Rich Or Lean ? ?

Usually, an aftermarket shifter is made of better metal than the stock shifter and tends to transfer more noise from the gearbox than the stock. I went through this as well, but have had no tranny problems to date. (the shifter's been on the car for 4 years or more).

As for telling if you are running rich or lean......if your check engine light is on, then you can use a scanner to read the code. If it says "system too rich"....then hence your car is too rich, and vice versa. I noticed when I put on my x-pipe that I developed a clicking noise in the exhaust as well. It drove me crazy thinking that I had a leak, to no avail. Seems to be a normal characteristic of "tuned" exhaust.......

Good luck!!

wideband or EGT

For the Wideband go Here

An EGT guage reads the exhaust temperature