Anybody familiar with the shifter brace sold by Pauls High Performance for a hundred bucks?

 

Bump. What's this supposed to do, Vega? Does it take some of the play out of the stick, or does it allow the shifter to mount to the tranny instead of the body, thus preventing the twisting problem some have experienced?

 

I saw this brace on the paulshp.com website. It says it is designed to eliminate unwanted movement in the shifter and it firms up the shifter location so you dont have to buy another shifter. Anybody have it in their car?

 

In my opinion, why would anyone spend $100 on a part that looks like it came from the Walmart auto parts department?

If you're going to spend 100 bucks on something like that, why wouldn't you spend $200 and get an all new shifter you know has proven better than stock?

 

There's also the issue that if Paul's HP sells it for $100, then if anyone else in the world sold it, it would only be $25. Pauls HP is outrageously high priced.

 

I bought it. Here's why.
I bought a Steeda Tri-Ax shifter and installed it when they first came out. I spent two weeks shimming and adjusting and machining bushings. The effort to move the shifter left or right to the gates was too difficult. I believe this is due to the different geometry of the shifter compared to stock. I was not willing to live with this. With the stock shifter, I was encountering problems with my 2-3 shifts at WOT. These due to the shifter being mounted on the body and the engine/transmission moving when torque was released by the clutch. The trans moves independently from the shifter. Although only a small movement, it was enough to cause trouble for me. Paul's High Performance shift brace seemed like a good candidate to try out based on the theory of operation. - Tie the shifter to the trans with a solid brace (which is more stout than it looks in the pics) and eliminate most of the independent movement. - It worked great for me and I am very satisfied. And I'm a pretty picky person. Now that there's B&M, Hurst, and Pro 5.0 shifters out, they may be different than the steeda. I bought what I thought was best at the time. And am still happy.

 

I forgot where I saw it mentioned, but someone bought Saleens kit. It was like $24 shipped, and they said it worked just as well as a new shifter.

 

Shaun -(Wookdawg) is correct about the reasoning behind that brace. I saw an article about PHP getting an '05 in the 12's that mentioned the same thing. Why Ford did it this way, I'll never understand. The 350Z's shifter is also "remote" mounted, but the shifter is attached to the transmission, not the trans tunnel (3pt. brace, I think). Has anyone ever looked into the possibility of this brace working with other aftermarket shifters besides the Tri-Ax?

 

Actually, since I had the tri-ax installed for a while and have the brace, I can shed some light on the subject. The shift brace goes around the rearmost part of the shifter body, then the stock bushing/mount is placed back on the shifter. The steeda is a completely different design in the rear end, having a round poly bushing and much thicker structure. It would not work. As I have not seen other brands I don't know about those but I would guess the Pro 5.0 and B&M would not work with this either. I can post some pics if anyone is really interested.

 

I bet it would work with the Hurst since the Hurst looks very much like the stock configuration..has anybody tried this?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(davids2toys @ March 13, 2006, 7:26 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
I bet it would work with the Hurst since the Hurst looks very much like the stock configuration..has anybody tried this?[/b][/quote]

I have the Hurst shifter which is the same as the FRPP, not the new aluminum one. It looks like they took the factory piece and modified it.

I still had problems during the 2/3 shift, but I run a blower. I installed 'Bullet' motor mounts from BMR, and many other sources, and this fixed 95% of the problem. Had ford mounted the shifter body to the trans, we would not be having this problem. Engine/trans shifts one way, body the other. I am hoping the brace will eliminate the rest of the flex.

The problem with this will be increased vibration. Which is why ford did this to begin with.

 

I have that shifter brace that I can't use any longer. If anyone wants to buy it, PM me. Cheap!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(169stang @ April 11, 2006, 9:42 AM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
I have that shifter brace that I can't use any longer. If anyone wants to buy it, PM me. Cheap!
[/b][/quote]

PM sent

 

Why can't you use it?

 

I just installed 169stang's old brace (sorry MTAS, beat you to it). I do like it. I have the stock shifter, with Steeda bushings and the Saleen short shift adapter. Now, now, you say "You coulda just bought a Hurst!" I bought most of the above parts used or before prices went up (...Saleen ), so I still have about 1/2 as much as a new Hurst into it at the moment.

One thing I do have to say is that it is one fugly looking piece of engineering. Maybe this one was a prototype. But a piece of 1/2" tubing, a couple of 1/8" metal plates, a welder and a little patience, you can make one yourself. This is not worth $100. $40-$60 maybe, tops.

Good news is: it shifts into 3rd like its on a rail . Of course the NVH goes up (makes the tranny whine TSB much more apparent). I'll mess with it some more to reduce that, but I think it's a keeper.

 

bumpp

 

ok i am trying to figure out how the brace works. Does it remove the shifter from being attached to the body of the car? THat i believe would be the ultimate way to acheive proper shifter location.

 

The shifter brace supports what you currently have. It removes any flex in your current shifter setup. It doesn't remove any of the mounting points that your current shifter has.
PHP is making a killing on these. Buzzy, you should take it off, make a jig, duplicate it, and sell them. It would be pretty simple to make. A couple bends in a piece of square stock with 3 flat pieces on each end with holes. It does help. It is worth about $60 tops.
I can't use it any longer b/c I have a different tranny and a Swarr shifter.

 

I would, but I'd have to invest in a welder first - too much startup costs!

Cheese302, I'll try to take some pictures of it tonight. It might be hard to make out over the driveshaft though. 169stang is right, you still use the original stock attachment points, plus the brace. If you don't use the stock attachment points, it will still flex around as much as it does stock.

 

Hey dave<I now am running your old Waterpump Pulley.I hope it wont be bad luck