Well after talking about it from almost the time I put the BPP shifter in I finally got around to reinstalling the stock shifter. The BPP was in the car for about 6K miles. While I was at it I took some side by side pictures of the stock unit and the disassembled BPP. While I was taking the BPP out I noticed there was a little looseness in the fit of the shaft cross bars and was able to get the shaft to rotate on its axis a little which may have been some of the loud vibration I was hearing at full throttle. I also noted that in the year since I put in the lighter springs the metal and rubber isolaters that separate the cross bars from the springs had started wearing quite a bit and the rubber was starting to disintegrate from being shoved into the spring. In the picture I am posting I point out the worn parts and the fulcrum points on the two shifters (stock on right). The only real difference between them are the cross bars and the higher fulcrum point of the BPP. The springs add centering force since the stock unit depends on the tranny for centering force while the higher fulcrum point gives a shorter throw with the feeling of a narrower gate with more effort. We were having flood conditions in my area so I haven't driven the car yet but the shifting feels much better now. While sitting in the garage I could actually get the shifter into all gear positions without having to use a lot of force to move from side to side and I can actually get the thing into reverse easily.

I haven't tried the other aftermarket units but there probably isn't a dimes worth of difference between them in concept so will stick with the stock unit.

If anybody wants to buy the BPP unit I have replaced the worn parts and added an extra metal isolater to keep the rubber from grinding apart on the spring so it is now better than new. When I was at Carlisle last year the owner of BPP told me he made sure each unit was greased before they left the shop and he showed me several at the tent. However, mine was not greased until I put some in when I reassembled it with the spare parts he had given me.

http://home.stny.rr.com/billsvette/BPPvOEMs.JPG

Bill

 

Did you take the plastic cap off the bottom of the stock shifter and place it on the Breathless unit? The wearing sounds like you did not.

 

Hey Bill,

I went from stock to Kirban to Corvette Concepts to Ripper to Mallett -- and the search stops there.

The Mallett is built on the stock platform, but it has no insulation around the stick like the stocker. This makes the feel sure and precise, and it does so while maintaining the stock pivot point, keeping shift effort easy. The shaft is slightly shorter, making the throws shorter. It's waaaay too expensive, but the shifter pays for itself in the returned driving enjoyment.

I get the impression that most people who recommend one of the short-throw shifters never tried a Mallett. I think that more people would see that it's exactly what they're looking for in a shifter, but few experience it because of its price.

-Kirk

PS -- I never considered the BPP shifter because of its stick design (which would preclude me from using a variety of ***** with it), but, from what I read, I would agree that it's probably very similar in effer to the Kirban, B&M, and Hurst.

 

I've only just fitted mine but it came with a large dollop of red grease in there. When I changed out the springs for the softest ones, I spread a little grease on the surface of the bar and the metal; disc to ensure they were lubed. To be fair, if you had no grease in there, it was bound to wear and disintegrate. If you had the harder springs in before, that would have exacerbated the wear. A lack of lubrication would also cause the bar to wear so this looks like a lubrication issue rather than a design issue. I also think your photo shows the fulcrum point to be simply shrouded o the stock shifter?

It's a bit like running an engine with no oil and blaming the engine for seizing. I can't believe anyone would prefer the stock shifter. However, maybe there is a lesson here to periodically check the BPP for adequate lubrication.

 

Replies:

1. I did switch the plastic cap from one shifter to the other.

2. Other units that I was shown last year all had the large dollop (as you say) of red grease. My unit, which was purchased in Aug of 03, did not. It had a small amount of some lubricant and there were some patches of red, which I did confirm, were red grease on Saturday.

3. The cross bar didn’t wear that much. The metal discs seemed to wear more. The rubber pieces disintegrated due to being shoved up through the spring. That is what caused the little tail on the one in the picture. Lubrication would have helped the shift effort to some degree but I doubt it would have reduced the wear on the metal discs that much. They have a large amount of force being applied to them in a very small area (the tip of the cross bar) and they may be made of softer metal than the cross bars. When I reassembled the unit I sandwiched the rubber isolators between two metal discs on each side so that should keep the rubber from tearing apart.

4. I think you were asking if the fulcrum is shrouded “on” the stock shifter. Yes, it is. It is inside that hemisphere at the bottom of the shifter so there is close to an inch distance between the two points. As you can see the shifter arms are pretty close to the same length so shorter throws are obtained be raising the fulcrum point.

5. I didn’t really say anything about the design although my impressions may have come through.

Bill

 

Would have to be dam, nice to beat the hurst billet,Which is way better,
than a regular HURST, I have the stiff springs,No rattles,or noise, No wear to happen
Just short and deadly. The billet gets my vote. Ive had 4 6-speeds.
And 4 diffferent shifters

 

I have driven the car since I went back to stock. It is amazing how much easier the stock shifter is to use. I am back to using my finger tips and heel of my hand to shift. Yes, the throw is long but I can easily find 1st gear, 5th gear and reverse now. The short throw heavily sprung shifters might work better for the 2-3 and 3-4 shifts but the BPP sure made it hard to shift into 5th gear at 120 on the short straight between turns 3 and 4 at Watkins Glen. Last year when I did a DE with the BMW club my instructor had an 01Z and I rode with him for one of his sessions. He was able to just toss the stock shifter into 5th at that point while I had to fight with my shifter so much I decided it wasn't safe to try. I definitely did not want to get 3rd at that point and if I pushed to hard to the side I had a good chance of overriding the reverse lockout spring and getting reverse.
Bill

 

It is.

I had a Hurst in my '93 Cobra, and I loved it. For that reason, I hoped the Hurst for the Vette would be just as nice -- but, due to the higher pivot point, and mounted to a rear-tranny car, the Hurst [for the Vette] just doesn't do it for me. Way too much effort to be fun, I think.

I maintain that most people are unwilling to buck up for the Mallett, and so they have no idea that it's probably exactly what they want. I decided to bite the bullet one day, figuring I could return it if it wasn't any good. Needless to say, it's still in the car, and not coming out.

-Kirk

 

Installed a BPP last week , getting used to it , I may have to change springs . It feels like it is set up for a drag strip and I'm more of a road race guy so I guess I'll have to make some adjustments or a different shifter .

 

When I bought the 03 / Z a BPP had been installed. 1500 miles later and the Hurst went in. I did not like the BPP at all......JMHO.......

 

Bill, did you put your stock **** on the BPP? Trying to find out if the stock **** can go on the BPP.
Thanks.

 

Yes, the stock **** screws right onto the BPP shaft. Just turn it down tight and pound the plug or whatever its called back into the slot and it will hold fine.

It may be that the BPP is better for drag racing but one of the people at BPP told me he drives the race car on road courses and likes the shifter for that purpose. I asked him how many times he tried to get to 5th gear and he said he hadn't been on a road course yet where 5th was required. I don't know about the back straight at Sebring but you run out of rpms on the Long Pond straight at Pocono if you don't use 5th and it also helps on the back straight at Watkins Glen.

Bill

 

Try the softest springs in the shifter. Some of those other springs look pretty hard to compress. Most posters suggested the softest springs were best.

 

Thanks Bill

 

I cannot for the life of me understand how their shifter warrants $450.00. Why is it so much better? It seems with no isolation whatsoever it would rattle and transmit vibrations to no end. I would pay the money for it if it were a little less, came without their "custom" **** and more peeps on the forum had experience with it.

My .02

 

Hurst soft springs