I just bought a Hurst short throw a few minutes ago from Brenspeed. I have heard the same thing about how stiff the shifter is. I hope every body is right about it breaking in some and getting better. But I shifted one on a new AJ Foyt GT at Jordan Ford and it was smooth but very solid and this was with the engine off. I easily went thru all 5 gears.
A quick note on this, When I asked Jordan Ford what the price of a Hurst Short Throw shifter would be installed on my 07 GT, he told me $345.00 if I install it my self!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now its $177.00 at Brenspeed. I told him this, and he all but called me a liar. I quickly contacted my personall service advisor and he straightened this fella out. See they told me that if I put the shifter on, and had ANY KIND OF PROBLEMS with the tranny or any other drive train parts I could kiss my warranty good by.
This is NOT TRUE. I was called back and told that by all means buy the shifter if I wanted to from Brenspeed, and they were very suprised to see I was right about the price. All I have to do is have them install it instead of me, and it will cost me 1 hour labor @ $60.00.
And nothing is affected in my warranty and in fact the shifter will be added to my cars parts list. They Told me they pay like $285.00 + S+H from Ford Racing for the Hurst Shifter!
No wonder Ford is in the dumps at the moment. No kiddin, what kind of shape would Ford be in today if not for new Mustang GT Sales? You all think it would make a difference? I sure do.
I work for Pro5.0 and when we make our shifter. we make it STIFF so that it can break in and still be tight and quiet in the future. We recommend about 1000 miles for break in but this varies depending on driving habits. Of coarse the shifter wont break in if you cruise at Hwy speeds in 5th gear for 1000 miles. I'm sure Hurst has set up their shifter in a similar fashion. They probably don't mention the break in factor in their instructions.