Wobbly gear shift movement - E30 320i

[Romanymagic]

A friend recently purchased a pretty mint E30 320i convertible, with a ream of paperwork and the car is great, however one slight issue is a rather floppy gear shift, so bad that you find yourself "grabbing a gear" for example first to fourth. So question is, does anyone have any solutions? Is this a common problem (after all the car is 20 years old). Any obvious parts my friend can replace (rather than putting in a whole gearbox (which would be overkill)).

One possible solution we thought of would be to put in a short shift kit, but would this have the desired effect of tightening up the gear change?

Any and all advice greatly appreciated!

[bdx]

Check the circlip on the rod from the gear lever (underneath the car).

[lodgy]

had the same problem with mine and my dads. its the joint between the linkage and the actual box, like a small t-shaped item thats held onto the box by a pin and onto the linkage by circlip. there cheap to buy and easy to get hold of but not the easiest things to fit. they have a soft pad inside that reduces vibration but youve got to push against it to locate the pin. youve got to drop the linkage from the cup in the centre console and feed your hand over top of box, can be done, iv done 2 but its not as easy as it could be. you may aswell change all the bushes there cheap enough and saves you taking it off a couple of times