[Dan_Q]

Installed the Shiftech (Is this the same as UUC? They look identical.) short shift kit in my car yesterday. I had read the install was a PITA and it made good on that claim. The good news was that the shifter was cheap. Only $129 from Burger Motorsports. Can't beat that. Despite three issues on the the install it wasn't anything that could not be overcome.

Burger has the install instructions posted on their website which I followed. Overall they worked well but there were some hiccups. The old shifter was out within about 20 minutes and was incredibly easy. Then I put some Loctite into the tapped holes of the pivot height adjuster and went to install it.



Unfortunately the hole that accepts the pivot height adjuster wasn't quite the right size.



I ended up having to spend about 25 min grinding out small amounts from that in order to get it to fit right. Without the pivot height adjuster dropping all the way into the hole, the tapped holes in the pivot height adjuster won't line up with the slot in the stock part that the screws need to go through.

Once I had the pivot height adjuster fitting ok I couldn't get the tiny screws that hold the pivot height adjuster into the selector rod started. After 5-10 min I pulled the pivot height adjuster back out and realized so much time had lapsed that the Loctite had hardened into the holes and I couldn't even force a screw into them. I had to run each screw through each hole 3-4 times to clean out the holes so that the screws would actually thread in again. That a while since the screws are so small, everything was binding and I even had one screw that the allen head wouldn't fit into. Once that was taken care of I got the screws in without too much trouble. Well, that is if you subtract out dropping the screws through the floor and under the seat repeatedly and having to fish them out.

When all 6 screws were in I thought I was home free. But it turns out that the two bushings that go on either side of the connection between the bottom of the shift lever and the pin on the selector rod didn't fit.



I pulled back out the dremel and started taking off small amounts. After 8 or 10 attempts I finally got the things to fit. That was all I needed to top off the fun. Total time was probably 3.5 hours.

How's it work? I'd say just ok. The shifter is ultra notchy. I've had good working SSKs before and none of them felt this notchy. I think it is a result of how short the throws are. And I am coming from a BMW short shift arm that came on my M-Sport car in the first. In my opinion the throws are just too short and it feels odd. The previous Eurocode SSK on my Audi was adjustable for both height and throw length. I had it set up on the shortest throw and it was about 15% longer than the throws on this Shiftek one. So they are incredibly short I think. But at least the price was cheap and since I'm not going back in there to change anything, I'll live with it. Now I need to find time to get my CDV delete valve installed. Thought I would do it at the same time but the shifter install took so long that I didn't have enough time left over to put it in before heading out to the Bronco game.

[Dan_Q]

Well I gave this thing an honest try for a month but it is just way too notchy. I should have known the first time my wife drove the car after I installed it out she rolled down the window and asked WTF was wrong with the shifter. I think my tolerance was a bit higher since I had spent probably 4 hrs installing it. But that time investment concern is starting to wear off so I'm going to pull it out and reinstall the stock short shift lever. The final straw was about a week ago when I was at a stoplight and I was struggling to get it into 1st. I finally got it in and kind of gunned the motor since the car in front of me was already pulling away and I was on a hill. Unfortunately I was in reverse not 1st. I managed to hit the brakes within about a foot of movement and the person behind me was far enough back that I didn't hit them. This thing just doesn't want to let the transmission into gears very smoothly. I think next week I will install my CDV delete valve and swap back the shifter to stock.

The install is so straightforward that I don't think anything there could have gone wrong. I'm curious if other people's are working better or if you just have a higher tolerance for what I could consider crappy shifting?

[Schmidty335i]

Originally Posted by Dan_Q

Well I gave this thing an honest try for a month but it is just way too notchy. I should have known the first time my wife drove the car after I installed it out she rolled down the window and asked WTF was wrong with the shifter. I think my tolerance was a bit higher since I had spent probably 4 hrs installing it. But that time investment concern is starting to wear off so I'm going to pull it out and reinstall the stock short shift lever. The final straw was about a week ago when I was at a stoplight and I was struggling to get it into 1st. I finally got it in and kind of gunned the motor since the car in front of me was already pulling away and I was on a hill. Unfortunately I was in reverse not 1st. I managed to hit the brakes within about a foot of movement and the person behind me was far enough back that I didn't hit them. This thing just doesn't want to let the transmission into gears very smoothly. I think next week I will install my CDV delete valve and swap back the shifter to stock.

The install is so straightforward that I don't think anything there could have gone wrong. I'm curious if other people's are working better or if you just have a higher tolerance for what I could consider crappy shifting?

thanks for the honest review on this.. i was consitering getting the shifter since it was so cheap but i was kinda worried that it might make things a PITA lol

[snaimpally]

Shifteck is not the same as UUC. The UUC shifter is significantly more expensive. I have the UUC SSK + DSSR + clutch valve delay delete + weighted shift know. Its acceptable now compared to stock. The problem is that the BMW manual shifter is a POS to begin with so adding stuff to it doesn't fix the fundamental problems with the shifter. When I first had my SSK etc. installed I did exactly as you did - I thought I had put the car in 1st but had actually put it in reverse - in rush hour traffic! Luckily I didn't hit anyone. The shifter takes some getting used to.

My suggestion is rather than take the Shifteck off, try adding the DSSR. Turner Motorsports has it on sale as part of their warehouse clearance right now. Then spend some time with it. Adding an SSK does take some getting used to. <sigh> Nothing beats a Honda manual shifter.

[Jdub679]

How do all these aftermarket kits compare with the BMW short shift kit?

[Dan_Q]

Originally Posted by Jdub679

How do all these aftermarket kits compare with the BMW short shift kit?

The BMW "short shift kit" is what came on my car. It is just a shorter shift lever but it seems to be made similar to the stock shift lever. So it is equally sloppy but has a shorter arm with shorter throws.

[Bent_remy]

Originally Posted by snaimpally

Shifteck is not the same as UUC. The UUC shifter is significantly more expensive. I have the UUC SSK + DSSR + clutch valve delay delete + weighted shift know. Its acceptable now compared to stock. The problem is that the BMW manual shifter is a POS to begin with so adding stuff to it doesn't fix the fundamental problems with the shifter. When I first had my SSK etc. installed I did exactly as you did - I thought I had put the car in 1st but had actually put it in reverse - in rush hour traffic! Luckily I didn't hit anyone. The shifter takes some getting used to.

My suggestion is rather than take the Shifteck off, try adding the DSSR. Turner Motorsports has it on sale as part of their warehouse clearance right now. Then spend some time with it. Adding an SSK does take some getting used to. <sigh> Nothing beats a Honda manual shifter.

+1

[WatashiEd]

Haha I thought I wasn't the only think the bimmer shifter is a POS and I did put in reverse on rush hour traffic light start once too!

Agree it's extremely notchy that you will have to shift like a granny to make sure each shift goes in correctly... goddamn it... really missed the tyre r gearbox and shifter feel....

Originally Posted by Dan_Q

Installed the Shiftech (Is this the same as UUC? They look identical.) short shift kit in my car yesterday. I had read the install was a PITA and it made good on that claim. The good news was that the shifter was cheap. Only $129 from Burger Motorsports. Can't beat that. Despite three issues on the the install it wasn't anything that could not be overcome.

Burger has the install instructions posted on their website which I followed. Overall they worked well but there were some hiccups. The old shifter was out within about 20 minutes and was incredibly easy. Then I put some Loctite into the tapped holes of the pivot height adjuster and went to install it.



Unfortunately the hole that accepts the pivot height adjuster wasn't quite the right size.



I ended up having to spend about 25 min grinding out small amounts from that in order to get it to fit right. Without the pivot height adjuster dropping all the way into the hole, the tapped holes in the pivot height adjuster won't line up with the slot in the stock part that the screws need to go through.

Once I had the pivot height adjuster fitting ok I couldn't get the tiny screws that hold the pivot height adjuster into the selector rod started. After 5-10 min I pulled the pivot height adjuster back out and realized so much time had lapsed that the Loctite had hardened into the holes and I couldn't even force a screw into them. I had to run each screw through each hole 3-4 times to clean out the holes so that the screws would actually thread in again. That a while since the screws are so small, everything was binding and I even had one screw that the allen head wouldn't fit into. Once that was taken care of I got the screws in without too much trouble. Well, that is if you subtract out dropping the screws through the floor and under the seat repeatedly and having to fish them out.

When all 6 screws were in I thought I was home free. But it turns out that the two bushings that go on either side of the connection between the bottom of the shift lever and the pin on the selector rod didn't fit.



I pulled back out the dremel and started taking off small amounts. After 8 or 10 attempts I finally got the things to fit. That was all I needed to top off the fun. Total time was probably 3.5 hours.

How's it work? I'd say just ok. The shifter is ultra notchy. I've had good working SSKs before and none of them felt this notchy. I think it is a result of how short the throws are. And I am coming from a BMW short shift arm that came on my M-Sport car in the first. In my opinion the throws are just too short and it feels odd. The previous Eurocode SSK on my Audi was adjustable for both height and throw length. I had it set up on the shortest throw and it was about 15% longer than the throws on this Shiftek one. So they are incredibly short I think. But at least the price was cheap and since I'm not going back in there to change anything, I'll live with it. Now I need to find time to get my CDV delete valve installed. Thought I would do it at the same time but the shifter install took so long that I didn't have enough time left over to put it in before heading out to the Bronco game.

Originally Posted by Dan_Q

Well I gave this thing an honest try for a month but it is just way too notchy. I should have known the first time my wife drove the car after I installed it out she rolled down the window and asked WTF was wrong with the shifter. I think my tolerance was a bit higher since I had spent probably 4 hrs installing it. But that time investment concern is starting to wear off so I'm going to pull it out and reinstall the stock short shift lever. The final straw was about a week ago when I was at a stoplight and I was struggling to get it into 1st. I finally got it in and kind of gunned the motor since the car in front of me was already pulling away and I was on a hill. Unfortunately I was in reverse not 1st. I managed to hit the brakes within about a foot of movement and the person behind me was far enough back that I didn't hit them. This thing just doesn't want to let the transmission into gears very smoothly. I think next week I will install my CDV delete valve and swap back the shifter to stock.

The install is so straightforward that I don't think anything there could have gone wrong. I'm curious if other people's are working better or if you just have a higher tolerance for what I could consider crappy shifting?

Originally Posted by snaimpally

Shifteck is not the same as UUC. The UUC shifter is significantly more expensive. I have the UUC SSK + DSSR + clutch valve delay delete + weighted shift know. Its acceptable now compared to stock. The problem is that the BMW manual shifter is a POS to begin with so adding stuff to it doesn't fix the fundamental problems with the shifter. When I first had my SSK etc. installed I did exactly as you did - I thought I had put the car in 1st but had actually put it in reverse - in rush hour traffic! Luckily I didn't hit anyone. The shifter takes some getting used to.

My suggestion is rather than take the Shifteck off, try adding the DSSR. Turner Motorsports has it on sale as part of their warehouse clearance right now. Then spend some time with it. Adding an SSK does take some getting used to. <sigh> Nothing beats a Honda manual shifter.