Gear stick position
 

Just a quick one, when using the standard bmw gearstick how do people find it's location in the cockpit? Would you rather it was moved back a little to bring it away from the dash panel? Thinking of extending the linkage a few inches to move it further back.

Standard position was fine for me. But what I did do (as several others did) was to use a short shifter which came from a Z3 as I remember.

Robin

ps I am short which obviously affects the location of stuff in general.

Hi Mcramsay

There are different length BMW extensions for the gearlinkage. Have a look at my comments here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mikes_...io/2879068794/

BMW very conveniently stamp the centre to centre length on their gear linkage extensions.

I found the Compact's linkage where c=277 gave me the position of gearstick that I wanted.

The standard E36 has C=257.2 (very precise the germans!), taking the gearstick 20mm further forward: you can just see the 257 stamped on the right of the extension in the photo below.

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3228/...5db9c6fa_b.jpg

I fitted a Z3 stick which has a very short throw, and could be persuaded that it is too short for easy changes.

Patrick Short made a great image of the different ratio sticks available:

http://www.msportster.co.uk/data/z3-4.jpg

Although Cabrios and Sportsters are not the same, the chassis dimension are, implying that the engine/gearbox locations are the same, and one assumes so are the seats, so the position of the gearsticks will be the same for both.

Simon Gregory built his Cabrio with the gearstick in the "normal" Marlin position, but then decided to extend his rearwards for ease of use:

Original position:

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/99/30...b59d59f6a2.jpg

After moving:

https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2398/...fe6820ee8c.jpg

Similarly I know Chris Cunliffe built his Cabrio, and then fitted a swan neck to the top of his gearstick to bring it further rearwards.

Mine is as far rearward as I could locate it without fouling on the hand brake when selecting 2nd and 4th gear.

To answer your question I think it is something you should do, rather than just consider doing.

I left mine in the Marlin default position and used a Z3 shifter but still needed to modify the length of the linkage. Mark at Marlin confirmed at the time that no specific shifter would fit their position, they'd located the hole purely based on optimal comfort for driving. I was going to move it back just because it seemed so close to the dash area but I'm glad I left it as being quite tall, it's perfect. With the seat right back my hand falls naturally right on the stick. With a short shift stick and a stubby gearknob it leaves about and inch or two before touching the centre console

https://www.flickr.com/photos/580680...7629233464711/

Cheers for the replies, I will have a look and see what length I have, and see if I can go for a longer one, I have no hole drilled for the stick mount at the moment so it can go where ever I want it to