This has been a long time coming as, after being in love with the UUC Evo short shift kit in my BMW, the throws in the GTO seemed delivery-truck long.
It is for this reason that I will announce that a buddy of mine and myself have just completed 2-3/4 installs of the B&M Sport Shifters in our GTOs.
2-3/4, you puzzle? I'll get to that.
It's a straightforward enough install- but don't let anyone tell you it's easy. Anyone who tells you this are dangerous liars deserving to be beaten with long sticks. Undoing the nuts that hold the rubber boot flange to the car's structure alone is an excersize best undertaken by molusks, verylarge amoebas, certain very talented porn stars, and others with supernatural flexibility. There are several other little things about the install that will make you absolutely insane.
We installed the shifter in my car in about 3-1/2 hours, going slowly and methodically and leaving a thousand four-letter words in our wake-- or mine anyway.
OK, after a quick FCF down a couple of local roads, we tackle his '05 GTO. Believe it or not, there is less access to those goddamned dust boot flange bolts in an '05 than an '04. I really had to get nearly intimate with the tranny housing to get the drivers side forward bolt off! Other than that, Everything went very smoothly and quickly this time- hell, we're pros now-- until we got to the point where we were going to mount the B&M unit to the tranny top. There, we discovered the o-ring that the B&M instructions warn you that needs to be removed though failing to say which o-ring they speak of. It surrounds the hole that enters the inside of the transmission-- very hard to see unless you know where to look.
I had no idea what might happen if that loose o-ring was left there, though none of the scenarios I considered were good things. So, after a couple of abortive attempts to talk myself out of disassembling almost the entire install to pluck that o-ring free, we decided to tear into my car after we finished his.
Thus, 2-3/4 installs.
Right then we discovered that, in his box of shifter fun, B&M had thoughtfully shorted us the two countersunk flathead machine screws that hold the shifter lever to the shifter assy. Grand. We had to cschlep over those friendly (*cough*) efficient (*cough kak*) and knowledgeable (*wheeze*) pros over at Auto Zone and scare up bolts he could at least get home. We didn't find the exact bolts, but we were able to trailer-park engineer it suffifciently
Verdict? These things are sweeeeet. This shifter is not for everyone. Shift action is definitely a lot more mechanical, notchy, and interior noise goes up noticably ( cool deep roar fills the cabin at high revs)-- but these are all good things as far as I'm concerned.
These shifters rock, and seem absolutely worth the bloodloss and substantial scarring on my right arm.
A way special "Thanks Dood" shout out goes to GTO4Ever for his excellent writeup!!!
It is for this reason that I will announce that a buddy of mine and myself have just completed 2-3/4 installs of the B&M Sport Shifters in our GTOs.
2-3/4, you puzzle? I'll get to that.
It's a straightforward enough install- but don't let anyone tell you it's easy. Anyone who tells you this are dangerous liars deserving to be beaten with long sticks. Undoing the nuts that hold the rubber boot flange to the car's structure alone is an excersize best undertaken by molusks, verylarge amoebas, certain very talented porn stars, and others with supernatural flexibility. There are several other little things about the install that will make you absolutely insane.
We installed the shifter in my car in about 3-1/2 hours, going slowly and methodically and leaving a thousand four-letter words in our wake-- or mine anyway.
OK, after a quick FCF down a couple of local roads, we tackle his '05 GTO. Believe it or not, there is less access to those goddamned dust boot flange bolts in an '05 than an '04. I really had to get nearly intimate with the tranny housing to get the drivers side forward bolt off! Other than that, Everything went very smoothly and quickly this time- hell, we're pros now-- until we got to the point where we were going to mount the B&M unit to the tranny top. There, we discovered the o-ring that the B&M instructions warn you that needs to be removed though failing to say which o-ring they speak of. It surrounds the hole that enters the inside of the transmission-- very hard to see unless you know where to look.
I had no idea what might happen if that loose o-ring was left there, though none of the scenarios I considered were good things. So, after a couple of abortive attempts to talk myself out of disassembling almost the entire install to pluck that o-ring free, we decided to tear into my car after we finished his.
Thus, 2-3/4 installs.
Right then we discovered that, in his box of shifter fun, B&M had thoughtfully shorted us the two countersunk flathead machine screws that hold the shifter lever to the shifter assy. Grand. We had to cschlep over those friendly (*cough*) efficient (*cough kak*) and knowledgeable (*wheeze*) pros over at Auto Zone and scare up bolts he could at least get home. We didn't find the exact bolts, but we were able to trailer-park engineer it suffifciently
Verdict? These things are sweeeeet. This shifter is not for everyone. Shift action is definitely a lot more mechanical, notchy, and interior noise goes up noticably ( cool deep roar fills the cabin at high revs)-- but these are all good things as far as I'm concerned.
These shifters rock, and seem absolutely worth the bloodloss and substantial scarring on my right arm.
A way special "Thanks Dood" shout out goes to GTO4Ever for his excellent writeup!!!
