IS IT ME OR THE CAR?
 

I have herd a lot of stories of trans problems with the boss. I didn't put much stock in the problems until today. I got locked out of 3rd four times this afternoon on a good second gear pull go to hit 3rd and its not there. I have 2000 miles on the car and have tried to give it a good break in period. The trans is terrible when cold so I give it that but to not shift correctly after driving a couple of hours is not acceptable. I am not going to spend a bunch of time taking this car to the dealer and playing the warrantee game.

If U run up the motor to redline the trans will lock up.
Happened to me.

It does happen but I really think it is the kind of shifting people are used to that doesn't work on this trans. I have locked out, I have ground, but I eventually I learned how to shift it and it all changed. IMO though.

The higher the revs, the stiffer the clutch and shifter movements become. It's a weird thing that I've never noticed on other cars. It takes some getting used to and the occasional missed shift happens, but it's not routine for me.

I'm glad I bought a 500 when I hear about this crap.

Kind of negates the point of what the Boss is built for doesn't it?

MGW or Barton shifter and bracket. You'll be happy you did.

I just installed the FRPP clutch line and it seems to have made a big improvement in the clutch pedal feel and ......... the way the trans shifts. It was always clunky when cold and an occasional miss into 3rd if I was not careful. I noticed it was better if I made sure to bury the pedal to the floor every time. As noted by others knowing how best to work this shifter helped too. i was never thrilled with the pedal feel as it just seemed different than what I thought it should have been. Then I read about the standard line being plastic and that the fitting where it connects to the slave had a restriction in its design. Some had replaced this line, that had an internal clearance about .070", with a SS line with about double the size hole and they reported much better performance. It made sense that the higher flow line would act the clutch faster especially when cold due to viscosity. So I tried it and so far I am very happy. A big difference in cold shifting, now very smooth and the pedal just feels better. I have not made any other changes, not trams fluid or shifter change. The size of the smallest port in the new SS line is approximately between .170 and .185. A big difference. This may have fixed all my issues but I need more time to make sure.

FYI: my 2012 was built in May 2012 and currently only has 1700 miles on her.
I mention because sometimes issues can relate to build dates as things can change:)

I do not buy the garbage about learning to shift on this transmission. A car at the Boss price point and especially a performance car, should have a smooth shifting tranny. It took 5 minutes to get used to putting the car in reverse, which is acceptable. I have had many manual transmission cars, and have never had a tranny I could not put in gear at high rpms. It is a faulty, or less than ideal tranny for what the Boss is intended to do. I have second to third lock out on shifts at or above 5K rpm's. I have never missed a gear.

Dave

I have a lot of experience with stick cars and I have never had one act like this one does when you push it a little. At this point I would feel a lot better about a TOP LOADER. I quickly discovered that these six speeds are more difficult to work because of the tight pattern. I do have a MGW shifter on the car but all it has really done is stiffen and tighten the shifts. I can normally shift a stick as fast as it takes to push in the clutch and let it out. I have successfully gone through the gears on this car but for it to lock out more than once in a while is unexceptable. If I can't fix this problem I will have to take a closer look at the 13 gt 500. Better handling is only an advantage if the car can get to the next gear.:banghead:

Not sure how many miles you've put on your car since the MGW upgrade? I know mine took several hundred miles to relax a bit. It's definitely better than what the factory offered....but I agree...it should be better. Wish I had the coins to consider the 13 GT 500....but alas...I'll be making due with my Boss. Sure is frustrating when you can't make a shift when you're right at...or near redline!

I have yet to have the trans lock out a gear, any gear, up at the red line. The only gears I have ever missed happened when I was going easy and not paying attention as I should have been.

There's a huge thread on this over at SVT.

The 3rd gear lockout at high RPM issue is NOT driver error. The Barton/MGW shifter does NOT fix the issue, NOR does the replacement clutch line or replacement trans fluid. Those fixes address other issues but not this one.

The current thinking is that the clutch on these cars just isn't up to the task at redline, particularly on the 2-3 shift. I can power shift 2-3 at 6900 RPM every single time without missing a beat, but if I try it at 7500 RPM I will hit a brick wall >50% of the time.

Track car with a license plate. I don't think so.

How sad is this thread. What does the dealership/ford have to say about this issue?

It doesn't? Do you have the barton or mgw bracket and shifter installed? plenty of people on here on reported no more 2-3 miss shifts. Have you ever seen the stock bracket on these cars? It's held together by zipties. Idk about you but zipties won't seem to hold up to much. It's very flimsy and there's alot of given. The MGW and Barton brackets are much better material and alot more sturdy. I don't see how this would at least help the issue significantly.

The thread you are talking about (I believe) is the clutch sticking to the floor at redline. My car did that while doing burnouts at the drag strip heating up the tires. I read that thread and a couple others on a couple other Boss sites and did the spring assist removal. I haven't had the problem since.

As for not being able to hit third at redline, the MGW took care of that problem. It does kinda suck that we have to modify a $45k car to get it to do what it should have done from the factory but oh well. One mod was $400 the other free.

Do you have a FRPP link or part # for this?

M-7512-A is the FRPP part number, available at many sites. I got mine online at Late Model Restoration.

I did not have any issues with the stock shifter it was just sloppy as you guys know.
I had some big plans for this car but I have to see how this works out before I continue with mods/money.