BMW E46 330Ci

[lexspace]

Hi all, this post is really for all other owners with the same E46 model who experience the same little niggle as me ,i've had the car over 4 years and she has been very good to me on the whole. When i bought her she had 114,000 miles on and now just under 134,000 .
Apart from the usual E46 things the car has been very enjoyable and very good (problems being - front bottom wishbones / front anti roll bar links / alternator / interior blower relay / cracked wheel )



My 'little niggle' has always been that the 'manual' gear selection on the auto box is the wrong way , in my mind you should flick the lever towards you for 'up' and away from you for 'down'
but BMW manufactured it the other way round as you can see here



After travelling in a friends E90, i noticed BMW had realised their mistake and rectified it, so i set about making mine 'correct' and blimey it was so simple, i wish i had done it 4 years ago !!

Remove gearlever surround,, pull it up by tugging on the leather material, remove 2 retaining screws,unclip window switches



find the purple connector



switch around the centre 2 wires,(blue/yellow and blue/grey) i used a pick, they simply slide out when the prong is depressed
this pic shows them after swapping them,



its a simple as that !!!

I then used a small piece of matt black vinyl to cover the original markings , i also added white vinyl + and - in the new correct positions



I hope this is of use to somebody out there, i certainly wish i knew about it years ago

[BlimeyCharlie]

Now that is a quality modification. Top man.

[mwstewart]

I'm always impressed how well the petrol models over a decent mileage without giving too much in the way of problems. Far better than the equivalent Mercedes of the era! They must be amongst some of the most reliable cars of the time?

[xjay1337]

Nice simple mod there!

[BullyB]

I have the same gearbox on my 300i Touring - I always thought it was wrong too - good mod!

I have to admit I only ever use the manual mode when locking in a low gear for going down hills so I don'y have to ride the brakes.

[sparks_E39]

Good job and a nice car. My 52 plate 530i is the correct way round, my previous V plate 528i isn't.

[aka_kerrly]

That's a great mod that actually makes a auto BMW a lot more appealing to me.

[SPT28]

Good man!! this was always something that annoyed the hell out of me but for some reason I never considered/thought it could be amended... know what I shall be doing this evening!

[McSam]

Great work! I'd never have thought you could correct the shifter orientation so easily, that's a top piece of knowledge

It's the correct way, of course. When on the power, one has positive acceleration in x, which pushes you backwards into the seat. It's a natural movement to pull backwards on the shifter to go up a gear. When braking, you're pushed forwards, so of course you want to do the same with the shifter to drop a cog.

Every race car sequential I've ever seen (I'd venture ever made) has been this way, it's only idiotic OEM focus groups that have decided "oh up/forwards means go forwards more". Bugbear of mine. Glad E46 owners don't have to suffer it!