Fuhgetaboutit!

No problemo; it's just me, being the born perfectionist that I am.

These ***** are just a fun sideline for me; the fun is in trying to make the ***** look and work the best that I can, and keeping my wonderful customers happy.

When it stops being fun and becomes just another job, I'll stop making shift *****.

 

^ THAT attitude and the workmanship is why I plan to put Whalen ***** on the other two MINIs.

 

No worries Doug, the quality that you put out is top-notch as it is. Sure we have a bit of a wiggle...but thats nothing that a piece of electrical tape won't fix. We are all guinea pigs...let us run on our wheel . You really are the man Doug, don't ever stop making shift *****.

 

No you won't. You're the Ollivander of shift *****. We'll Imperius you if necessary to compel your services.

(sorry - on a Harry Potter jag today...)

 

Huh???

 

Oh, go read a Harry Potter book, or two, or seven, and you'll understand.

 

No time for Harry. I'm doing good just to read my e-mails.

 

Just a question, should the ball spin freely from the collar? I've noticed that mine does from day 1...is that normal?

 

Yes. The collar is free to spin all it wants; it's only job is to keep the six locking ***** down in the groove.

The ball should not spin on the lever, though.

 

I just received the CVT shift lever yesterday.

Now that I actually have my hands on one of these things, it's obvious why the ***** don't fit properly; there are several major differences between the CVT and manual transmission levers.
In fact, I'm surprised that anyone is able to get a manual **** to fit anywhere near properly.

I can easily modify my attachment mechanism to fit the CVT cars, but it will have to wait until after I return from MITM.

If it's not too much trouble, I would like those who have purchased one of my ***** for their CVT to drop me an e-mail, so I can compile a list.
Obviously, I know who a couple of you are, from this thread; but there are another two or three out there who I may have forgotten about (my record-keeping skills are lousy! )

I would like to make a small "plug" here, if it's okay.

I ordered a CVT lever from the parts guys at Patrick BMW in Schaumburg IL last Monday, and they accidentally shipped me a manual lever.

When I called on Wednesday to get the order straightened out, I mentioned to John Cook exactly what I wanted the CVT lever for.
I was a little shocked when he quoted me the price; the assembly is about $350.00, wholesale.

Anyway, John offered to ship me the CVT lever, let me use it for fitment purposes, and return it for a full refund when I'm finished (provided that it's still in as-new condition, of course).

His offer surprised and impressed me immensely! It reminded me of the level of cooperation and helpful attitude that is shown daily by the members of the MINI community, on this forum.

After I finish with the CVT lever and get it shipped back to him, I plan to hit him up for the same deal on an Auto lever.

 

That's excellent news, Doug ! Glad to see you made some real progress in resolving the issue.

I might have to switch my on-line dealership for parts ordering to Patrick BMW/MINI. That's some impressive customer service they displayed !

If you're going to offer to correct the fitting for those of us who have your CVT/Auto ***** installed already, I bet you're going to have a hard time getting us to take them off... because we have grown very attached to them already.

 

Well, you'll be better-attached to the new ones!

As it turns out, it won't involve a huge change to the attachment fitting; the Lexan pin inside the **** has to be slightly larger in diameter, and relocated quite a bit lower than the manual ones.

The CVT lever is much shorter, as far as the ****-mounting area is concerned. And the anti-rotation slot is a bit wider.

 

But I love my Snoopy....

All I know is there is no way I'm putting the regular **** back on. We almost killed ourselves trying to get it off the first time!

 

I've had the shift **** on and off on Bergey four times now. I remember them all very well. The second time, I gave myself a fat lip. When it came off, FINALLY, it rrrrrrrrrrreally came off. BAM ! Right in the kisser.

I was proud of myself though. Just 7 cuss words.

Fun times.

 

My auto **** goes off and on pretty easily now.

I do it occasionally, just imagining that I have a Whalen **** to put on.



Alas, someday...

 

Yeah I was standing on the seats, with the sunroof open, with my body full into it...nothing.

So hubby gave it a try (6'5, 270). I was like "be careful, they said it comes of really --"

*POW!* "WHOA!"

"-- fast..."

 

Yeah, it's not like the **** says, "hey, be careful now, I'm getting ready to come loose".

Impolite little bastard, it is.

 

Doug, I'm getting confused. So is the CVT **** different than the AUTO ****??? Are you still looking to get an AUTO **** to look at??

 

We don't know for sure right now, but comparing the dimensions posted by Blimey with my own, they seem to be the same. (Atleast to my untrained 'eye')

 

Duck, in the event Doug is out making custom ***** for Ferraris right now, I'll help you out.

Here's the last line from his post this morning, which you might have missed.

 

Nope; Lamborghinis today.

 

Patiently waiting on Doug to let us know he has the **** perfected.

Guess I need to be thinking of a design now.

 

Yep, you need to start thinking about that because Doug will be ready to go again in a few weeks.

With HO, your options are unlimited !

5-ball
13-ball (if you prefer stripes)
Pumpkins (nah, too obvious)
Bats (sticking with the Halloween theme)
Traffic Cones
Denver Broncos


Okay... not too many GOOD options. Might just have to go with polished chrome with something etched into it and forget the orange. Or maybe you're more creative than I.

 

SWEET.

Make sure you charge the owner of that machine DOUBLE the actual price.

 

I've been pretty confused too. I've had lots of dimensions tossed at me; but there's no substitution for having an actual nekkid shift lever in my shop, where I have all of the proper measuring 'stuff'.

Making the attaching fitting for the CVT will not be a problem at all.

The Auto shift lever is even more expensive than the CVT. And I didn't want to seem greedy when I spoke with the parts guy at Patrick; so what I'll do is hit him up for an Auto lever, after I've returned the CVT one (and the manual lever that they sent me by mistake).

I've already made a drawing of the CVT, I'll do the same with the Auto.

At this point, I don't foresee any problem with the attchment fitting for the Auto; but whether it will be the same exact fitting as the CVT, I can't say.