My name is Earl, and I have a Stainless Steel bolt fetish =)

[YoungCR]

I didn't mind no power steering until it came to parallel parking, full lock sucks.

[Earl]

I won't be parallel parking this. Too risky with this much stretch

[jc43089]

Man up, just giver! 

(I am keeping PS but no power brakes, unless this turns out horribly for Earl)

[HipMF]

I find power steering to be overrated. Maybe it's just because I've never driven a car with power steering that had a decent feel to it. I'll take being able to feel what's happening at the front of the car in a corner over being able to park effortlessly any day. I've only driven one car with manual brakes and that was my first car, a 1963 Chevy Nova. You had to stand on them pretty hard (both feet!) if you really needed to stop. Going from that to power brakes was never really satisfactory though. The cars were easier to stop, but the pedal felt mushy and I never felt like a had as precise of control. For me the pedal feel on the e21 (with power brakes) is perfect. It's firm, but you don't have to stand on it to get the car stopped. I think if the brakes are large enough, and the ratio between the master and slave cylinders was right you could get away with manual brakes, but it's not something I'd do to a car I was expecting to put a lot of miles on.

[Earl]

I changed the pedal ratio and switched to a smaller master cylinder. It will require just a bit more force than stock brakes and the pedal will not be mushy=)

[Earl]

Media blasted the shifter carrier

It was a pain trying to get the rouge out of the inset spots so I decided to clean it up the easiest way I could=) 

My orders from Garagistic and Ireland Engineering also arrived

I am currently ordering all of my clutch components and have a dssr on the way as well=)

[YoungCR]

$$$$ Earl's a pimp

[RamRod E28]

It's been so long since I've seen this thread... holy progress batman!!! Looking good earl!!!

[mkoepp]

I can't wait to see this beast. Pictures never do a car like that justice.

[Earl]

DSSR arrived and is the perfect length. Glad that the e30 m3 lever ended up being the only one that was even close

Currently modifying my z3 lever to fit. BMW revised the bushing at the bottom of the lever to eliminate the need for the yellow washers. Unfortunately that makes it too wide to fit in the DSSR.

[jc43089]

Interesting, didn't know that about some shift levers.  Don't take off too much, it should be very snug fitting.

[Earl]

I am taking it off very slowly with 220 grit sand paper=)

[jc43089]

That sounds like an exciting evening.

[Earl]

I was at it for an hour and still didn't remove enough material. Today will be round two=)

Edit: How tight should the fitment be? I know there should be no play but how hard should it be to move the dssr on the shift lever? Right now I can fit it by hand pressing hard and it takes a little force to move

[andyhundley]

You want it to move freely but I shouldn't have any side to side movement.

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[Earl]

I think it will now feel "slightly" better

[patsbimmer1]

Looking good Earl!

[Earl]

My flywheel got finished up yesterday=) 

My clutch kit should be on it's way here shortly and I am picking up a transmission on Saturday. Once I get the trans, I will be cleaning it up and replacing the shifter detent springs, input/output shaft seals, selector shaft seal, and the selector rod joint.

[REKIII]

Liking the progress!  Is the car still in storage at the paint shop?

[DrLeadFoot]

I'm so jelly of that shifter linkage! Got to get the wire wheel out and clean mine up!