About a month ago, the short shift kit (an old MM) in the Baboon*obile went poof. It had been welded from two pieces, and the weld broke.

I called Ron, the owner of AutoSolutions (now split off from MM) and he graciously offered to send me a replacement part for free and also offered the new, improved, single-piece billet CNC-machined model at 50% off when it was ready -- I caught them in the middle of a product transition.

I elected to save on the installation, hold my breath, and wait for the new kit. Boy, am I glad that I did. I just got the car back today, and improvement over the old kit (which was a *lot* better than stock) is amazing. Shifts are smoother, there is almost no play in the lever, it feels solid like a rock. Snickety snick and all that.

Best of all, you can have this for far less than the M3 guys have to shell out for sheer shifting happiness -- around $180.

Highly recommended.

• Ethan 535is a la Dinan Baboon*obile (now in new improved Stage IV model!)

P.S. Never, never, leave your car at Dinan if you are weak. I now have camber plates, trimmed rear fenders, (forget rolled and hello 245's) tweaked alignment, straightened rear trailing arms, new rear seals on the tranny, new transmission mounts, new guibo and vibration dampner... have you ever seen a credit card bleed?