aaannnddd there goes my shift linkage...

Actually, it's not *quite* that bad, and a lot better than what I thought, which was that my transmission was grinding teeth off.

I think what happened is that the stop buffer (#7 in this picture) is no longer in place. This has caused my shifter to pivot on the front two solid bolts, and allows for the back of that plate to touch my drive shaft. This is obviously a very negative thing, but somewhat surprisingly it still shifts! I'm going to take my car down to a slightly warmer climate (and more importantly, below the snow level) and see if I can't get under it and jerry-rig something with bailing wire until I can get a few replacement parts. At the very least I hope to properly diagnose it... I really hope it's just the bushing and no other damage has been done

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1989 - E30 - M20 - Manual. Approximately 270,000 miles
2000 - E46 - M52TUB28 - Manual. Approximately 110,000 miles

Quote
Earendil
Actually, it's not *quite* that bad, and a lot better than what I thought, which was that my transmission was grinding teeth off.

I think what happened is that the stop buffer (#7 in this picture) is no longer in place. This has caused my shifter to pivot on the front two solid bolts, and allows for the back of that plate to touch my drive shaft. This is obviously a very negative thing, but somewhat surprisingly it still shifts! I'm going to take my car down to a slightly warmer climate (and more importantly, below the snow level) and see if I can't get under it and jerry-rig something with bailing wire until I can get a few replacement parts. At the very least I hope to properly diagnose it... I really hope it's just the bushing and no other damage has been done

How about just getting someone to put the car up for a look see, flip him a few bucks

Quote
rkj

How about just getting someone to put the car up for a look see, flip him a few bucks

I was actually surprised to find out I could see the bushing location with the exhaust, heat shield, and drive shaft all in place. I say "bushing location" because as I suspected, the bushing was no longer there. However, I had a 2 inch bolt and nut that I was able to stick up in there to keep the plate pushed upwards. I ordered a new bushing for it, which sould arrive in the next few days. Hopefully I can get it in there without too much trouble.

I'm also hoping that I haven't damaged the shifter linkage in any way. I know the entire assembly is designed to have movement and play, but probably not as much movement as it experienced.
My drive shaft, my brand new and painted drive shaft, shows absolutely no marks or scaring from where the shift linkage touched it. This was a big relief too

Cheers,
~Tyler

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1989 - E30 - M20 - Manual. Approximately 270,000 miles
2000 - E46 - M52TUB28 - Manual. Approximately 110,000 miles