Hi Stevo,
I ended up switching back to the older pushrod last night (longest one) that I originally pulled out as even with the eccentric adjustment, I couldn't a comfortable release. I'm quite pleased with it now, and no more slippage either. I guess I just had a bad M/C with a plugged up return port - Roy's assessment was spot on! Next time I'm at the PNP I'll see if I can find a manual 240d as I'll be curious to see what type of pushrod it has.

As a side note, IMO the only nice thing about SoCal is the winter...