Is this shifter worth it if all you do is spirited driving on the street? I do miss third a lot when I am going at it hard.

 

You answered your own question with missing 3rd.

But if you don't want to spend the money get yourself a good shifter bracket like the Steeda for $80. I'll be selling mine in a few weeks once my MGW comes in.

 

Not so much about the money more about not having access to a lift or having anyone around me that's mechanical savvy lol.

 

You don't need a lift as for the latter, learn by doing and a shifter change is one of the easiest things you can do.

 

Sounds good. Might as well get my feet wet sooner or later. Thanks for answering my questions.

 

I helped my buddy do his on jack stands and I'll be doing mine the same way. Watch the videos a few times to get yourself prepared. I'm not mechanically savvy myself, but I've learned a lot from friends, this forum, and doing things by trial and error.

 

That looks great man. How's it coming along? Did you end up finishing it?

Yeah I never used that special extension rod no need

 

This is true, partially. The MGW isn't like just dropping any "regular" short throw in. In my 89 it was like 15 minutes. This is much more in depth and requires a little more mechanical work.

I was just about to post up, you definitely DON'T need a lift. I would be the first one to be bltching that it sucked. It is 100% do able on stands. Little awkward using the racket but that's all driveway jobs

Also, you can do it fine with 1 person. 2 people is not necessary.

 

So far I'm up to bolting on the support arm with some loctite ( I think I'm gonna use my own loctite brand as opposed to what they supplied even tho that is decent stuff)

Then it's onto the top part of the shifter and buttoning it up.

I did most of the job in the darkness in the driveway with a hanging light. I was actually a lot of fun, never got frustrated once. But haven't done the boot yet.

 

You finish or are you still screwing around with the boot lol.

 

Probably passed out from swearing at that boot....lol

 

Lol no I had stopped, I had some stuff to do. I was interrupted a bunch. Starting it back up in about an hour. Shouldn't take more then 45 min

 

Ahhhhhhh!!! $&)((;/!?&$)$&$("@!!, Allen keys!!!! I knew when I saw them it would be an issue. I hate when they use them, I hope there's a reason. Lol. Especially when I need a extended Allen key drill bit. WTF Lol

 

Awwe too bad, mines all done. Beat ya nana.








My impressions, even with extensive sound deadening and matting the solid rear mount to the body carries more transmission noise into the car after transmission warms up.
The good part is that hitting 3rd to 4th does seem to be completely gone ( which is the only reason I purchased it )
The notchyness from 1st to 2 nd is still the same, but it never bothered me.
The install was alittle tricky getting 2 halves together but I had good help.
The rubber boot was alittle pain but all you gotta do is take your time..
Shifter is A plus.
Id say just change back body mount to fix issue with shifter, but when I removed the stock shifter I noticed the shifter had some pretty severe wear on the reverse bracket.

 

What do you mean by back body mount? You mean the shift bracket that can be replaced by the barton or steeda unit?

 

Yes exactly, makes me wonder if that would have been enough, just replacing the back shift bracket with a Steeda or Barton. Id say for anyone thinking of shifters to at least try swapping out the factory shifter bracket and use a Steeda or Barton first.

 

It's similar, just mgw comes with it's own built in. The piece that has the 2 bars through it that bolts to the car is essentially the same function as what the steeda/barton bracket do.

 

I was tree'd lol. I have the steeda bracket and it's good for the most part, however the shifter still feels sloppy and I hate guessing if I'm going into 3rd or 5th. Same goes for 1st and reverse, sometimes I can't tell until I start letting the clutch out.

 

Ahhhhhhhh sorry man NOW I remember that extension thingy you were talking about. Yes bolting that whole thing down, all 4 of them, was another royal pain the a**. Why? Because I did not have drill Allen bits like George in the vids did LOL. We spent another 15 mins just turning each bolt slowly as hell. We were also all worried about snapping Allen wrenches. I kept counting how many allens I had remaining.... Sigh....

Yes, that's one of the favorite parts about the mgw...vagueness and gear guessing is GONE.

 

I can't wait then! My reverse spring must be so loose because I can't really tell sometimes between 1st and reverse. I hate having to think about which gear I'm going in.