A few of us were lamenting in this thread....

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...15#post1365215

...about how much we'd like to have a custom Whalen shift know for our MINI Coopers with CVT. If there's enough interest, perhaps Doug and his folks would consider our request to design one.

If you're interested, please respond to this thread.

Thanks.

 

+1 for Whalens on CVTs

 

I've asked Doug about this in the past and I don't think he knew how it could be done. It is a totally different animal than a **** for a M/T.

I'd love one for my auto S.

 

No "folks" here; just me and Wally!

I remember being asked about making CVT *****, but I have no clue what would be involved.
If someone wants to help me figure it out, I'm game.

Is there a volunteer in the audience? I'll need pictures, etc.

 

That sounds like a challenge, I might take a peak at taking apart my 'shifter'

 

Doug, worst case scenario I'll figure out how to take it off by MITM and I can show you in person then.

If someone else can do it prior and take good pictures that would be a good start. You know I want one that says Brewmaster.

 

That must be Wally with the rather intimidating jaws in the pic.

Thanks in advance for anyone who works with Doug to try and make this happen. Seeing it in person at MITM would help Doug a lot, I'm sure. And... I've had my shifter off when I put the Redline shift boot on my MINI so I can vouch that it's not rocket science (although you have to be careful not to bust your lip open like I did when that **** came loose).

Redline has a "how to" on their website for removing the ****.

 

Does the **** have any kind of button that needs to be pushed down for reverse, or any other complications?

 

Yes, it has a button that you depress to slide the shift rod right/left into and out of the sport/manual mode.

I'm going to go out and take a photo of it and maybe that'll help you see what we're dealing with. I'll have it posted here in five or ten minutes. Thanks.

 

Hmmm....guess I'd better see one in "person".

Maybe I sneak away to the Dragon this year. That would give me an excuse to leave my dungeon for awhile. I'll leave Wally in charge.

 

Here's a close up that might help

 

And a shot further away that shows the front for an overall perspective:

 

So even though the **** has a button on the side, it still just pulls off of the lever; correct?

Hmmm...there would be no button on a custom ****.
What to do, what to do......

 

Yes, it just pulls off. I'm not sure "just" is the right word because I almost had a self-inflicted aneurism taking that damn thing off in October !

Yes, I can see it would be a tough job. But I should would love to have one that was red leather on the sides and chrome down the middle with the word "Cooper" vertically.

 

I don't know about you, but the only time I need to press the button in is coming out of Park and Nuetral, I can flip it left and right (from D to SD) no problem without the button.

 

Hmm... it may not be feasible creating a CVT ****. The way the button works is... well... when you take off the CVT ****, there's a long plastic rod that's connected to the button in the **** and goes down into the shifter housing. When you push the button, it causes the rod to lower, and pushes in whatever release mechanism there is to allow the shifter to move from park into reverse into the drive modes...

The button kinda serves an important purpose! Unless you (or anyone alse) is clever enough to come up with a workaround.


-Paul!

 

Yeah, not sure that it matters, but I'm probably being overly cautious by using the button when shifting into sport/manual mode. Regardless, the button would need to be part of the new ****.

Jeremy, I know your MINI is a little older. Does your shift **** look exactly like mine ?

 

besides your aftermarket boot, yup (i think, i havnt gazed at it in awhile )

 

Just put the buton on top, like most of the other aftermarket auto *****.

One button, with a return spring, and a shaft that will contact the rod in the shifter. Pretty simple.

 

I have an MCSa, and I have a aftermarket shift **** with NO button. The button is not necessary; it just a safety feature to restrict one from accidently shifting into reverse while driving.


And on that note, if there was a whalen **** available for the MCSa, I would DEFINITELY buy one .

 

You definitely do not need the button to put the car into sport mode. The handle just slides left. And I think skitelluride is right. I've accidentally shifted it without the button. I think the brake being depressed to get out of park is the only requirement. I'll try moving it without using the button tomorrow.

And a button on top defeats the purpose. We want that top to be engraved.

 

Oooh...I'd second that! I've seen the ***** in person and I'm blown away...and very jealous knowing I can't have one. I'd love to see this happen. If the button isn't necessary, I think it would be sweet to have a **** that looks like a manual shifter ****. AWESOME!

 

Just to reiterate, I am 100% positive the button on the **** is NOT necessary. I have been driving my MCSa with an after market **** (aka, no button) for more than a year now. The MINI is always driven in manual shift mode, and thus there is no problem putting the gear shifter into sport mode.

 

in my 06 MCSa, I have to press the brake and press the button to get it out of park and into Reverse. Everything out of reverse I don't need the button. So does that mean, in order for ME to get a **** to work, I would have to put the car in neautral and put the e-brake on full time. It seems like if I put it in park it would be stuck for good. Man, what a problem that would be if I parked the car in Valet! Is the 05 different from the 06?

 

Very True. My older brother had a Mazda 3 5-door for over a year and it was an Auto. He changed the shift **** so there was no button. It also made the car look like a manual (didn't understand why he couldn't just get a stick to begin with )