Folks who installed the MGW short throw themselves inside please

[CMRO.SS]

Originally Posted by meissen

Is it normal that the shifter sits so far back? Like I said in my previous post, when I'm in 2nd, 4th, or 6th the shifter is almost against the back of the shifter plate. I would have thought that when the shifter is in neutral that it'd still be centered in the shift panel opening, no? Is everyone's the same?

It's adjustable the shop I got mine installed at did the same thing. You have to take off the boot again and turn that adjustable thing 180 degrees with the Allen wrench that came with it. It took me 5 minutes to fix it and feels so much better now. It's that thing in the picture in post 11

[djcfuzz]

I did my install in November. It took about an hour and a half underneath and then about an hour of me getting the dynamat, insulation & shift knob just right. I waited for my friend's lift to be available & that was a big help & so was he. I used the large piece of dynamat around the shifter as described above. I did not use the Mr Gasket even though I asked George ahead of time. My friend and I looked at it and decided against it, not sure of the repercussions. The dynamat inside covers where the rear bracket is bolted on.

As mentioned above, I too trimmed the insulation in front of the shifter to fit the traction switch & 12V.

I recently wrapped my shifter support arms and linkage rod underneath with more extreme dynamat that I bought. I also added a layer of that dynamat inside.

I kept the stock shift knob and it is centered nicely in the boot area after adjusting it.

[Rob3D]

Finally took the new shifter out for a test drive.... That was 1clock. i just got back half hour ago.

Anyway... I'm pretty amazed! It's just so cool how little I have to move the knob back and forth to shift! It took a minute and a few trips thru town to break it in...(and I think it's gonna break in some more)...but man is it sweet. I'm gonna change out the oem knob for a grippier after market from MGW.... I could live with the OEM but I'd like a little more "positive" grip then the smooth leather offers. Kinda like the sandpaper grips on my Glocks...if that makes sense.

Gotta post a question about shifters in general seperate from this before I call MGW...

[Rob3D]

Day two of driving about an hour with the new shifter. If you have a manual transmission and don't have one of these, you are missing out!

It's getting smoother and more awesomer!

Today i really noticed the difference on shifting because for the first few mles I kept having to make sure I was in gear because it didn't feel like I had went far enough with the shift.

It's a flick of the wrist more than movement of your arm.

BAD ASS. BAD ASS. BAD ASS. Do you get the picture yet? No? Let me explain.

IT''S FRIGGIN FLANKIN FLOOKIN BAD ASS!

[sean69cam]

Sounds awesome. I have been looking to replace my stock shifter. I havnt had issues with it centering or missing shifts, just want to speed up my shifts. I was considering replacing the shaft with hurst or burton, but so far mgw sounds like a pretty good choice.

[Rob3D]

Originally Posted by sean69cam

Sounds awesome. I have been looking to replace my stock shifter. I havnt had issues with it centering or missing shifts, just want to speed up my shifts. I was considering replacing the shaft with hurst or burton, but so far mgw sounds like a pretty good choice.

Thier customer service is second to none...

[DroptopZ]

Just did this yesterday with a sixer, a buddy and a day off to kill. This is definitely not an EASY job. Most of it is a breeze, but as others have said, the passenger's side pin is a PITA. Also, I only had a crescent wrench, so tightening the bolts at the end resulted in a lot of cursing and a lot of scratches on my forearm from the heat shield. I woke up and thought our cats had attacked me in the middle of the night

I also had trouble with the lower dust boot and getting that back on, but eventually with my buddy in the car and me below we got it done. I dropped a socket wrench on MY socket (eye socket) and have a nice bruise there, but otherwise doing okay today.

I used 2 strips of Dynamat, one over the other, to increase the sound deadening. Also, as the instructions state they give you the extra dynamat to wrap the e-brake as that rattles a bit and the vibration can be amplified after installing the new shifter.

Mine also sits pretty far back, so I plan to rotate the clasp on the top of the knob to make it feel a little more centered.

Overall, this is much harder than other short-throw shifters I've done but after driving it, it's well worth it. I had a B&M on my 94 Z28 back in the day and it had horrible road-noise compared to this thing. There is barely any noticable increase in the noise if you use the foam correctly and dynamat thoroughly. Take your time and you will be happy with the end product. I just wish they would update the video for the new componets so it was a little bit less confusing (for example, the driver's and passenger's side arms are now the same... not different.

Overall, great product and very happy!

[Bo White]

Wont be long before Ill upgrade my clutch, might be something I buy. I will say that Ive never really wanted an aftermarket shifter in my Camaro or my old G8 GXP since the shifters are already fairly short compared to factory shifters I grew up with, they were a foot long back in the 80s-90s lol.

[McBeevee]

Bo, just wondering but have you had a chance to drive a car with an MGW by chance? I used to think the same thing until my dad put one in his C6 a few years back. I literally drove it one time and placed an order for my car. For me personally, it wasn't as much the shorter throw (a definite positive) but it was how much more solid and precise it feels to row through the gears with a great aftermarket setup like the MGW.

[DroptopZ]

Originally Posted by Never Satisfied

Bo, just wondering but have you had a chance to drive a car with an MGW by chance? I used to think the same thing until my dad put one in his C6 a few years back. I literally drove it one time and placed an order for my car. For me personally, it wasn't as much the shorter throw (a definite positive) but it was how much more solid and precise it feels to row through the gears with a great aftermarket setup like the MGW.

Couldn't agree more. My old shifter felt like I was churning butter compared to this thing. Makes it impossible to miss a gear.

I can say that after a week or so of driving it has mellowed out just a tiny bit. It was a bit stiff for my taste at first, but it is INCREDIBLE now. It's like cutting through gears with a laser-guided scalpel instead of a plastic knife.

[Bo White]

Ive driven one with a shifter, takes some getting used to. I never miss a shift now(haven't missed one in about 15 years).

[SSeric]

After a couple of years I still have a love/hate relationship with my MGW.

+ I love the solid click-click from one gear to the next.
+ the retro knob looks awesome and doesn't get too hot/cold when the weather changes.

- I'm always having to mess with the shifter boot while I'm driving to keep it from getting caught under the shifter arm. If not, it'll get caught and then it gets hard to shift.
- Shifts seem slower than OEM when the shifter ball is positioned low. Have to raise the retro ball up higher than I'd like to increase the leverage.
- Downshifting has always been a PITA. Example, if a light is turning yellow and I want to burn through it, it takes me a couple seconds to get into 2nd or 3rd from a higher gear. So if I'm in 5th or 6th and want drop into 3rd, it's a two step process of making sure the shifter is positioned correctly into the neutral position first and *then* trying to put it into the gear I want. Very frustrating.

Going from one gear to the next is solid, but still has a slight "crunch-crunch" from the notchiness. I've changed out the transmission fluid to Redline and that helped some. Overall I'm happy with it. There's just a few improvements I'd like to see.

[djcfuzz]

^^ I don't experience any of the negative issues you describe above with my MGW.

Are you sure everything is installed correctly? If so, maybe it is just a matter of adjusting the boot or shifter a little. Does it have the same issues when you don't have the boot on? Meaning, take the boot off and install everything without it and drive it around.

I see you have a V8 and I have a V6 so it is not apples to apples however I still think the questions above are valid.

[Snidely Whiplash]

Originally Posted by Bo White

Ive driven one with a shifter, takes some getting used to. I never miss a shift now(haven't missed one in about 15 years).

Back in the day, David Painter had a daily driver Mustang with a Jerico 4 speed behind a Cleveland with a 250 shot. NEVER saw the guy miss a shift. He DID leave a BIG trail of broken parts on his way to joining the 9 second club.

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