I have an '88 735i and I am going to throw in an SSK very soon, maybe sooner if someone tells me my postulation is correct.
Right now, it is VERY hard to get the car into any gear from a standstill.
It's like it is fighting the synchros to slow down and stop after being engaged in neutral.
I can even hear them wind down as I force the shifter selector into 1st.
Once i have engaged the selector (with the clutch still depressed, and leaving it so,) I can go between gears with ease... like it should normally.
WHAT THE HECK IS THAT? Will a short shift kit do the trick? Do I have some transmission problems?

7

From the description of your problem, I would think that a ssk would only make it harder to shift. The shorter the kit, the more effort is necessary to shift.

Take a look at your clutch slave cylinder. Sounds to me like your clutch is dragging and the commonest and simplest to fix issue would be if the hydraulics are failing, leaking. Take a look at the linkages for the under-car and the pedal too, it's possible that they are going out.

If you have not been keeping your brake fluid changed in my humid hometown, most likely your slave cylinder is shot.

If it's leaking, you will find fluid inside the dust boot. On the 3-series of this vintage, there are 2 precautions you need to observe, I would assume they carry over to the 7-er unless I knew different:
1)you need to bleed the new slave cylinder BEFORE bolting it to the tranny, with the bleed fitting pointing more or less straight up.
2) don't bleed it by pumping the clutch pedal, use either a vacuum or pressure bleeder, or if you are patient gravity may work...if you push the clutch pedal down the "helper spring" will keep it on the floor, you may have trouble pulling it back up.

Neither one of these is the end of the world, but avoiding them can save you some hassle.

Quit forcing the tranny into gear, or you will have a much more costly fix to do...:devillook

If this is the problem, don't delay a good flush of the brake system, I personally have had good luck with Castrol LMA brake fluid. If you change the fluid every year, you should not have any more hydraulic problems....

Good advice here.

Yes. SSK requires more effort. Simple physics says you're reducing the lever arm, and therefore can't generate as much torque when using the same amount of effort from your muscles. Therefore, you end up pushing harder to select gears.

M3Mitch is right on. Only thing I can add to his post is consider going with Valvoline SynPower brake fluid. It's not much more expensive ($1 per qt/liter I think) than the Castrol LMA and gives possibly better performance. The SynPower is almost as good as much more expensive fluids like Pentosin and ATE Typ 200 Blue or Gold.