[jaks]

Bought a short shift lever from Tischer for my e90 330i. During installation, I tried putting the lever in both possible orientations.

Orientation 1: Seems centered in the shift boot in front to back alignment (maybe biased slightly to the rear) but every gear is biased heavily to the right. Puts 1st & 2nd gear at the center of the shift boot while 5th and 6th end up on the far right side of the shift boot. In fact, 6th ends up very close to the rear right corner of the boot.

Orientation 2: Seems centered in the shift boot in left to right alignment, but every gear is biased heavily to the front. So much so that R, 1,3,5 are VERY close to the front edge of the boot, and 2, 4, 6 don't go any farther toward the rear than the center of the boot.

Neither orientation mimiks the stock shift lever, which is pretty much centered in the shift boot from front to back, left to right. It looks kind of weird either way. I currently have it set up in orientatation 1 as described above, since it puts 1,2,3,4 near the center of the boot where most of the shifting occurs, and 5 and 6 are kind of out of the way to the right where you just leave it for highway cruising.

Can anybody tell me which orientation is actually correct and why? I've done the search but it's hard to tell from the way people describe it in their posts.

Thanks in advance.

[Minipuck V 2.0]

Originally Posted by jaks

Bought a short shift lever from Tischer for my e90 330i. During installation, I tried putting the lever in both possible orientations.

Orientation 1: Seems centered in the shift boot in front to back alignment (maybe biased slightly to the rear) but every gear is biased heavily to the right. Puts 1st & 2nd gear at the center of the shift boot while 5th and 6th end up on the far right side of the shift boot. In fact, 6th ends up very close to the rear right corner of the boot.

Orientation 2: Seems centered in the shift boot in left to right alignment, but every gear is biased heavily to the front. So much so that R, 1,3,5 are VERY close to the front edge of the boot, and 2, 4, 6 don't go any farther toward the rear than the center of the boot.

Neither orientation mimiks the stock shift lever, which is pretty much centered in the shift boot from front to back, left to right. It looks kind of weird either way. I currently have it set up in orientatation 1 as described above, since it puts 1,2,3,4 near the center of the boot where most of the shifting occurs, and 5 and 6 are kind of out of the way to the right where you just leave it for highway cruising.

Can anybody tell me which orientation is actually correct and why? I've done the search but it's hard to tell from the way people describe it in their posts.

Thanks in advance.

I believe oreintation 2 is the incorrect one ... the first one might be correct, but its best to post pics so that we can see how it really is ... words don't really describe what is really going on as well as pics do

[jaks]

Well, it's too bad I can't really show comparison pics between the 2 orientations, but here's Orientation #1 from gears 1-6, and the last pic is neutral. I tried to take the pics from the same reference every time.

Notice how close to the center 1-2 are relative to 5-6.

[Minipuck V 2.0]

if the last pic is neautral ... it looks right to me ... a side shot of neutral will confirm it ...

[getBMWparts]

Originally Posted by jaks

Bought a short shift lever from Tischer for my e90 330i. During installation, I tried putting the lever in both possible orientations.

Orientation 1: Seems centered in the shift boot in front to back alignment (maybe biased slightly to the rear) but every gear is biased heavily to the right. Puts 1st & 2nd gear at the center of the shift boot while 5th and 6th end up on the far right side of the shift boot. In fact, 6th ends up very close to the rear right corner of the boot.

Orientation 2: Seems centered in the shift boot in left to right alignment, but every gear is biased heavily to the front. So much so that R, 1,3,5 are VERY close to the front edge of the boot, and 2, 4, 6 don't go any farther toward the rear than the center of the boot.

Neither orientation mimiks the stock shift lever, which is pretty much centered in the shift boot from front to back, left to right. It looks kind of weird either way. I currently have it set up in orientatation 1 as described above, since it puts 1,2,3,4 near the center of the boot where most of the shifting occurs, and 5 and 6 are kind of out of the way to the right where you just leave it for highway cruising.

Can anybody tell me which orientation is actually correct and why? I've done the search but it's hard to tell from the way people describe it in their posts.

Thanks in advance.

PM me your e-mail address, I can send you the installation instructions for the SSK if you need 'em

[jumpman86]

bump this thread. Do any 330 owners with SSK have the same issue.

I also went with orientation 1 since my shift knob will bang on the front when i shift to 1st, 3rd, and 5th...

Can anyone confirm whether orientation 1 is correct?

Thanks.

[VTECaddict]

I installed mine in orientation 1 because the other way makes it hit the trim in R,1,3,5 and that's definitely not right.

It does sit more to the right, because if you compare it to the stock lever, the stock lever has a tilt to the left whereas the SSK does not.

[jumpman86]

Thanks, VTEC

I thought I got the wrong parts when I installed it following instructions for a 328.

I was banging my knob on the trim following orientation 2 so I switched but was not sure if it was correct.

[BlindGoldfish]

Hmm. This thread concerns me as I was going to have my OEM BMW SSK installed on my 330i in a few days. For those who did it, would you still recommend it even with the weird orientation?

I have the ZHP shift knob with the standard linkage and I like it, but I don't want to mess it up with the SSK...

[jumpman86]

I think its worth the installation. You have to make sure to try it out before you put the c clip back on. Make sure that you will not bang your shift knob when shifting to 1st, 3rd, and 5th.

I think the results is worth the weird orientation. The shifting experience felt like my old s2000.

Give it a short, its only 1 hours time to revert back to stock.

Have fun.

[BlindGoldfish]

I don't really have access to get under my car so I was going to have the dealer install it.

Which brand SSK do you have jumpman?

[bioman]

Ya, thats the crappy thing about OEM SSK. It's an OEM part, but it's not really made specific since it doesn't have the tilt. So, each shift will be toward the right a little, which looks a bit weird.

If you get the B&M or UUC, the shifter have the correct bend to them so they will sit correctly.

[jumpman86]

I have the OEM SSK.

[RDHTran]

I have the oem ssk for my 330i. I did notice that everything was more towards the right but it didn't bother me that much because the shifting was so much better then the previous set up.

OP: I know the ssk sits fairly low compared to other ssk. Do you have any issues with the stock boot when shifting? I was afraid to put the stock boot back on because I feel there will be to much slack because of the extra space.

[BlindGoldfish]

Originally Posted by Rtran

I have the oem ssk for my 330i. I did notice that everything was more towards the right but it didn't bother me that much because the shifting was so much better then the previous set up.

OP: I know the ssk sits fairly low compared to other ssk. Do you have any issues with the stock boot when shifting? I was afraid to put the stock boot back on because I feel there will be to much slack because of the extra space.

Dammit. I don't know if I want the shifter to be forward and to the right. Seems weird that an OEM BMW part wouldn't have the same orientation.

BTW, the OP started this thread a couple years ago...

[VTECaddict]

It doesn't really make a difference in use. Just when you look at it, its more right than you would expect with the stock lever.

[BlindGoldfish]

I had my BMW SSK installed yesterday. I didn't go with the whole kit, just the lever. But I also ordered a ZHP knob.

Just by looking at it, it MAY sit slightly to the right. But it's hard to tell, and it definitely doesn't affect driving it at all. However, with the ZHP knob, it is definitely lower (not a bad thing for me). The only negative is the OEM boot that's on there. It doesn't get in the way, but looks a little large for the SSK/knob.

Shift are definitely quicker, but not noticeably harder. 2 to 3 happens in an instant and is incredibly fun. I'd definitely recommend this setup to someone with a 330i 6MT.

[e90pilot]

I have the BMW SSK in my 325i and it sits perfectly. I ordred from ticher also and accidetally got the 330i shifter which made the car pretty much undrivable. I think that the 330i also requires a new carrier that adjusts the shifter position. The 328i and 325i have a differently shaped SSK and do not require a new carrier. Maybe the Ticher guys can give us some input here.

[BlindGoldfish]

To my knowledge they didn't replace the carrier. Unless the carrier is the white piece that the bulbus part fits in.

[e90pilot]

I think you're right, the 335i has a new carrier and not the 330. It costs over $100 more than all the other cars.