narphenal

Well, I received my MGW Shifter today. First impressions are nothing but extremely positive; be warned, a lot of pictures coming.

Here is everything it came with, with the exception of the 401A/Boss Shift boot(BR3Z-7277-B), which was ordered from Partscheap.


Now, at first glance, the ~$400 price tag seems kind of steep for a shifter, until you realize all the stuff it comes with.

In this picture, you can seen heat shield, which is made out of stainless steel, along with the insulation that goes on it, and the nuts to attach it to the studs on the lower shifter assembly. To the right of that is sound deadening material for the interior of the car, that surrounds the shift boot, as well as a sheet of Dynamat to apply in various places to reduce vibration and sound.



In the next bag, you find an insert for the boot(if you have the base interior package, and have the big plastic shifter, however it is not needed with the 401A or Boss interior with the round shifter. The shiftboot from the boss can be purchased from many places, and can be seen in the original picture), loctite for all of the nuts, grease for the pivot cup and linkage rod, bolts to attach the upper assembly to the lower assembly, and the reverse lockout spring.



The next bag has the new Bushing Bracket, with a "street" bushing and a "track" bushing, with the street bushing being already installed, with some silicon for mounting and two nuts to mount the bracket to the preexisting studs.



Here we have the new bushings, for the linkage rod. One is sandwiched, as the pivot cup is welded on the linkage rod, and the other just slides on the open end. The zip tie is used in the relief to secure the two pieces together while installing. On the right we have the new shift ball and a jamnut/washer for securing the shiftball, which is now included at no additional cost.



Here is the actual lower assembly. The gold part orients down in the car, with the prongs facing rearward into the bushing bracket. Note the studs are extra long to accommodate the installation of the heat shield. bolts on the right hand side are for the side support arm. Different from the previous version of the MGW shifter, the new 2014 version uses a slightly differing design. The previous version being completely cut and half, and the new version using the smaller gold clamshell, which is beneficial as the side support arm no longer needs to be removed to service the bushings, you just need to remove the heat shield and then the bolts on the studs.




Here is a view as if you were sitting in the car, looking forward. This is where the top assembly mates, the linkage rod goes through, and where the pivot cup will be visible. The larger hole on the left is for the reverse lockout spring.



This is the upper assembly, from the right hand side. Everything is pretty self explanatory. You can see the shelf for the reverse lockout on the pack side, and the nut on the handle is used to adjust the pin for the reverse lockout. It has also been redesigned to use the OEM dust boot, to alleviate all the headaches of trying to seat the old dust boot, which also helped lower the cost of the unit itself.



And here it is all together.



I plan on installing the unit tomorrow night, assuming everything goes as planned at work tomorrow. The install itself looks pretty easy, and the installation instruction on MGWs YouTube channel are extremely thorough. I plan on documenting what I can to post in this thread. If anyone has any questions or requests, or wants a specific picture or measurement, just post it in here before tomorrow when I install the unit.

MDkid92

Hope it goes well for you. Great pics so far. Keep us updated.

narphenal

There really isn't too much that can go wrong, unless the linkage rod in the car(picture related for reference) has a bunch of slag from the factory and needs to be cleaned up; it just seems time consuming.

UOP Shadow

Wow, can't wait to hear how this goes. Been thinking about putting this in our 13 GT500.

Trumpetlon

Mine is on order and is expected to ship by the end of next week. Does it come with the stock threaded shaft 12mm X 1.25 or just with the 12mm X 1.75? I need to know if I need a new adapter and shift ball.

narphenal

Mine had the shaft to accommodate their shift ball. I would contact them and find out.

PaxtonShelby

Fantastic product. Second mod I did, right after hood struts.

pressman43

Can't wait to get mine soon also. Hopefully next week for delivery.

fdjizm

That is one perty shifter!

V6 Driver

Does this revised version utilize the oem reverse lockout or are you going to install the indicator light.

Edit - sorry. Didnt read as thoroughly as I should have. If this does indeed have a solid and functional (idiot proof) reverse lockout then this shifter will move to the top of my mod list.

narphenal

I'll get some better pictures tonight, but since it is replacing the entire unit, it has a whole new reverse lockout with beefier springs and a redesigned shelf. While I have not gotten to try it yet, the new shelf is slanted instead of straight, allowing you to roll your wrist to actuate it easier, while still using better springs to prevent the accidental actuation of it.

Stevedotmil

I might have to buy this now and sell the Barton that I have in there. Hmmmmm......

jp1seattle

You can order either shaft. I ordered mine with the stock threads.


The install is pretty straight forward. It took me a few hours, but I really took my time and consulted the YouTube video as I went along. Getting the boot to seat properly underneath the car was a little trying, but with persistence and a pair of needle nose pliers, I got it done.

2L8IWON

Is the boss shift boot make from alcatara?

narphenal

No, but CJ Pony Parts sells it.

narphenal

Well, just finished the install on the MGW, and all I can say is wow. It's amazing how much the MGW changes the feel of the car. Shifts are only what I can describe as "crisp" and direct. Shifts feel much shorter, and much faster. The reverse lockout is way better. 2nd to 3rd is fantastic.

I know it is said a lot, but if you haven't already done so, I would prioritize a new shifter. The shifter is your main point of contact with the car, and it is crazy how different it feels from stock. You realize how sloppy the OEM unit is, especially when you start to take it apart. The entire bushing bracket is a joke.

The install was pretty straight forward, and is easily accomplished with one person, although it never hurts to have someone else. You're basically unbolting the old one, and bolting the new one in its place. I didn't write an install guide or take that many pictures(and the ones I did take were pretty sub-par, as there is a and my hands were filthy and I didn't want to filth up my $2500 camera.







There is more sound and vibration with the shifter, as is expected when you go from sloppy non direct shifts and a bushing bracket that barely does anything, but it is really unnoticeable. I would also expect some of the felt vibration has more to do with the shift **** than the shifter itself.

Overall, I am more than impressed with this unit. I was expecting it to be better than stock, but not this much better. Can't wait to drive to work in the morning!

Mr. V

How is they nvh with the shifter?

FromZto5

Steve, I've been telling you this for the past 2 years lol. NOW you wanna change it? . Hehehe

Narph great pics and great writeup. You remind me so much of when I did mine. Also, I find it funny that whoever does an MGW upgrade, when they compare it to the stock oem shifter, they all realize, wow, I didn't know how BAD the oem shifter was until they feel the MGW. It doesn't even seem fair lol.

Congrats narph! Welcome to the MGW family.

My closing comment is always this:

MGW ftw!!!

narphenal

There is a little more, but not much.

Oh yeah, and Swivel Sockets for the win!

FromZto5

Very nice. I don't think I have those. It probably would have made the install easier.