What's the best way to get it off? I know you're supposed to pull straight up, and the directions say "Open the sunroof to prevent possible damage."

Wow.
Who's done this before?

 

Bump- I'll be needing the same info next week.

 

Nevermind, got it off. It was much easier than I thought. I sat in driver seat grabbed it with both hands, put my elbows on my thigh for leverage, pulled up with a little force, and off it came!

The effort required is like having to open a jelly jar.

 

Do open your sunroof. Also, watch your face. I gave myself a black eye taking my shift **** off!

 

Yea. My next challenge is finding out how imma put the plastic inner ring back together. It was in 4 peices... Off to wal mart for the super glue treat ment. Lol

 

I put a 4" piece of 2x4 in the little cubby hole under the climate control panel, then took two lengths of 2x2 about 30" long: placed one end of each on the 2x4 and snugged them up under the shift **** on either side then lifted on the free ends. **** slid off with no drama whatsoever.

 

I have seen a bunch of people punch themselves in the head getting the shift **** off. If you cant get the plastic press in clip to hold we have some options. You could always change the color.


http://www.ecstuning.com/Mini-2004-Cooper-R53-S-Coupe-L4_1.6L_W11B16A/Interior/Shifter/Shift_Knob/

 

You need this

 

LOL, braminator

I sat in the drivers seat, and just pulled up hard.
On a scale of 1 to 10 on difficulty to remove, mine was about a 5. After I got it off, it never fit back snug, it sometimes turned and spun around, once during some zippy driving, I shifted into 2nd and it came off in my hand , I needed to shift again so I dropped it on the passenger seat and was knobless for a short while

But now I've installed this one

 

I love the Billy Club. Looks great.

 

Gen 2 here, but my experience was like LethalR53's. I just gave it a nice pull and it popped right off, no drama. The problemI did have was the Whalen shift know that just didn't want to stay on. Feisty shifts into 2nd/4th gears would cause it to pop right off!!! JB Weld fixed the problem right nicely.

 

Yea I would say I had the same problem.. Never really went back on once I broke that seal. I think it's because the boot is on the shaft too high and the **** is literally on top of the boot, holding it down

 

I just installed the JCW shift ****...on a scale of 1-10, getting off the old one and putting on the new one ....it was about a 3. Piece of cake. I sat in between the two seats and pulled. Came right off, no issues! Woohoo.

 

Awesome , glad it came off easy. Like above some people have it stick and it takes a quick pull. And open the sunroof.

 

Has anyone used the "Unthreaded Slide-On Shifter Adapter". I got a new **** for XMas, but need to get it on..

 

I have an 09 which has a different bezel than what I've seen around the shift boot, but I went from the passenger side grabbed it with my right hand gave it a tug and it pops off with less effort than opening one of those stupid aspirin bottles were you gotta lineup the arrows, now to install the adapter kit from amazon and add a shift **** I wont hate.