New shifter may be coming soon, Old part, new twist Options

[NataSS Inc]

I recently came accross (on C-C.com) a new product that has been released to the Mustang community on one of my road racing web sites. A company called MGW Ltd. has developed a new shifter that in my opinion BLOWS EVERYTHING in the market out of the water (pics and vid below). I decided to give them a call and ended up speaking with the owner (George) for a while.

He said that they were primarily a Mustang designer but did make products for vettes and a couple other cars. I asked him what it would take to get a shifter like this made for the late model Fbods. He said that if the T56 in the mustang and the fbody were similar it would require minimal modifications to make one and he could keep it at 150.00. But he also said that to make it feesable he would need 40-50 SOLID orders.

Here is a link to his site: www.MGWltd.com
You can see he doesnt make 2nd rate stuff.

Here are a couple links to vids
Granny shifting

Lets see Pro 5.0 or Ripper do this

detailed info

Keep in mind that the Fbody set up would not have the off-set handle. It would be an almost straight shaft.


I am going to be guinney pigging this thing on my car and giving him feed back on it.

I know alot of people are going "God, just what we need, another fricken shifter". But for the last couple of years I havent found one that was worth a shit. If I could have a decent replacement for my ripper I would can it in a heart beat. I tried a pro 5.0 and didnt like it much better.


Would any of you guys be interested in possibly getting into one of these if we could have it out in the next 6 months or sooner if we could keep it at 150.00?

Give me some feed back.

[trackbird]

I like my ripper. I hate the pro 5.0 that I drove on another T56. So, I'm happy for now (I think).

[NataSS Inc]

To me the ripper feels like I am swinging a shifter in a mack truck. Throw is ungodly long (still better than stock though) and along with the pro 5.0 it is very mechanical feeling and notchy.

This one is "supposed" to be very smooth and quiet.

[NataSS Inc]

25 views and 1 reply......guess this one isnt going to float.

[mitchntx]

You must've had the old style ripper, 'cause my Ripper is awesome.

And I HATE the straight shaft shifters. In a 5 point 5th is tough and Reverse is impossible.

Me likes my curved Ripper.

[trackbird]

And, actually, the investment cast steel stick on a Ripper will probably hold that weight as well as the aluminum used in the shifter in question. And, would do it through more fatigue cycles (if I'm incorrect on that, engineers feel free to correct me).

I'm not saying it is not a good idea. I'd have to drive one and really, really, REALLY, like it to bother changing. Now, if I had a Pro 5.0, I'd gladly change to almost anything.

[SuperCricket]

Pro 5.0 owner here. What do you guys feel is wrong with it? It's never let me down or given me trouble.

[trackbird]

The pro 5.0's I've driven took you from a long, sloppy throw (stock) to a somewhat short, very notchy one. To me, they feel like all the gates are tight and not exactly lined up and it just "clunks" in and out of each gate. There are those who seem to really like them, maybe they've not driven anything better or the few I have driven were defective (they weren't any better in a Fox body Mustang either). However, that's simply my take on them. If it works for you (not specifically you, just "you"), then go with it. It does not suit my tastes.

Maybe the description is to say it has a very mechanical feel.

[GlennCMC70]

i keep hearing you guys complain about the feel of a shifter in regards to the "gates" and "notchy". have any of you moved your shifter stick around while it was not installed in the trans? you realize there is no "gates" in the shifter, right? you guys know that the shorter you make the stick, the more force that is required from the driver to make the shift due to the loss of leverage, right? the T-56 shifts a little on the notchy side, and putting a Ferrari shifter on it is still gonna make it shift like a T-56.
i've run a Kirban (now sold as a RK Sport) and a Ripper. i've installed a few others and driven those cars as well. the Ripper (1 piece stick) is the best. plus if you break the stick, it will be after you have destroyed every syncro and shift fork in the trans.

[trackbird]

Glenn,

I'm aware of that. And, you are correct that it is very likely the shorter throw that increases the shift effort and aggrivates the notchy feel of the transmission. The Pro 5.0 may have a slightly shorter throw than the ripper and that is very likely the explanation for the shift effort and what I consider to be a notchy feel.

The bummer is that the ripper in my friends 99 Mustang GT feels even better (shorter, smoother, etc) than mine in the T56 (which feels loose by comparison to his, but far better than most anything else). I suspect that shortening the throw as per that shifter that Nata mentioned would just make it even worse. I'd probably pass.

[shortbus]

I'll check on this in a month or two... I f the price point is right then I may just try it. (anything to make the car harder to drive so the wife likes it less. She drives it too much anyway.) (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)

[AllZWay]

I still like my $99 hurst/slp shifter.

It does everything I need to do in a shifter and was considerably better than the stock one.

[trackbird]

My car was a Hurst equipped car from the factory. The shifter was not bad, I hated the rubber bushing in the handle and the effort requried to get into the gate for reverse (I hurt my shoulder in a motorcycle accident years ago and it was starting to hurt my shoulder to drive the car, so I tried a Ripper and it was much better with lighter gate springs).

[01badz28]

I mostly just lurk here, but I would be interested in this. At this point, its between this shifter or a ripper. $150 is also an attractive price point.

[sgarnett]

I have the new Ripper and I'm happy with it. However, while playing around with the fore-aft position I discovered that it did actually affect the shifting, not just the wrist feel, so I placed it where it shifted the smoothest (sorry, don't remember where that was). I also rotated it slightly (just taking up the slack before tightening the bolts down), so that the springs in the shifter slightly guide the 2<->3 shift and 4<->5 shifts. These are very small changes, and I din't actually mod anything, just assembled it carefully, but it made a significant difference in the feel.

However, a T56 is still a T56. The T5 (I think) in my 96 3800 was MUCH smoother.

[mitchntx]

Sean, I didn the EXACT same thing.

I was able to get the shifter base plate moved all the way back so I could reach 5th and Rev better while strapped in my seat.

Also, when I built my seat mount, not only did I lower and move the driving position back, I turned the seat slightly clockwise so that my elbow didn't hit the side bolster doing a 1-2, 3-4 or 3-2 shift.

[LT4Firehawk]

I've owned or driven cars with just about every shifter for a f-body T56 available, and it's not the shifters, it's the tranny. The T56 is a very notchy tranny to start with, and when you go with a short throw shifter it just exaggerates that even more.

My all time favorite shifter for track use is the Ripper. It has a short, precise throw and is built like a tank (as mentioned above, the tranny will be long dead before you break a Ripper). However, it is also a little heavy for street use or spouses.

My favorite for all around use is the Hurst w/ a short stick (Lou's or imitator). The Hurst with a short stick, is not nearly as hard to shift, while offering a much shorter throw than stock with a much more precise feel. No, it's not quite as precise as the Ripper, and you can occassionaly hit between the gears on the 2-3 shift, but you won't engage 1st like you would with a stock shifter. Also, with proper hand placement and shift movement, you will find the right gear 99.9% of the time. Just about the only time I ever hit between 1st and 3rd is when I'm on the street and am too lazy to position my hand properly.

Anyway, while I'm all for more options, this is one of those areas where I really don't see that someones going to come up with a better solution than what's already out there.

[CMC #37]

Hmmm! I have a Pro 5.0 on my 3rd gen CMC car and it is smooth as glass, could not be easier to shift. Had to red loctite it down though because it kept coming loose. Based on that good experience, I got a Pro 5.0 for my T56 in the 4th gen future CMC car. I could not get reverse without using two hands initially, and wondered how women actually drove the car. I knew that would never work on track being strapped in, so I just kept working on it, finally got it more easily by "locking" (hyoerextending) my arm straight and giving a big push. All the other gears with the Pro 5.0 on the T-56 have a notchy feel, but easy to shift. Fifth goes in with a clunk, nothing serious though. No complaints there, reverse is a little tricky but I have it down now.

[Absolut Speed]

Granted, I've not used other aftermarlet shifters, the wife and I both like the Pro 5.0. In addition to auto-x and open track, I've made probably 80 passes at the strip and never came close to missing a shift. I took the handle supplied by Pro 5.0 and had a machine shop cut about 1.5" off of it. I'm still trying to figure out the true relevance of hanging shop equipment from a shifter handle to demonstrate strength. Breaking mine doesn't even make the bottom of my list of least concerns.

Wife's never said a thing about difficulty in shifting or reaching reverse, and at my height, even strapped in snug reach won't be a concern.

It may be a better alternative, but I just have nothing but good to say about the 5.0 I already have. But hey, nothing wrong with more competition in the market, that's the USA way.

[trackbird]

One other problem with the stock hurst. I'd sometimes hit the 1-3 gate on the end and it would "stick" there. I've never had that problem with the Ripper. I know it shouldn't be the shifters fault, but I could get it jammed on there and would have to hit it to knock it out and my Ripper has never let me miss gears "that way". It was odd to get it stuck on the gate.....