302 Gordon

I just finished the installation of the MGW shifter. The work was done in my garage with a 20 inch lift. I am on the north end of 60 years old...so I knew this was going to be a challenge. The removal of the Ford shifter was straight forward...........by the way the written instructions are excellent. I had only two issues on the installation:
1. I had the unit that was designed to include the heat shield at the
bottom of the shifter. Therefore, the middle part of the clamshell
had long studs instead of bolts to connect the middle part with the
base part of the shifter. You have to slide the four studs on to the
base while keeping the two bushings in place. This took time for
me because the studs are machined very close to the holes they
must pass through into the base.
2. The inner shift boot has three areas of fitment.....around the base
of the shifter itself, at the oval cutout in the floorpan and at the
very top of the shifter. The two bottom fitments were tough on
me.......used a variety of tools and kitchen untinsels. I think as
an afterthought I should have used a windshield weather strip
installation tool to ease the work.
All buttoned up, fired it up and drove all around. Very precise shifts..no
vagueness, no noise, heat or rattling from the shifter.........well worth
the price and about 4 hours of labor for myself and a little help and
encouragement from my wife.

06GT

They make a quality product.

5 DOT 0

Hey Gordon I'm glad you got it installed. It is a quality piece and I'm glad to see it provided a nice improvement for you.

pitrider

Watched the MGW install video,they make it look easy..glad you are happy with the shifter.

jim woodruff

Gordon, would you recommend the heat shild after your installation.

302 Gordon

I would definitely order the heat shield..........There is absolutely no heat coming from the shifter area.............and no noise.......this shifter kit is amazing!

jim woodruff

Thanks,That is what I have on back order and wanted to make sure about the heat shield. My shiffter should be here the end of Dec. I am hope full we will know the details of the possible recall on the transmission for the syncro's by then. Thanks for the info.

MyStang2010GB

HUH???

dean_acheson

How did you get the shifter **** off? That **** thing is tight!

11SHELBYGT500

Wrap foil around the boot, take a heat gun and heat up the base of the ****. Using a strap wrench remove ****.

TMSBOSS

Installed the MGW shifter today. Nice shifter.

The **** does come off if you add a little heat. About 15 minutes with a hair dryer loosened mine.

dean_acheson

Installed mine today, the shifter is very very stiff. I'm wondering if I tighted up the upper and lower bodies too much and am binding up the plastic grommets.

jouster

Dean & 302 Gordon, I'd like to encourage you or anybody else that has or is going to install this shifter to keep posting updates.
I for one would like to get like to know how much better this shifter is than the factory shifter, because I'm tired of the 2nd to 5th speed shifts that I occasionally make, and always when I'm in a hurry!
I'd also like to get more comfortable with thinking that this is an install I could do myself.
Cheers,
Jouster

dean_acheson

Well, I've done something wrong, there is no way that this thing can be meant to be this stiff.

I'm less than excited about driving this way for a week before having a chance to crack this thing open to figure out what I've done wrong.

dean_acheson

I think this is where I might have made some mistake. Maybe I've installed the bushing incorrectly, its almost impossible to see what you are doing when you are trying to put the top and bottom half together.

TMSBOSS

When I installed ny MGW shifter I mearly made the mistake of installing the heat shield under the nuts on the botom of the housing. The 4 nuts were in the package I received but were not visible until I removed the lock tite. Then the process became obvious. First set of nuts hold the case together. Insulation and then the steel shield go on over the firsr set of nuts on the studs. Also be sure you bend the small tab on the heat shield down away from the linkage from the shifter to the trans. Without bending the shield downward, the shift linkage Will bind with the heat shield and insulation.

Hope this helps

Yes, the shifter is stiff compared to the factory shifter. The two bushings within the shifter as well as the two bushings on the studs to the rear of the shifter stiffen the action considerably. This also Greatly increases feedback from the trans through the shifter handle.

In the past, the 2-3 shift was a guess. Did it go into 3rd or 5th??? Now with the MGW the chances of shifting 2-5 are greatly reduced. Now one would have to push the shifter through the spring tension for the 5-6 gate to miss the 2-3 shift. Highly inlikely.

Good luck troubleshooting the shifter. Once you have it right, you should enjoy the firm accurate shifts.

dean_acheson

I did not get the heat shield installed yet, in that once I got the top end buttoned up, it was late and I called it a night- so I did not do that part yet.

The shifter can not be as stiff as mine is. It's physically difficult to shift. Its not a question of vague, its a question of very very stiff. Once it comes out of reverse it doesn't "snap" to the center, since you have to physically center the shifter.

It goes into all gears, but it's like the bottom rod is sitting molasses in January....

302 Gordon

Dean .......sorry you are having this snafu! Based on your description of the shifter not centering to neutral, I believe the centering spring was not aligned between the top and center part of the shifter. I know this will be a pain for it requires the removal of the boot to get to the top of the shifter, remove it and see if the spring has fallen out or pinched itself in the housing. Finally, you should be able to move the factory shift rod back and forth, after the assembly of the bottom and middle housings of the shifter. If the shift rod does not move smoothly, there probably is an issue with the bushings or the fit between the bottom and middle assemblies.

Now for the good part.......when you solve your issues you will be delighted with how it works......very precise 2-3 shifts, a mechanical feel instead of the rubbery, vagueness of the original part. I have never been happier with any other shifter on any of my previous cars as I am with this one.

5 DOT 0

I find your comment a bit surprising. Shifting mine from 2-3 is almost telepathic. I never grab my shifter but use the push/pull method and all I do is gently push up from second and it goes into third. Mine shifts very well at high revs and that includes max RPM shifts tracking my car. Just for fun I'll be installing a Steeda shifter bracket in the next couple of weeks and see if it tightens up the minimal slop in the shifter.

Dean, good luck getting yours sorted out as the MGW looks like a well built shifter.

dean_acheson

I talked to George this morning with MGW (the guy who designed the shifter), and he's a really good guy. We discussd my issues for awhile, which had to be hard on his end since I'm not good at explaining much of anything. He's going to ship some new bushings for the ones that I probably screwed up.

I'm sure that this is an installation error totally on my end. I'll just go back through the process and figure out what I did wrong later this week.