mount it to the “tower” with and eye-bolt for the front and some clamp style set-up for the back... http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/922/4m41H3.jpg I can always lower this down some with hardware... http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/924/XLTmOC.jpg Here I’m experimenting with just putting a bolt thru the back part and coming up thru the center rear mounting hole... I nixed this idea due to the design of the arm... Cutting thru the vertical section of the “I” beam, I would compromise nearly all the strength the arm has at that point... http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/922/s5WTIX.jpg I could do the clamp idea still in this location... Really, I can almost turn this in any direction... I would need to trim the pointed end if I spun it 180 deg... http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/923/dTzFON.jpg http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/924/fc25c7.jpg So, there you have it... This is the current idea in progress... Cheers for now!! |
Ah, I see the problem now! How is it solved on the 3.0 with the manual?
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