Hello ,I am new to this site. I am considering a short shift, B & M or any of the others. Does anyone have any comments on any of these kits?. Thanks in advance.

 

I installed the B&M kit on my 2003 Cooper. At first I loved it, but over 10,000 miles or so, it eventually came to have quite a bit of resistance to shifting, so much so that I actually developed shoulder pain at one point from shifting into 5th gear. I don't know if my case was typical, but based on my experience, I wouldn't recommend that kit. People seemed to have good luck with whatever the competing kit was (Alta?).

I've left my '05 Cooper's gearbox stock.

 

I put a B&M on my '02 more than 4 years and 50K miles ago. I love it and I've had zero problems.

 

hmmmm.... do you not think that the shift of the stock shifter is short enough? I would have to say it has one of the shortest stock shift throws of any car ive driven.

 

I have a cobalt ssk from moss mini on my 02 Cooper. I'm not sure if they still sell them but it was much cheaper than the others and I like it a lot.

 

So how does the short shifter affect the driver? I really do not no anything about short shifters.


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A short shifter is meant to shorten the throw between gears. In other words, the distance you have to move the **** to shift from 1st to 2nd (or 2nd to 3rd, etc) is less.

Other effects on the driver depend on the method used to shorten the throw. Some kits work entirely on the bits at the bottom end of the stock shifter, so the stock shaft is retained and the length of the shaft (height of the ****) is unchanged. Other kits replace the stock shaft, among other bits, and the replacement shaft is usually shorter, so the shift **** sits lower.

 

Guys, i installed a B&M short shifter on my 02 R50, and i have a problem. When in neutral the stick is not sitting at the center like before, and at 2nd, 4th and reverse, it's hitting sth under. Has anyone had this problem?

 

Did you ever do a 6-speed swap? It looks like you got either a 5-speed or 6-speed kit depending on which trans you have. Just a guess.

 

Nope, i still have the 5 speed Midland. The part number of the kit i got is 45129, and the label writes 02-03 Cooper / 02-03 Cooper S. At the same time, my mech replaced a ****ed shift cable. Is there any chance it can be related?

 

Ahhh...crap...wait...that makes sense. I didnt change the shifter when doing my swap so the SSK woiuld be the same for both models. The only thing that changed were the cables. I would say that is your problem as I had the same issue when I didnt know I had to swap cables.

 

The cable we replaced is supposed to be the same with the damaged one... i hope he did check the cable length.

 

I have a situation with popping off my shifter, a couple years ago it had popped off and I didn't know what to do cuz every time I shifted either smoothly or roughly it just came off and being the genius that I was I thought it would be a good idea to super glue the shifter on to the ball. 2 years later I can't take it off, I live in Texas and it gets pretty hot in my car and I've tried removing it at the highest temperature spike of the day and I still can't pop it off, do any of y'all have any suggestions on how to remove it?

Aaron

 

Nope....unless you hacksaw the ball apart and clean up the rod and install a new shifter ball on there....sorry