the gear shift lever assembly & all those internal parts

[OriginalOwner]

On another thread Mike and Bill were talking about the gear shift lever and how the "metal surround" (#11) will spin on #10 when the internal rubber gets old and shrinks. (mine has done that for years, no problem shifting).

http://www.bmw2002faq.com/component/option,com_forum/Itemid,50/page,viewtopic/t,380608/

SO, for a learning lesson: why are all those parts in there ?? Vibration isolation ?? Why not just JB Weld #10 & #11 together ??

Cheers,

Carl

[Mike Self]

the tranny--along with the engine and the whole drivetrain--is isolated from the rest of the car with rubber mounts to prevent vibration--you'll notice it if you drive either an old car without rubber engine mounts (like a Model A Ford) or an '02 with urethane mounts. The inner lever connects direcctly to the tranny with metal-to-metal couplings that would transmit all that engine, drivetrain and tranny vibration right to your hand if it wasn't for the outer shift lever that's isolated from the inner lever by those rubber bushings.

Drive an old British sports car (or a Volvo 544 or Fiat Topolino) that has a shift lever that sprouts directly out of the gearbox--you get a nice hand massage whenever the car is in motion--or even when the engine is idling.

mike

[OriginalOwner]

yep, my pal has a 1957 Triumph TR3 .......

SO, to continue the lesson: those parts are all about vibration isolation.

"Logical" Question: #11 is open at the top (a small hole). Are there any rubber conditioning products which a person can trickle inside #11 which will make those rubber pieces swell up and again "seat" tightly ?? I've looked around but haven't found anything.

Cheers and Thanks,

Carl

[Mikesmalaga72]

The four cylinder engine inherently has a high frequency vibration due to its compression and rotating mass transmitted through the gear train that can be a problem/annoyance if not isolated.

Todays engineering term for it is "NVH" Noise vibration and harshness. If you dont want the abatement and race simply solidify it.

If there are structural attachments, considerations MUST be made for the structure reinforcement!

[jgerock]

BMW most likely knew there would be NVH issues associated with the 4-cylinder design, so they used somewhat soft engine mounts, transmission mount, flex coupling (guibo), rear diff hangers and also those (2) rubber inserts in the shifter.

Most solid shifters will BUZZZZZZ if connected directly to the transmission. I like BMW's design (together with some delrin bushings and nylon shims).

Take all the old crap off and replace it with new and you won't have to worry about it for a long time.

[jgerock]

Hate having to mention this, but..

Soap box time..

The late Gene Berg (Factory trained VW guru from Washington State) was a very knowledgeable guy and didn't BS when dealing with cars. Some of his technical manuals questioned why folks would remove factory parts in their effort to "make it go faster, handle better and run cooler". For instance, most folks would leave off the thermostat and cooling flaps from the air cooled engine during a rebuild. He performed extensive tests on the VW air cooled engine with thermocouples and pressure transducers and found the engine actually ran hotter, had more blow-by, used more fuel as a direct result of those factory parts being removed.

I was a "me too" VW kid and left off the t-stat and cooling flaps on multiple engines - but didn't realize until years later that I did more harm than good by doing what I did. My last full rebuild included ALL of the factory parts and my engine lasted longer, ran cooler and performed better.

Gene also wrote that if the factory could save a few pennies by leaving off parts on every car then they would have done so. I think this applies to all of the early cars (the plastic cladding on some vehicles- not so much).

"Buy the best and cry once"

Off my box (for now).

[OriginalOwner]

soapbox, aye.

Thanks Much for the pictures, I've never seen that assembly unassembled.

Cheers,

Carl

[jgerock]

soapbox, aye.

Thanks Much for the pictures, I've never seen that assembly unassembled.

Cheers,

Carl

Carl - those pics are from the very 1st upgrade to my tii. Sloppy old-style shifter parts were replaced with Rob Torres' (2002 Haus) 4-speed update kit which used the '74+ shifter mechanism together with delrin bushings. That same shifter was used with Rob's short dog-bone linkage when I swapped an E21 5-speed in 2010.