Hurst Shifter Help Needed

I installed the Hurst short-throw shifter on my 2006 GT this weekend, and have a couple of questions for those of you that have it. First, will the "notchy" feeling get better with time? It seems like it is extremely notchy going from 4th to 5th. Second question, and the most important one, how much front of the car to back of the car play do you have in your shifter while in gear?? Side to side is stiff, and hardly any play. Front to back I have about 1/2 to 1 inch slop at the ball. It is really starting to drive me crazy. Before I tear it apart and start looking for problems, I wanted to know if that is normal. Any and all help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

To those of you that replied...Thank you. After reading about the "no front to back movement," I took it back apart. The lower bolt that holds the stick to the shifter was hanging on by only a couple of threads. I put some Loctite on both of them, and no more problems...yet.

As far as the shifter itself goes...I love it! Going back to stock is not an option at all now. Thanks again for all of your help. It motivated me to quit being lazy and take it back apart!!