Is Anyone Unhappy with their Barton Shifter?

duke107628 said:

How does the body mount compared to the stock one? Does it get rid of the clunking feeling?

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Are you are referring to the clunk in the drivetrain when you engage the shifter into gear? If so, my understanding is that the "clunk" is not shifter related at all. You are spinning up shafts in the tranny and putting the car in gear transfers some of that inertia into the drive shaft. It is a Getrag thing exacerbated by drivetrain slop. Even with the clutch fully depressed I can often feel the car lurch forward a bit. When Ford claims this is normal - it evidently is.

If you are talking about "nibble" where there is a slight grind upon gear engagement, improvement is likely if you are direct mounting the shifter to the transmission (MGW and an option on Barton). The direct mount will properly align the shifter and tranny. Body mounts with firmer bushings are taking the opposite approach...particularly when using lots of throttle. The tranny is literally twisting independently of the shifter. Doesn't seem like what you'd want.

Sorry for the long answer.

I have had a Barton (Not the hybrid3) body mounted in my car and let me just say it transformed the car. Initially it was very stiff and not so easy for daily driving, but it was very precise and NVH was pretty much stock. However after it broke in, it became a bit more usable and daily drivable, but it lost a bit of the precision i was looking for. During a car meet I was able to experience a barton hybrid3 trans mounted with the flat stick, and it was just that much better then mine. I didn't think it could get any better, but I was truly wrong. I got a chance to hop into a friends car with the MGW shifter, and I can honestly say it delivered that extra 10% of what I wanted. It went into each gear with less effort and more precision.

All that aside, I won't be changing my shifter because I got it for half off and paid $150 to get installed, BUT if I hadn't gotten such a good deal, I would definitely go with the MGW. It gave the best precision for going from one gear to another with the right amount of effort. MGW gets praised a lot on these forums, and I can honestly say its well worth. Lets just say theres a reason theres so many Bartons for sale on these forums and the fact I got such a good deal.

MtnBiker said:

Are you are referring to the clunk in the drivetrain when you engage the shifter into gear? If so, my understanding is that the "clunk" is not shifter related at all. You are spinning up shafts in the tranny and putting the car in gear transfers some of that inertia into the drive shaft. It is a Getrag thing exacerbated by drivetrain slop. Even with the clutch fully depressed I can often feel the car lurch forward a bit. When Ford claims this is normal - it evidently is.

If you are talking about "nibble" where there is a slight grind upon gear engagement, improvement is likely if you are direct mounting the shifter to the transmission (MGW and an option on Barton). The direct mount will properly align the shifter and tranny. Body mounts with firmer bushings are taking the opposite approach...particularly when using lots of throttle. The tranny is literally twisting independently of the shifter. Doesn't seem like what you'd want.

Sorry for the long answer.

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I have both. I know that the "thumb" when you engage in gear, it is not a shifter issue. The clunking feeling I am referring to is the metal contract feeling when change gears,especially in cold.

duke107628 said:

So you body mounted? Does body mount get rid the the clunk feeling? NVH compare to Trans mounted?

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I'm also curious about how it was mounted

duke107628 said:

I have both. I know that the "thumb" when you engage in gear, it is not a shifter issue. The clunking feeling I am referring to is the metal contract feeling when change gears,especially in cold.

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The direct transmission mounts will do the best job aligning the shifter to the transmission. The Blowfish Racing bracket does the same thing and has improved my shifting feel a lot - 1/2 and 2/3 in particular. Better cold and perfect when warmed up. And that is with the OEM shifter. I'll upgrade to MGW at some point.

MtnBiker said:

The direct transmission mounts will do the best job aligning the shifter to the transmission. The Blowfish Racing bracket does the same thing and has improved my shifting feel a lot - 1/2 and 2/3 in particular. Better cold and perfect when warmed up. And that is with the OEM shifter. I'll upgrade to MGW at some point.

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I know that trans mount is better. I'm just worry about the nvh

I'm pretty happy with mine so far. I went trans mount with the flat stick. Much more engaging now. I'll right a full review after I get some more miles on it.

armykyle1 said:

I'm pretty happy with mine so far. I went trans mount with the flat stick. Much more engaging now. I'll right a full review after I get some more miles on it.

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I got mine in flat stick too. Haven't installed yet. Still debating which mount option to go. I wanna beat out of the shifter but I am worry about the nvh of trans mount. Also, how do u modify the shift boot to fit the flat stick?

I have the original barton and have no complaints. The body mount is mounted just like the factory shifter. I have noticed zero additional NVH from the barton. I made my choice after driving a car with an MGW shifter. I preferred the barton, but both are solid choices.

duke107628 said:

I got mine in flat stick too. Haven't installed yet. Still debating which mount option to go. I wanna beat out of the shifter but I am worry about the nvh of trans mount. Also, how do u modify the shift boot to fit the flat stick?

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You just have to cut it a little bit to fit over the shifter. You basically hold the boot assembly above the shifter, push the boot down over the shifter, (it'll look inside out) zip tie around the notch on the shifter, BAM. Kinda hard to explain though.

armykyle1 said:

You just have to cut it a little bit to fit over the shifter. You basically hold the boot assembly above the shifter, push the boot down over the shifter, (it'll look inside out) zip tie around the notch on the shifter, BAM. Kinda hard to explain though.

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is the zip tie secure enough? Just worry about it may come off someday

duke107628 said:

is the zip tie secure enough? Just worry about it may come off someday

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The shifter stick is notched where you put the zip tie. If it's tight, you'll be fine.

armykyle1 said:

The shifter stick is notched where you put the zip tie. If it's tight, you'll be fine.

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is the zip included in the barton package? i did not see it