the concept of short shifting

Short Shifting theory in Detail
for those of you who like to study up on the fine points...

The ergonomically correct UUC Motorwerks EVOLUTION II shifter provides perfect shifter centering and height. Shifts are crisp and shifting effort is only slightly increased.

Shown in 1999 M3

get the Flash 3 plug-in

The short shifter is not a new thing for BMWs. One look at the comparison page will show you that other companies have been making their solution to short shifters for years.

When you move a shifter knob from within your car, many things happen. In a BMW, it starts the movement of some parts which ultimately move a selector rod to change gears in your manual transmission. There is no easy way of modifying the distance the selector rod moves to change gears. However, since the selector rod is connected to a series of other linkages, you can change the leverage.

One Idea to Shorten Shifter Throw

One way of shortening the throw of a shift lever is to actually cut the length of the lever down. By simply cutting an inch off the top of the shifter lever itself, you can shorten your throw by about 2%. Not a lot, but it's still shorter. With BMWs, there is a problem since the top of a BMW lever has a slot which holds the stock shift knob in place. If you cut off the slot, your stock knob won't fit anymore. Additionally, since a stock BMW lever immediately flares out, you can't cut that much off (maybe a few millimeters). Anyhow, if you lower the position of the shift knob without changing the location of the pivot point, your throw is shorter.

Another Idea to Shorten Shifter Throw

The other idea of shortening shifter throw is to actually relocate the pivot in relation to the shifter linkage rod. Therefore, for the same "throw" of the upper portion of the lever, the bottom portion, will move the linkage more. Consequently, it requires less shifter throw for the same linkage travel. Presto, you've got shorter shifts! Note that if you paid attention in high school Physics class, the increase in leverage requires more force (or effort) to move it.

Every single short shifting company out there substitutes your factory lever with a lever that has this increased lower distance. However, by simply lowering the bottom of the lever is NOT the best way of shortening the shift, but it's easy. Only UUC Motorwerks takes this critical drivetrain/shifter clearance into consideration when we design our short shifters to emulate the way that the factory designed your shifter mechanism. Prime examples of this can be found if you snoop under a E36 M3 or even a new M Roadster. The engineering subtleties in these cars will show you that BMW pays attention and makes minor changes to make specific cars.

Modification Concerns

There have been no tests which show that installing a short shift kit will damage transmission parts. Simply put, you are still changing gears via the selector rod, but the lever you're doing it with has increased leverage. Increased effort is a common side effect but it's a small price to pay for the shorter shifts...or is it?

By shortening the upper portion of a shift lever while lengthening the lower portion, you're losing valuable leverage while shifting (which makes the shifts feel like they take more effort). Besides the lack of leverage and now battling the existing transmission resistances (seals, synchros, shift detents, etc.), it wouldn't seem like a short shifter is a good idea, huh? This only tells part of the story. Properly done, a short shifter is a fantastic ergonomic and performance improvement for your BMW.

Performance Gains/Losses

With shorter shifting, your car will feel sportier. However, with the increased leverage of short shifting, there is also increased effort. The general consensus is that the shifting reduction of the UUC Motorwerks "EVOLUTION II" kit does not increase the effort noticeably enough to increase the time between shifts. For certain models that require it ('95-'99 M3, '96-'02 328/330 only) the EVOLUTION II kit includes our patent pending Effort Reducing Kit (ERK) which not only raises the bottom of the shifter to factory height (and away from spinning drivetrain parts) but also aligns the shifter's selector rod and joint to be in-line with the transmission, as the factory designed it to be . There are a few things that make UUC Motorwerks Ultimate Short Shifters unique:

Long term durability and performance (click here for construction details)
Driveline clearances retained factory specifications (using the ERK)
Transmission linkage geometry unaffected (using the ERK)
Real solutions for isolating shifter free-play (Delrin Bushings)

These unique features have never been available before... until the UUC Motorwerks Ultimate Short Shifter. Would you trust your BMW with technology from 15 years ago? No, we didn't think so. Welcome to the future of short shifting.

Superior products through superior engineering

What has made UUC Motorwerks the hottest short shifter on the market today? Superior engineering and extensive field testing has quickly made UUC Motorwerks the leader in short shifters. Our shifters are designed to complement your BMW and work and appear as if were installed at the factory. We have literally thousands of new UUC Motorwerks Ultimate Short Shifter users in the last few years and with our continuing development and never-ending quest for refining the Ultimate Short Shifter, we hope to add you as a happy, educated customer.