I got my Whalen Shift Machine **** last night and did the install. It's fantastic. 18oz (510g) of beautifully machined stainless steel goodness. His method of locking the **** to the shifter is really well engineered, too. Makes the shifting so much nicer, and the **** feels great in the hand. The OEM **** just didn't work well for me, it was just very uncomfortable.

Doug was *awesome* to work with, very helpful, and once I placed my order it was a three day turn around. Highly recommend him if you are looking for a different shifter. He mainly does Mini and BMW, but will also do other cars, too.

 

Whalen's made metal shift ***** for Minis for years. I suspect you can use the same locking method on the F56 that you could on the R56. I bought a very cool custom made African burlewood/blackwood shift **** and ebrake handle set for my 2006 R56 that came with Whalen's mounting piece.

 

Whalen's ***** are second to none. Do you have the armrest in your F56? I've been wondering how the shorter height with the Whalen **** meshes with the armrest, which already gets in my way even with the regular shifter.

 

I do have the armrest, and it is never in the down position because it is completely awkward to shift with it there, plus it gets in the way of the brake lever as well. I just keep it flipped up all the time. It really is a bad design, especially since it doesn't slide back and forth. It came with the car (I bought off the lot) so I didn't have any choice in the matter. If I were buying a new one, I wouldn't bother with it.

Eventually, I want to get a short shifter. The throws are a little too long for me right now. That might help with the armrest issue a bit, too.

 

Looking really good!

 

That's what I figured. Well hopefully a company will develop an armrest delete kit soon. Even with it folded up my elbow still hits the damn thing when I shift.

 

I know someone on one of the forums removed theirs, but it left a seriously ugly hole in the console. I think they ended up ordering an OEM non-armrest console as a replacement. A delete kit would be nice, and if someone makes one I will be all over it.

 

The Batty design, did you come up with that or did Whalen? I like it. Look in my Gallery for pix of the one I had made. Gallery is a good place to stash pix, I don't have any of that **** anymore.

 

It's actually a freeware design that I found online a couple of years ago. I love bats, and, according to the Husband, I am bat-sh*t crazy :D so it became my "thing".

 

That wood **** looked very nice. I had checked those out, but I really prefer the round ball ***** instead of the elongated type. The Husband would absolutely love one of those wooden ones, though. They really do look great and I bet they patina up nicely, too.

 

looks hot! i want one. so i imagine you ordered the polished one, correct? i'm thinking of going with a brushed one with the standard 6-gears logo.

 

It's polished on top, brushed on the sides.

 

Those wood ones were made by a former NAM member Robin Cassady. He probably only made a dozen or so in his shop, sold for about $180 each. He said it was more trouble than it was worth in the end especially the ebrake handles.

 

Beautiful. I had a Whalen in my R50. Missed using it ever since.

I do much prefer the F56 shift **** to the R50/56, far more comfortable in the hand.

Could you do a write up on how to change gear **** in the F56?

 

Sure, but I didn't take pics, and I don't know if I did it "correctly". Plus, this is only for a Whalen **** because he has his own adapter ring that he custom made to work with Minis.

I had to pull up hard on the **** to get it off. This ended up pulling off the entire shift boot with it. It might be better to loosen the ring at the bottom of the boot where it attaches to the console first because pulling on it this way could have snapped the connector tabs on the ring, but it worked out ok for me. In order to completely remove the boot, you have to disconnect a small white pin connector under it that controls the sport/mid/green mode button. Once that is disconnected, you can just lift the whole thing off the shifter lever.

Then comes the annoying part, getting the OEM shift **** detached from the boot. It's held in by 4 clips that clip into a ring, and you need to compress all the clips to get it to come off. The ring holds the **** on and in the boot. I ended up flipping the boot inside out so I could see the clips and ring easier (I took a pic of the clips on the bottom of the shifter - see below). Once you compress those, the **** will come off the boot. This is seriously a pain in the ***, and expect a scuffed knuckle or two.



Since the Mini uses a pressure fit, you will need an adapter to fit other ***** to the shift lever. Whalen's ***** already have the adapter attached to the ****, and the adapter has a collar that you push upwards into the ****. This pulls back the bearings that hold it onto the shifter. You have to pull up on the collar to be able to put the **** on the shifter. Once the collar drops back down, it pushes the bearings out again and they firmly grip the shift lever. I am not explaining this well, but once you see it in person, it makes total sense. There's also a cut out in the top of the shift lever, and inside the adapter is a bar that drops into this cut out, making the **** that much more secure. You cannot put the **** on solidly unless this bar is set into the cut out on the shift lever. You have to press down pretty hard to get the **** to set properly. If you don't have it on fully, the **** will spin and you will be able to move it up and down. Once it is set properly, there is no play in it. It will be on there very solidly.

Whalen also supplied me with a shaft collar that had a set screw in it. So, before putting the boot back on, this shaft collar goes on the shifter, and then you push the new shifter **** on (push it on hard so it snaps all the way down and there is no play in it) and move the shaft collar up so it is right at the bottom of the new ****. Tighten the set screw, and then pull hard to get the new shift **** off again.

Put the boot back on over the shift lever, reattach the pin connector, snap the boot ring back into place. Fold the top of the boot so the very top 1/2 centimeter or so sits on top of the shaft collar. Put the new **** on, press it down hard so it snaps on solidly, pressing down the boot material between it and the shaft collar, and voila! Enjoy your new shift ****

I wish I had pics, but I hope this at least gives you some idea.

 

Thanks, this will be helpful to lots of people.

 

Nice looking shift ****! Doug does first-rate work for sure. I love my shift **** & e-brake handle - great upgrades over the factory hardware!!

 

How does the diameter compare to stock?

And I wonder how hot these things get in the desert sun. I love the idea of a heavy ****, but am afraid I'll be annoyed by burning my hand all the time =P

 

I really love that particular ****. But wow, they are EXPENSIVE. Looks like $150.00 plus a $25.00 custom engraving charge. $175.00 for a shifter **** is expensive. Nice, though.

 

They do get hot when exposed to direct sunlight. Just put a sock over the **** when the car is parked.

Pricing has gone up since I bought my (generic pattern) **** in 2002 ... but Doug's ***** are pieces of art.

 

OUTSTANDING Quality.............You get what you pay for,.......there is no better shift **** out there.

 

I agree 100%! You are getting not only a ****, but you also get a well-crafted and engineered adapter that fits the **** on perfectly. Well worth the investment.

Shifting has gotten smoother for me since I switched *****, and my gas mileage has gotten better as well. It's a win for me

 

The diameter is slightly smaller than stock, mainly because of the leather/pleather part that Mini uses that wraps over the top of the stock **** (that part that has the shift pattern on it). If that part was gone, I think the ***** would be very similar in size. It was that part of the **** that made shifting so uncomfortable for me. I also love the feel of the new ****, it's just so smooth and buttery in hand, it almost feels soft

Here's a terrible comparison picture



As for how hot they will get...they will get HOT, especially in a desert climate. However, if you have tinting, and you put a sock over it (as someone already posted), it's totally liveable. I actually bought some ipod nano socks on ebay to use as a cover and they work very well. For those of us in cold climates, the **** will be freezing in the winter, too. But a set of driving gloves helps with that

 

A sock on the ****, the oldest trick in the book!

 

The Whalen looks Great.. Couldn't help to notice that you have a cravenspeed phone mount. Can you post a pic of that also please? (sorry to change topic) I've been going back and forth on the cravenspeed and waiting for the mini click and drive.