Sam’s BMW Z4 Short shifter fitting

BMW z4 Short shifter fitting.

Today we have Sams immaculate 3.0i Z4 in for an oil service and short shifter fitting.

Here’s a few shots of the short shifter being fitted, which can be used as a brief guide to help you through fitting your own for the DIY enthusiast.

To do the job, you’ll need access to underneath the car using 4 axle stands. Here we have the car on a vehicle lift.

So lets get to work. To start with you need to remove the gear knob, and the leather gaiter.  Give the gear knob a firm pull, be careful not to get whacked in the face as you do it (we’ve all suffered that one).

After removal you’ll see this.

Pull up the rubber surround, note the arrow pointing forward. This needs to go back the same way.

Now go under the car and start removing the heat shields from above the exhaust. Some people remove the exhaust system, doing so makes the job a whole load easier but will add a hour to the total time required.

With the exhaust shield loose, you should have a good 3-4 inches of access.  I use a long telescopic magnet and long screwdriver for the next bit which is to  un-clip the shifter from the link rod.  If you look with a good torch you can see from the right side that there is a slide on clip that connects the link rod to the shifter.  Push this off and with the magnet close by you can catch it and retrieve it.

If you struggle with that part then the only method is to remove the exhaust system allowing complete removal of the heat shields.

Once you’ve removed the clip, from inside the car you need to twist the plastic base of the gear lever using long nose pliers as seen below. This will release the lever, pull up and it’s out.

Fitting is the reverse of this procedure.  Getting the clip back on from underneath can be done by holding it in place using the magnet, and pushing the clip on using your screwdriver.

It can be tricky but patience will mean it saves you a lot of aggro of removing the exhaust, which can suffer snapped bolts at the downpipe joint.

 

Old VS New.

Bmw Z4 servicing Basildon