Installed the MGW short throw today.

BurningRubber

10 Year Member
Dec 6, 2004
1,865
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Very nice unit, got here fast, well built and almost a books worth of instructions.

Install was easy, only part that took any time was setting the shift stops.

When I put it back together I noticed it sat alot shorter than the stocker.

Driving impressions... 1-2 is a snick away, 2-3 is a push up, 3-4 is a snick, 4-5 feels kind of weird, im not used to not reaching to the glove box yet... I missed it and grinded, dunno if I jammed it into the wrong gear or my clutch timing was bad. The 5-4 shift is confusing, sometimes it locks reverse out so you can just yank down, others it doesnt, and the time it didnt it grinded like a mother. The 4-3 shift is a snick, 3-2 is a snick, 2-1st only takes a little more effort than stock.

Overall its a great product, and its top notch quality... but personally I would have just delt with the stocker, which I was used to, and spent it on a performance item if I had to do it over again. I was expecting miracles from it as per what everyone else had said, and it feels great and the shifting feel and percision is ALOT better, but its something that would have been nice later on.


*Edit: Sorry for posting this in tech, feel free to move it to talk... wasnt paying attention to where I was posting it at.
 
For me, 6-5 is straight up. 5-4 is straight down. Piece of cake. My MGW shifter was a bit notchy at first, but it shifts much smoother now. It's either broken in or I've just gotten used to it. For some reason, my t56 trans feels a LOT smoother than my friend's 03 Cobra's. Could be due to the fact D&D modified it, I suppose..
 
Im gonna give it some time to break in, and for me to get used to it... then I will re-evaluate, lol. I have a feeling im jumping the gun on it.

Actually, im gonna go play with it now... lol.
 
I noticed big improvement over stock after the install. The shifter was a lot stiffer than the stock one. That didn't bother me at all. It's broken in now. I friend of mine helped me put it in. He has a Pro 5.0 in his Cobra. Needless to say, he's switching it out for the MGW. Pearl02.
 
The shorter shift lever gives you shorter throw and less leverage. It will never be as easy to shift as it was stock, but you'll never miss a gear again, and can slam gears without worrying about damaging anything because of the stops. It will feel easier after a while because you just get used to it. :nice:
 
I called up MGW and spoke with the head hauncho "George" he sat on the phone with me for 20 minutes explaining shift stops to me he said hes owned plenty of GT's Cobras Vipers etc... and never used shift stops on any of his cars. He leaves it up to the customer to decide.

If it were his car he said he would leave the shift stops out... So i did.

Think about it... no stock shifter has shift stops, you CAN damage your tranny by incorrectly setting the stops, you wont by leaving them out.

The key to setting shift stops correctly is to leave a hair between shifter and the stop, which means you will never use the stops anyways. You will shift into gear and never hit the stop. If your stops come loose or you set them wrong, you will damage your tranny.

Shift stops were developed in the 80's by hurst to help prevent damage to the tranny from overshifting in older tranny's. The T45, T3650, and T56 are not old, and are fine without stops.

George said leave em out.

I have no stops installed.
 
I can see an air gap between the stops and all gear positions with the shifter.

I set them as per directions, tighten untill they bump the shifter in an up and down shift, and back off one full turn and tighten them down after re checking for clearance.
 
There is a lot of talk about the MGW shifter these days. I've had there shift lever installed on the stock shifter for some time untill I installed the Hurst billet plus shifter from Ford mortorsport,... I found most shifter levers to be very short. That combined with Corbeau seats made for some issues between my elbow and the arm rest. I find with the Hurst shifter this issue has disappeared and the short throw is certainly an improvement over stock. I do agree, MGW quality is unsurpassed.

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