i cannot find a clear cut post about the play i know alot of people, including myself, have in their r53s gearshift lever. im talking about the free play side to side while in gear. I've pulled up the shift boot and it looks like the ball can move up and down slightly as does the piece that surrounds it. i have not had a chance to pull the airbox out to actually look at the cables or the mechanism, but does anyone know where it comes from? i really hate how sloppy my shifter feels and i want to fix it

 

I am in the midst of an engine rebuild and one of my surprises was finding that the ends of the shifter cables that attach to the transmission have a rubber bushing that was almost completely disintergrated - I would suggest getting a mirror and flashlight and trying to examine that on your car. Parts are not available - if yours are toast, two cables are needed at around $80 and $100.

There is also a discussion going on replacing the bushing on the shifter end of the shifter cables - the bushing is not sold by Mini but is apparently identical to a ford part that can be found for around $8. Search for "shifter cable bushing" and related keywords.

 

yes i have a friend who is having me replace his cables, i was completely shocked when i saw the price tag haha....and it would make sense that i relaced my clutch a few weeks ago, and popping them off probably messed the busing up more...do you happen to have a part number/distributor for them? on fords parts page all i found was the entire cable

 

Heres a link to the other thread that includes the part numbers. This part just fixes the bushing on the shifter end of the cable, not the transmission end of the cable. And remember, there is an "A" style shifter and "B" style shifter that are slightly different (roughly 2002/2003 and 2004-on, but look it up).

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-new-post.html

 

BTW, one of the posts on the other thread mentioned that they spent the big bucks and replaced the cables and the ford bushing and still had more wiggle than they liked.