Couple questions regarding power seat repair and clutch feel

[Freight]

Power seats(less pertinent):

The arm rests can be swapped between seats/sides, I assume?

to pull the seat and weld the frame, how long does the process of removal and disassembly in order to weld take? I’ve pulled seats from an e24, so I presume getting the seat out is cake…but it’s 20* and I don’t have a heated garage. I’m trying to gauge how feasible this job is for tomorrow, because I’ll be in Pennsylvania tomorrow at a friends with a welder, but I’m taking the car so if this is a super involved job, it’s not something we can do while I’m there as I have only a half day with him. Can’t get home without a seat to sit on.

I assume swapping the seats is going to be significantly less involved, so maybe I’ll just utilize his help to power through that in an hour or two instead?

on to the more prescient questions regarding the clutch:

as I mentioned in my introduction thread, I’m learning to drive stick. I can get around fine, and I’m getting smoother, but I have a couple feel questions that may not may not be e28 specific. I don’t have any friends who drive stick that have any experience in an old stick, let alone a bmw, so they’re not able to help.

when I clutch in, occasionally, at the very last inch or two of travel, and bottomed out, I can feel a little grinding/vibration through the pedal. I can’t feel it in the stick, so I’m pretty sure it’s a clutch thing. Is this normal?

The car seems to shift fine, aside from the shift linkage needing a refresh. It’s pretty sloppy and gears are occasionally hard to find/get into/feel funny. I’m being very careful, so I’m not missing gears, but it’s not helping my confidence. Is there anything I can do for the shift linkage that doesn’t involve getting under the car while it’s 20* outside? Anyone in the northeast got a lift in their garage and wanna help out a new e28 owner?

occasionally the clutch pedal won’t return the last 3ish inches of travel. I can pull it up with my foot, and it doesn’t seem to be causing any problems, but I wanna make sure it’s not a problem.

whats the best way to attack the shift knob well enough that it won’t come off, but also will be removable when I get around to replacing it? I was thinking about white glue, or putting heat shrink on the stick to take up some space for a friction fit. Figured I’d ask in case there’s some community agreed best way to do it.

Second to last question is about 1st gear in parking lots, crawling. I’m being very mindful not to ride/slip the clutch, but if I don’t, parking lots are proving to be a challenge when stuck behind some jerk in a minivan going 2mph. It seems like anything below 5mph and the car is pretty unhappy being in gear. Do I just need to be on the clutch in these situations and not worry about it because it’s so infrequent?

and last one - how much clunk is really appropriate when shifting? I realize some of it is going to be just me getting the hang of things, but sometimes when I’m in gear, and say I let off the gas, there will be a bit of a lurch(not so much an audible clunk, though it feels like one). I’ve been in plenty of manual cars, a couple being high hp built street cars, and track cars with solid mount everything, so I’m familiar with the way a manual feels in general, as in not smooth like a automatic. Just not sure what I should be expecting in this e28. Owning an e24 and an e30 before, Im no stranger to how analogue these cars feel, but I’ve never owned a manual one. In my e28 shifting sometimes is a bit clunky, too. It doesn’t really feel like there’s anything loose and I don’t get really any vibration or shake through the stick and doesn’t feel like the diff or tranny need new mounts to me, but I do plan to do them in the spring. 

If there are any e28 guys here who live on Long Island, I’d love to have you drive my car and give me some feedback on how things feel. 

thanks everyone, I appreciate the help!
 

[Blue Shadow]

Needed to spend this thread on the seats.  Same detail as clutch as you skimmed over the seat problem so quick I got no idea what to say about time to repair and I’ve had my seat frame welded. The guy did a great job. 

if the seat moves forward and back, up and down the removal isn’t hard. 5 bolts, up to a couple electrical connections and it might come out. 

[Mike W.]

Oh man, you've got to distill things down to just one question per thread.  It's much easier to answer.  I'll first give you my standard reply for posts like this, yes, yes, no, sometimes, no way and blue.

Seats.  How long?  That's really hard to say, you seem to know how to pull them, but how are your upholstery skills for disassembling and reassembling?  Armrests are side specific I'm nearly certain.

Clutch.  You may be having the dreaded pedal bracket issues.  Especially suggestive is the having to pull the pedal up.  Common, search.

Parking lots.  Make sure idle speed is correct and throttle position switch is adjusted right.  You shouldn't really have to feather the clutch that much, but even if you do at idle or just a hair off idle you aren't going to roast the clutch.

Clunk.  You shouldn't really have a clunk.  A bit of play, but not a whole not and not a clunk.  Bad subframe bushings can create it or a bad diff mount or a bad donut between the tranny and the driveshaft, or rarely a bad CV joint.  Diff mount is easiest to diagnosis as it's much worse in reverse.

Shift knob.  Save yourself grief later and just buy a cheap one, brand new from Amazon or ebay, 10-15 bucks.  Then decide if you want a good one or not.  I bought this one https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07LB4CTQV?re ... e_0_0&th=1 and it was still going strong on my E36 almost 3 years later when I sold it.  Not great, but not bad especially for the price.

Shifter play.  Going to have to get dirty on this one, laying on your back and skinny fingers help.  A lot if the driveshaft is in place.  You might want to wait for spring on this one.

[Freight]

Oh man, you've got to distill things down to just one question per thread.  It's much easier to answer.  I'll first give you my standard reply for posts like this, yes, yes, no, sometimes, no way and blue.

Seats.  How long?  That's really hard to say, you seem to know how to pull them, but how are your upholstery skills for disassembling and reassembling?  Armrests are side specific I'm nearly certain.

Clutch.  You may be having the dreaded pedal bracket issues.  Especially suggestive is the having to pull the pedal up.  Common, search.

Parking lots.  Make sure idle speed is correct and throttle position switch is adjusted right.  You shouldn't really have to feather the clutch that much, but even if you do at idle or just a hair off idle you aren't going to roast the clutch.

Clunk.  You shouldn't really have a clunk.  A bit of play, but not a whole not and not a clunk.  Bad subframe bushings can create it or a bad diff mount or a bad donut between the tranny and the driveshaft, or rarely a bad CV joint.  Diff mount is easiest to diagnosis as it's much worse in reverse.

Shift knob.  Save yourself grief later and just buy a cheap one, brand new from Amazon or ebay, 10-15 bucks.  Then decide if you want a good one or not.  I bought this one https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07LB4CTQV?re ... e_0_0&th=1 and it was still going strong on my E36 almost 3 years later when I sold it.  Not great, but not bad especially for the price.

Shifter play.  Going to have to get dirty on this one, laying on your back and skinny fingers help.  A lot if the driveshaft is in place.  You might want to wait for spring on this one.

I considered two threads but I wasn’t sure what the etiquette is here for that, and I don’t want flood things. I’m just gonna swap the seats over. An hour or two in the cold is worth it. 

I’ll jump under there and take a look at the bracket. I’ll buy a new one Anyway, just to get it out of the way. If it doesn’t need to be done right now, I’ll wait till spring. If it does, I’ll get on it. After many hours of digging last night, I found one or two people mentioning the feeling with the clutch fully in. It sounded like the verdict was over depression of the clutch. I’m gonna take it for a spin today and try to keep it off an inch or two. If that sorts it out, some folks said they put in a clutch stop. I haven’t a clue what they is or where it goes, but I’ll figure it out. One poster mentioned sticking another layer of carpet down under the clutch, so maybe as a temporary thing I’ll figure out something along those lines. 

there’s no clunk in reverse. I’m not very smooth yet and it’s not present when I am. In a week or two I’ll be with someone who’s able to drive stick and will have them drive it. It may just be me shifting poorly. I do plan to do the subframe bushings come spring, Anyway, so if it’s them and I have to live with it, oh well. 

Was afraid of that for the shifter. Might just have to take it to the shop and have them do it. It feels like a disservice to myself to leave it sloppy, I’m only making things harder for myself and the cost of the parts, even with some upgraded ones, is minimal at best. How long could it possibly take them, a couple hours? For 4-500 bucks, I think i may just bite the bullet.

[tig]

I considered two threads but I wasn’t sure what the etiquette is here for that, and I don’t want flood things. 

Better to:

- Search first. Like really.
- Keep threads focused on as specific a topic as possible
- Be as terse as possible. I like the mantra: Crisp, Clear, Complete. 
- If there's an existing thread on the topic, where you have a follow-on question, add to that thread.

TBH, when I read your post, I ignored it because a) It covered too much area, and b) TL;DR.

[Blue Shadow]

I considered two threads but I wasn’t sure what the etiquette is here for that, and I don’t want flood things. 

It is not like you are going flood things.  I'd do like tig says, get your info and question out there one thread per discussion and if you feel like putting a pile of further info, do that after the question cause some don't need added info they know the problem and can direct you to the answer

I've swapped seats side to side.  Armrest comes off but need split driver to put the big nut back on to hold it.   I would never consider swapping the seat coverings on the chairs side to side. That old, dried-out, cowhide is not going to take well to that.  

[Freight]

I considered two threads but I wasn’t sure what the etiquette is here for that, and I don’t want flood things. 

Better to:

- Search first. Like really.
- Keep threads focused on as specific a topic as possible
- Be as terse as possible. I like the mantra: Crisp, Clear, Complete. 
- If there's an existing thread on the topic, where you have a follow-on question, add to that thread.

TBH, when I read your post, I ignored it because a) It covered too much area, and b) TL;DR.

I promise I search loads, like obsessively. 

don’t blame you for ignoring it

I've swapped seats side to side.  Armrest comes off but need split driver to put the big nut back on to hold it.   I would never consider swapping the seat coverings on the chairs side to side. That old, dried-out, cowhide is not going to take well to that.

I ended up doing this today. Swapped the whole thing over, only the arm rests were left to their original sides. Even though the passenger side is much nicer, I didn’t want the ugly impression, acre holes, and black wear marks on the outside. It turned out someone already tried to repair the frame, and did a piss poor job with the weld, leaving no material available to repair it again. Looks like I’ll be tracking down a new power seat frame unless I can figure out some mcguyver way to fix this one.