Quote:
Originally Posted by ///Mobbin
exo-shell I'm curious if you track your car and if so have you run into the issue I describe in this thread, LINK?
I'm wondering if an SSK might help avoid this? Thoughts appreciated.
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Hello Mobbin. I am not experienced by any means when it comes to tracking but have gone to the track about 5 times in the past two years with F80s... 1 M School, 2 M-Track Days, and 2 M-Perfomance Center events... all of these events were in DCT cars though. All my other track experiences have been drag racing in the 90s and 2000s. As far as my own personal F80 goes, I've only done 1 autocross with it a few weeks ago but I am going to be tracking my F80 more gradually this coming year.
As far as your issue goes, swapping to a regular SSK (like UUC or Rogue),
might not be able to help you all that much. After all, these SSKs use the same type of mounting as OEM; an isolated shifter arm mounted on bushings connecting to an isolated transmission that is mounted on bushings; there are a lot of bushings that can create "slop" relative to your position in the driver's seat. The main reason this is done is to reduce transmission noise and vibration that would be transmitted into the cabin.
The CAE however, will solve all those issues for you. The real question is, will you be able to handle the extra noise though? The CAE shifter is bolted directly onto the tranmission tunnel; metal to metal. This eliminates the shifter arm and the bushings associated with it but in turn, introduces more noise and vibration. You basically have the transmission linked directly to a selector rod that is directly linked to the shifter that is directly mounted to the car body. When you put your hand on the shift knob, you are literally touching the transmission. Any movement of the shifter under load is moving exactly relative to the transmission itself on it's bushings. The result is no ambiguity and practically no slop. The CAE performed so flawlessly on the autocross course.
Unfortunately, I never got used to the noise of the CAE. So I'm trying the Rogue out as a compromise between performance and noise. I'll be taking my car to another autocross event in October and will let everyone know how the Rogue shifter performs compared to the CAE. I also plan on doing my first track day with the F80 at Willow Springs in November. Depending on how the autocross event goes, I'll either have the CAE or the Rogue shifter in for Willow Springs.
Now, if you're totally not down with the CAE (which is understandable), you can try replacing the shifter arm bushing on the OEM shifter or SSK with a polyurethane one. This, in theory, should cut down on the slop from the shifter arm, which in turn will give your shifter more accurate positioning relative to the transmission. I was going to install this with the Rogue SSK, but decided not to as I wanted to give you guys an accurate review of the SSK as it comes from Rogue Engineering. After I try out the Rogue, if I feel the Turner bushing will help, I'll install it and review again.
EDIT: I linked the wrong bushing. Here is the correct one.
https://www.turnermotorsport.com/f/p...ifter-bushing/
