You know what really grinds my gears? Literally grinding a gear because of my own ham-fisted buffoonery when I botch a shift. The fine folks in Bavaria certainly know how to make great cars to drive, but when it comes to their shifters, "precision instrument" isn’t exactly the phrase that comes to mind. The term rubbery often pops up when describing the feel of the lever in the center of these cars.
Now, this isn’t a problem I expect to fully solve, but that doesn’t mean we can’t make some solid improvements. So, step into my secret lab—err, the garage—and let’s get to work. If you've read one of my previous posts, you'll know I tried a few different shift knobs before settling on the Genuine BMW M shift knob—more commonly known as the "tall" ZHP knob. I tested a couple of options, but in the end, the tall ZHP knob became my preferred choice.
I like the weight, feel, and ergonomics of this shift knob, and the added height helps me shift while keeping the center armrest down. Shorter knobs, like the one my 128i originally came with, left my right arm bent at an awkward downward angle with the armrest down. Meanwhile, more "plastic" feeling knobs lacked the tactile feedback I was after when shifting. Without going to some wild, earthquake-shaking, chassis-mounted shifter, these cars are never going to have the perfect weight, feedback and precision of a sporty machine from a company such as Honda. As a long-time S2000 owner, I've been apparently been spoiled for all other shifters, but I'll settle for as good as it's going to get. When it comes to shifting gears, one thing Honda and BMW both have in common is their loathsome use of Clutch Delay Valves (CDVs). These hateful little devices introduce a slight delay when you release the clutch pedal before the clutch actually engages the transmission. The internet would have you believe they help smooth out clutch engagement, but more notably, their primary purpose seems to be protecting the drivetrain from, ahem, more "enthusiastic" drivers. The downside to these mechanical nannies is they reduce driver control and slow down your shifts. I don't care how much BMW spent on R&D for the CDV. It must go. The good news is that it's a geniunely easy job. After getting the car in the air, removing the CDV and reconnecting the lines literally took me less than 60 seconds. Here's a photo of what the stock setup looks like.
You simply remove the two metal retainer clips (which is easy with a pick tool) and take the CDV out of the line.
The clutch line back plugs right back into the junction and you just have to re-use one of the metal retaining clips to hold it back in place.
It's truly that easy. I used a plastic pinch clamp to minimize the amount of brake fluid that escaped while I was removing the CDV, which worked pretty well. A few drops still escaped, but it wasn't a big deal.
To purge any air bubbles from the line when I was done, I topped off the master cylinder and used my trusty Motive Power Bleeder to help me remove any air from the lines.
I didn’t bother filling it with fluid; I just topped off the reservoir, hooked up the Power Bleeder, pressurized it to about 15 psi, and bled the slave cylinder. There were a few bubbles, but I got them all out in just a few seconds. Easy peasy.
That said, I’m not a fan of the plastic bleed nipple on the slave cylinder. I’d much prefer a metal bleeder like the ones on most Japanese cars, but it is what it is. The plastic bleeder just felt fragile, and I swear I heard the sound of plastic cracking as I tightened the valve back up. Fortunately, it tightened without issue and I haven’t seen any leaks, but it was a bit unnerving.
When I took the 128i for a drive, there was an improvement in the overall smoothness of the car. Is it night and day? Probably not, but it’s noticeable. I felt it as soon as I pulled out of the garage. It’s most apparent in 1st gear or reverse from a stop—when the CDV was installed, there was a slight shudder when the clutch engaged, which is noticeably reduced after removing the CDV, making the car drive slightly smoother from a stop.
Gear changes in lower gears also feel a bit smoother, with no slight delay caused by the CDV. While not a giant, earth-shattering change, I definitely enjoy the car ever-so-slightly more without the CDV. Since I was whining about clutch engagement, I went further down the rabbit hole of minor improvement modifications with a cheap $20 clutch stop from eBay.
To explain, since I bought the car, I’ve felt like the clutch pedal is a bit of a stretch to push all the way down with my right leg comfortably positioned near the gas/brake. It’s almost like my left leg is on tiptoes when the clutch is fully depressed. It’s a minor annoyance, one that I mostly notice in light-to-light traffic. Yeah, I know, poor me. Something about first-world-problems. I would post an OEM vs. eBay clutch stop comparison photo, but while removing the OEM piece, it slipped out of my hands and disappeared into the dark recesses of the carpet, never to be seen again. Translation: I wasn’t about to pull up the carpet or dash to search for a tiny piece of plastic.
That said, the eBay piece is noticeably thicker—likely around 3/4" or maybe a tad more.
Installation is slightly awkward, but it can be done in about 3 minutes. It’s really that easy. Just unscrew the old one and screw in (while pressing) the new one. It’s located just above the clutch pedal, and while you can hardly see it unless you’re a contortionist, it’s simple enough to install by feel alone. Here’s a quick photo of the eBay piece installed.
After driving around with all the washers installed, I eventually removed three of them. With all the washers in place, the clutch throw became substantially shorter, which led to me missing gears occasionally because I was letting out the clutch too quickly. I think I was releasing the clutch before the gear was fully engaged, so instead of trying to re-learn my clutch timing after decades of driving a manual, I simply removed three of the washers and called it a day.
Now, I much prefer the feel and throw of the clutch. It feels like the engagement point is closer to the floor, which I enjoy. To be clear, the clutch engagement point hasn’t changed at all, but with the clutch stop added, the distance between the fully depressed position and the engagement point is now shorter, making it feel closer to the floor. This change allows me to shift a bit quicker and smoother. It’s a cheap mod, but overall, it definitely has my seal of approval. After finding my preferred style of shift knob and improving the feel of the clutch, it was now time to tackle the worn down shifter bushings that had 15 years worth of wear and tear on them. I did not find this to be a pleasant job.
It took me a few hours and my slightly-larger-than-average forearms were pretty beat up by the time I finished. Honestly, this is a job that if I had to do it again, I would absolutely pay to rent a lift. With a lift I could have done this job in under half the time, whereas on jack stands, I felt like I was working blind pretty much the whole time on my back. While this wasn't a pleasant experience, it likely would have been pretty easy if I could have stood up and looked at what I was doing. It would have been easier still for someone with thinner forearms.
The interior bushing was very easy and I wouldn't hesitate to swap it out again.
The real pain was the brass fitting/bushing on the transmission.
During this process, I learned I made a mistake: instead of ordering the more expensive OEM BMW brass fitting/bushing, I cheaped out and ordered a brass fitting/bushing from Uro. Avoid this part like the plague—the pin that goes through it (shown above) DOESN’T fit! You’d have to drill it out—yes, that’s both the OEM pin and the pin I ordered from FCP Euro. Maybe Uro makes their own pin, but it doesn’t fit the OEM pin that’s needed to secure it to the transmission.
So, I ended up reusing my OEM brass fitting but removed the rubber-ish bushing from the Uro part to use in my OEM fitting. The fitting that comes with the Uro kit is far too long/tall. There was no way it was ever going to fit, so I spent quite a few rounds with sandpaper trying to shorten the bushing to fit without making it too short. In the end, I still wasn’t able to push that damn pin through by myself. I had to push on it from the hole inside the car while my wife pushed the pin into place from below. Unless the OEM bushing is much shorter, this would be tough to do solo without a third arm, and it’s a very tight space.
Overall, the shifter feels a lot tighter now, but I was terribly convinced it was much more accurate—maybe just a tad. Considering the effort, when I finished up, I wasn't sure I’d do it again. However, after driving the car around for a while, I noticed the frequency of me missing a gear became almost nonexistent. So maybe it made a more noticeable difference than I thought. The only bushing I didn't replace was the rear carrier bushing, due to not being able to figure out how to remove it without damaging the carrier. It actually looked like it was in pretty good shape, but maybe replacing it would improve accuracy? I’m not convinced it would make a big difference, so I probably won’t crawl under the car and rip everything apart again.
After examining everything up close and personal, I think I figured out why BMW shifters feel so rubbery: technically, it has a mechanical linkage, but the shifter itself is mounted to a carrier with rubber bushings on both sides (instead of being solid-mounted to the chassis). If I were a betting man, I’d say this is done to reduce shifter vibration from coming into the cabin. Unfortunately, it also makes the shifter feel a lot less precise compared to something like Honda’s old mechanical linkage boxes. After all that work, the 128i’s overall shifting experience was noticeably improved. When I first got the car, the shifter was so floppy that I couldn’t tell if I was driving a car or stirring a pot of soup. By the time I finished, it had graduated to a pretty decent shifter— with the notable asterisk of, for a BMW.
Comments