Given everything I've read on these forums, what I've just done is contrary to what many people on here have recommended. I now count myself among the few who can claim to have tried more than one shifter on this car, and in fact, this is technically the 5th shifter my car has seen (stock and Tri-Ax on my T-3650, and stock, MGW, and Tri-Ax on my T56).
I got my T56 along with the MGW shifter and a new McLeod clutch setup almost a year ago now. I daily drive my car and frequently take her to the track. When I first got the new setup, I was having trouble shifting quickly like I had been able to with the T-3650. Evening slamming 2nd and 4th was sometimes problematic. No matter what I did, there was always a very definite *clunk...clunk* when I shifted. It would never shift cleanly into the next gear without briefly catching in-between. Power shifting was completely out of the question. In numerous attempts, I missed the shift every time, regardless of which gear I was trying to hit.
As months passed and my track times suffered, I spoke with the people at D&D Performance who sold me the T56, I spoke with Amber at Six Speeds Inc., Archie at Lone Star Performance, MWG, and even the guys at Dallas Mustang. We decided I may have glazed the carbon-fiber components of my synchros, so I was advised to try gently re-breaking in the transmission again. (I'd like to note that the afore mentioned companies were wonderful in helping me through these problems.
We tried adjusting my clutch engagement points upwards and downwards, but again, no improvement.
At this point, a famous quote came to mind: "If you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."
Before I purchased the MGW shifter for my T56, I spent a lot of time on these and other forums reading people's reviews and opinions about many aftermarket shifters. I called the companies that manufactured the various shifters to see just why each of them thought theirs was the best, and why others were inferior. I eventually settled on the MGW, having found a few people who had actually switched from the Pro 5.0 to the MGW and loved it. Now, having eliminated every other easy to test cause of my problems, I decided to start researching shifters again, now 11 months after purchasing my MGW shifter.
After speaking to all the afore mentioned companies again, and also to the people at Pro 5.0, I this time decided to go back to the Steeda Tri-Ax, having had pretty good experiences with it on my T3650. (The folks at Pro 5.0 were, like the others, very helpful and surprisingly unbiased. A friend has a Pro 5.0 on his F-Body and it is amazing.)
I installed my new Tri-Ax earlier this evening, and the difference was like night and day. You have to drive the car to really feel the difference in these two shifters. Sitting still, running through the gears really doesn't feel very different between the two. But when you're shifting above 5,000 RPM, or powershifting at nearly 7,000 RPM like me, the improvement is incredible. The shifter effortlessly goes where you want it. The feel is much more solid and there is almost none of the notchiness characteristic of my MGW shifter.
If someone from MGW reads this, please understand that my intent here is not to bash your product, it is simply to express my opinion to help my fellow racers and aggressive drivers. I hope you take this as constructive criticism, using this information to better your product. From the moment I opened the box and saw it, I thought the MGW was a quality piece. It was solid, clean-looking, and I absolutely love the handle design. In fact, Steeda and Pro 5.0 really do need to improve upon their handle designs. I particularly like how the orange MGW handle is tilted backwards, so the shift knob is rotated about 15 degrees towards the driver. I found this very helpful when slamming 3rd gear, as it helped keep my hand from slipping off the shift knob.
I got my T56 along with the MGW shifter and a new McLeod clutch setup almost a year ago now. I daily drive my car and frequently take her to the track. When I first got the new setup, I was having trouble shifting quickly like I had been able to with the T-3650. Evening slamming 2nd and 4th was sometimes problematic. No matter what I did, there was always a very definite *clunk...clunk* when I shifted. It would never shift cleanly into the next gear without briefly catching in-between. Power shifting was completely out of the question. In numerous attempts, I missed the shift every time, regardless of which gear I was trying to hit.
As months passed and my track times suffered, I spoke with the people at D&D Performance who sold me the T56, I spoke with Amber at Six Speeds Inc., Archie at Lone Star Performance, MWG, and even the guys at Dallas Mustang. We decided I may have glazed the carbon-fiber components of my synchros, so I was advised to try gently re-breaking in the transmission again. (I'd like to note that the afore mentioned companies were wonderful in helping me through these problems.
We tried adjusting my clutch engagement points upwards and downwards, but again, no improvement.
At this point, a famous quote came to mind: "If you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."
Before I purchased the MGW shifter for my T56, I spent a lot of time on these and other forums reading people's reviews and opinions about many aftermarket shifters. I called the companies that manufactured the various shifters to see just why each of them thought theirs was the best, and why others were inferior. I eventually settled on the MGW, having found a few people who had actually switched from the Pro 5.0 to the MGW and loved it. Now, having eliminated every other easy to test cause of my problems, I decided to start researching shifters again, now 11 months after purchasing my MGW shifter.
After speaking to all the afore mentioned companies again, and also to the people at Pro 5.0, I this time decided to go back to the Steeda Tri-Ax, having had pretty good experiences with it on my T3650. (The folks at Pro 5.0 were, like the others, very helpful and surprisingly unbiased. A friend has a Pro 5.0 on his F-Body and it is amazing.)
I installed my new Tri-Ax earlier this evening, and the difference was like night and day. You have to drive the car to really feel the difference in these two shifters. Sitting still, running through the gears really doesn't feel very different between the two. But when you're shifting above 5,000 RPM, or powershifting at nearly 7,000 RPM like me, the improvement is incredible. The shifter effortlessly goes where you want it. The feel is much more solid and there is almost none of the notchiness characteristic of my MGW shifter.
If someone from MGW reads this, please understand that my intent here is not to bash your product, it is simply to express my opinion to help my fellow racers and aggressive drivers. I hope you take this as constructive criticism, using this information to better your product. From the moment I opened the box and saw it, I thought the MGW was a quality piece. It was solid, clean-looking, and I absolutely love the handle design. In fact, Steeda and Pro 5.0 really do need to improve upon their handle designs. I particularly like how the orange MGW handle is tilted backwards, so the shift knob is rotated about 15 degrees towards the driver. I found this very helpful when slamming 3rd gear, as it helped keep my hand from slipping off the shift knob.