changed my 94 325i Auto T handle to 96+ pistol gri

[Turbotec]

I just changed my 94 325i auto transmission shift handle to the pistol grip kind of the 96 and newer. I had to change the whole shift assy, pretty easy. bought all of it for under 50 shipped to my house....ebay!!..which is about what some people pay for the aftermarket kind. I will post picts and how I did it in a little bit. for right now, here is what she looks like:





the worst thing about the whole transfer and my main question is this. I had to file down about a 1/4" off the shaft of the shifter...(the new one), cause it would always stay in the pushed in position but wouldnt move any gears cause the shaft was to long. anyways has anyone else had to do this? also I like the wood handle, but if anyone has a leather one for sale email me. turbotec@charter.net leather matches my scheme better.

[Furious]

turned out great. im not sure on your questions so ill leave that to someone else to field.

[paul2k]

Hey Turbotec, that's one of the mods i've been trying to get for my 325i but wasn't sure if it was possible to do so.

I'll appreciate if you can write down a quick memo of how you did it. In fact this is the one I'm trying to get. Here's another pic and the last one. This company sell those for around US$100. I think it's a good/cheap mod if I can fit it in

[Turbotec]

wow that is a cool shifter. where can I get that one? here is what I did
went on ebay, and bought an auto shift assy from a 96+ 325i (which is what I have but mines '94) then everything is pretty much swap out the old and in with the new as they are identical except for the shift shaft is shorter on the new one. first take off your handle 3MM allen. then take off the shift cover....the P N R D 3 2 1 thing with a butter knife. pops right off. from there is 3 10MM bolts holding down the shift assy. 1 10MM bold holding down one of the 3 shift linkages and one 18MM bolt holding in the main shift linkage. 2 wire harnesses to unhook and wiggle out the shift assy out of the main hole. it take a little finesse to get it out of that shift hole, but it will come without removing the console! put everything back the way you took it out and you are set. to help in the removal process, I did pull out the OBC and the glasses tray, but you dont need to. shortly I am going to be doing a write-up with pictures and whatnot, I will post it here.
one thing I didnt mention, cause I dont know if you have to do it with other setups, I had to file down the bottom of that part sticking out of the new shift knob. if you see the pictures you posted for that knob, the shaft coming out, had about 1/2 inch....well I couldnt move from any position when I installed the new knob after everything was done, cause it was to long keeping the button pushed all the way in. so I filed about 1/4" off the shaft and that seemed to fix my problem. anyways have fun with it!

[paul2k]

You can get one of this from a used euro-parts dealer close to my place here in Tokyo This is where I live.... :lol:

I'm gonna get one of those shifters but I'm not too sure I'll try to change it right away. I don't feel to comfortable using socket wrenches as most of you do, all I live for is 0s and 1s (I'm a sys admin)

Jokes apart, I'll take my time to change it just so I don't screw up and end up in the BMW stealer, I mean dealer. In the mean time if you have any other info on how I can screw up while changing/filing the shifter, please post it.

Thanks for the detailed memo,

[Turbotec]

im going to be doing a write-up with pictures....hopefully this weekend, so it will be much easier to follow. hope it will help some people in the long run too. I will let you know when I get it all done

[El Presidente]

looks nice. Ive been thinking its time for a new shifter for myself.