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BMW gearshifter in w124? - Printable Version

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BMW gearshifter in w124? - rn180 - 06-14-2016

Does anyone have photos of how they have mounted the gearshifter from zf gearbox in w124 chassis?


RE: BMW gearshifter in w124? - JVance - 06-14-2016

BMW E92 shifter into w124, though not for a ZF but for a Merc 716 swap:

The shifter base actually bolts up to the 716:
   

But it's too short, so I cut it to mock it up and planned to lengthen it:
   

However, the tunnel was not tall enough for the shifter base to fit inside the tunnel without the shift rod hitting the damper on the driveshaft. Cutting away the tunnel to allow it to fit would have required removing the dash and HVAC...there's some things I will not do if I don't have to. So, I made a plate that bolts onto the top of the tunnel:
   

Then machined the base of the support so it was flat on the underside, and added some slots for mounting/adjusting the alignment of the shifter:
   

Like so:
   

Voila:
   

I don't know how tall the BMW box is compared to the 716, or whether your driveshaft will interfere with the shiftrod if the entire shifter base is located within the tunnel. YMMV


RE: BMW gearshifter in w124? - Petar - 06-15-2016

I wonder why is the shifter attached to the the trans in stock applications ?? I can't see an advantage versus being attached to the chassis.


RE: BMW gearshifter in w124? - JVance - 06-15-2016

My guess is that the transmission-mounted shifter isolates some of the driveline vibrations from the chassis. However, the consensus among BMW owners is that solid-mount shifters are less precise than when attached to the transmission if using stock/soft engine and transmission mounts; good for a track car with solid engine/trans mounts, but not so good on the street. 

Given the option of modifying the BMW shifter which has readily-available replacement parts, or trying to find the rare and overpriced Mercedes shifter which supposedly isn't terribly precise to begin with, the BMW shifter was a no-brainer.

We'll see how it jives with all the engine motion of my 602.


RE: BMW gearshifter in w124? - Petar - 06-15-2016

Do you have any reverse lockout on the shifter ? Or is that in the trans ? 

I'm really curious to hear how well will it work   Smile


RE: BMW gearshifter in w124? - JVance - 06-15-2016

I still need to fabricate that as there is no detent between 1/2 and reverse on the 716 selector shaft. I'm probably going to add a spring-loaded "stop" that impedes the shifter when in the 1/2 gate, and requires extra effort to push over to reverse.


RE: BMW gearshifter in w124? - SurfRodder - 07-08-2016

Thanks for posting this...I am planning on a ZF 6 speed for my 606 build and this will likely be the way I end up doing it.  I think that trans has been installed in a w124/201 before, but I think they used an aftermarket shifter to make it work...I'd rather use stock parts (mod'd as required) whenever possible (there's also a lot of aftermarket support for this particular shifter).

I may even get another BMW shifter to retrofit this into my 6 speed swap too...that one is still sloppier than I'd like.