Over the weekend I installed a Rogue Engineering short shifter kit in my 6spd M235i.
Update 4/7/2020. I am organizing a group buy that will run until the end of April.
*Update*
Rogue will produce an F2X kit for the amount of people interested in the kit. It will be the same price as the F87 kit ($395), but they will throw in trans mounts (normally $60) and shipping in the US for free as a one time offer. These kits will never be offered again.
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TLDR: I made a Rogue Engineering F87 M2 short shifter work on my F22 M235i. Most people don't have access or the ability to tig weld aluminum, so Rogue will make a batch for F2X if there is enough interest.
The oem shifter in F2x is decent from the factory compared to most modern manual cars, but like most things, it could use a little improvement.
I have driven a handful of BMW's with aftermarket shifters 1m with a cae, E36 m3 with a UUC, e46 ZHP with a IRP, E46 M3 with a Coolerworx, and my S54 e36 with a Rogue Engineering Short Shifter.
I knew that I didn't want a chassis mount shifter (cae, irp, etc), mainly because my car my daily and I didn't want to compromise interior comfort, noise, or aesthetics. These shifters are great for race cars or cars you only drive occasionally, but this is not what I wanted for my daily.
The UUC e36 shifter felt too metallic and notchy. It reminded me of Subaru shifters.
This brings me to the Rogue Engineering shifter in my e36. When I first bought my e36 I immediately fell in love with the shifter. It felt like the oem shifter with all the negative attributes removed (no play side to side, no rubbery feel, and slightly shorter throws).
You can read on their site about their shifters and their design here:
https://www.rogueengineering.com/Rog...Kit_p_115.html
With all the free time I currently have I figured it would be a great time to improve the shifter feel in my m235i. When I went to Rogue's site, I realized that they did not make an f2x specific shifter, but they did make an f87 m2 shifter.
Out of partial ignorance and partial hope I ordered the f87 shifter. This weekend when I took my car apart I realized what I had hoped wouldn't be true, was true. The f87 carrier and the f2x carrier are different. (see pic #1 below). The two are different lengths and have different mounting points on the trans and the chassis.
I was so determined to have this shifter in my m235i that that I ended up cutting my oem carrier and the brand new carrier supplied by Rogue and morphing them into one.
This involved tig welding Rogue's raised pivot cup onto the f2x carrier so that the bottom of Rogue's shift lever would line up with the f2x selector rod. (see pic #2 below)
I was thrilled and relieved that it worked, and I was able to install the rest of the shifter.
I was also happy to find out that my M235i now feels just as good as my e36. Shorter throws, no more side to side movement, no more rubbery feel, and no added NVH!
I talked to Rogue and explained what I did and explained that there are still a decent amount of 6 speed owners in this group. They said that if there is enough interest they will make a batch of shifters for F2x
If you are like me and don't want a chassis mount shifter, but you want a shifter that is a huge improvement over stock this is the shifter to get.
I am not affiliated with Rogue Engineering in any way, I am just very excited that I was able to make this work for my car, and that everyone else will have the opportunity to improve their 6Spd driving experience.
If you are interested in getting a kit for your car add a post on this thread or pm me!