Short Throw Shifters

On a '14 GT 5.0 6MT, the stock shifter and bracket are garbage. I upgraded to a Barton Industries Short Throw Shifter w/ Two Post Bracket and a new shift knob. I daily drive mine.

Agreed, the stock Shifter Bushing is garbage; since it was designed for "comfort". Install a Steeda or Barton/Ford Racing shifter bushing, and you will notice a huge difference. As for Short Throws, Barton/Ford Racing, MGW, Hurst to name a few.

If by "stock Shifter Bushing" one means the forward round two piece bushing and /or rear wrap around bushing that holds the rear of the shifter near the floor, they do not harm shift quality. They do a great job of isolating harmonics, much better than harder flashy polyurethane. The OEM front is hard plastic and does as good a job locating the shifter in relation to the trans as poly. The rear bushing just holds the rear of the shifter up near the floor away from the driveshaft while allowing unfettered rotation of the shifter with the transmission as the drive train reacts to torque applications.

The shifter itself, whether OEM or AM, simply pivots in a ball socket, it's throw is a function of length above and below the ball .... "ratio" in other words, as the transmission shift linkage inside and as transmitted via "spool" defines the positions and gates.

I have a Hurst Billet Comp+ shifter now, I did the original install, I have extended the handle several ways looking for my favorite spot, ....
..... but the first thing I did after initial install was to drive it and notice the noise / vibrations.

I removed the Hurst, pulled the red poly bushings out, installed the OEM front hard plastic bushing and cut the center out of the OEM rubber rear bushing with a long skinny blade and it then fit the rear Hurst's rear tang perfectly, and it has some ribs on top so it doesn't transmit vibrations to the floor.

No noise and vibrations now.

I strongly suspect that the same result would have been noted with just changing the rear OEM rubber in place of the poly.

For your 08? I have a Steeda Tri-Ax brand new in box. Check out vendor forum page for price and email if you're interested.

I have a MGW shifter on my '10 and I love it. I also used a Steeda Tri-Ax on my '01, which was also very good, but I think I like the MGW more.

kwiltse08gtcs said:

First let me see where my funds are. I'm finally starting to pick it up in my new job at a Ford Dealership.

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No problem. Let me know when you're ready.

Why not ask the service department of the dealer you work for? I'm sure there's some kind of employee discount, I hope...... I can't see anybody charging more then 1hr labor.

kwiltse08gtcs said:

Do you have a rough estimate on how much shops would charge for install because I have never done a shifter install and I dont have the tools or space.

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New job at the Ford Dealership huh?

Why not just offer to buy pizza for a young mechanic and he and you slip it into place on lunch break one day. It's that easy.

kwiltse08gtcs said:

Because of my Integrity.

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I'm all about integrity. I certainly didn't mean to imply that you "lean" on a mechanic or ask him / her to do anything on their own time that they don't want to do. Just coworkers helping one another, even without pizza. I can see it if you are management or otherwise supervising .... but I was thinking more of those on same level.