MGW GT350 shifter - second run

altjx said:

Gotcha. Makes sense. I might actually go for this considering how long I'll plan to have this car. Thanks for the info man. I'll hit up George!

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altjx said:

I wonder how serious this additional NVH is that it has people calling in. The reason I say this is because I've noticed it in my car as well, but this is my first standard and obviously first aftermarket shifter, and I just keep hearing people say "you'll get more NVH" so to not be surprised. So at this point IDK if it's normal, or if I should be hitting up George as well.

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altjx said:

I wonder how serious this additional NVH is that it has people calling in. The reason I say this is because I've noticed it in my car as well, but this is my first standard and obviously first aftermarket shifter, and I just keep hearing people say "you'll get more NVH" so to not be surprised. So at this point IDK if it's normal, or if I should be hitting up George as well.

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DrumReaper said:

When I talked to George he said that some reported some NVH. I was impressed that George listened to the few that did and made a whole upgraded package so that "everyone" would be pleased.

Dude, if that's not quality service I don't know what is.

As for the NVH, I have no additional noise or vibration whatsoever from my shifter. Maybe it's cause the designer installed the equipment himself?... idk, but I was impressed to hear George say he was working on an upgrade. I was even more impressed that George called to tell me what some had complained about and that he was in the process of working on an upgrade, of which would be available to Gen 1 guys.

I am thoroughly impressed with MGW and will continue to support their business.

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Varekai said:

For me the abnormal vibration could be felt through the seats, like one of those message chairs that vibrates, but only happens in between 3k and 6k rpm. It is great that George immediately started coming up with a solution for the select few. Ford would have just said that's normal.

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Epiphany said:

I just got back home from a three day stint in Georgia. The purpose of my visit was to help George at MGW Shifters get his GT350 ready for a track day at Roebling Road Raceway. Among the items addressed, one was to install the latest version of his shifter for the TR3160 in the GT350.

There has been a small percentage of owners that have contacted George about a change in the NVH characteristics after swapping out shifters. To alleviate most any concern, George has been hard at work identifying potential trouble areas and addressing them via sound engineering principles. The results spoke for themselves during rigorous testing this past weekend.

I should probably mention that George and I have had an endless number of discussions about a GT350 shifter, starting before the car was even released. MGW had one of the first TR3160's Ford would sell to the public and that includes purchasing a few factory shifters for dissection and evaluation. The challenge from the beginning was to create a single axis shifter and to eliminate the factory pendulum-style design altogether. Anyone can polish up a pendulum unit, shorten the trow, and sell it to the public. I highly suspect that is what you will see shortly from his competition. The problem with the TR3160 is that the internal shift gate is opposite that of say, an MT82. In other words, an MT82 shift rail moves in the opposite direction when you move the shift handle to the left or right. The TR3160 rail needs to move in the same direction. This required a clear mind, a sharp pencil, and some rolled up sleeves.

Alternative ideas were explored. In the end, George was able to make it work via a double pivot. The design was refined and tested for some time, culminating in the release of his first run. I have on my own car the first unit produced after one was whipped up for George's own GT350. I've been completely satisfied with mine as I have with his other shifters in the past. I thought it might be a good idea to share the dual pivot design to show everyone just how it works. George wanted to wait. Well, this time I was successful and as such George agreed to put together a cutaway model to illustrate his unique design. Shown in the following video is (at first) an MT82 shifter, followed by the TR3160 with a sliced up GT350 shifter that allows you to see just what I've been talking about.





Contrast all of the above with comparison of the factory pendulum unit. Here George shows some of the downfalls of the factory unit including it's lack of precision, poor sphere/race design, and flimsy reverse lockout that also serves to lockout forward moving gears too.






The dual pivot design now being proven and incredibly robust, George never stops refining where he can. As I mentioned, the focus on the second run has been on lightweighting where possible and to better control any potential resonance.

New unit on the left.

You can see where material has been removed and how the arms have changed.

A couple of quick videos to clarify the changes.








If you are a current GT350 shifter owner that experienced an NVH issue George has a solution for you in order.





If you have any questions by all means, ask. I can say with full confidence that his shifter meets the highest of expectations. My original MGW GT350 shifter has been flawless and takes everything I can throw at it in stride. His latest unit is no different. A full day of track testing, err thrashing, at Roebling yielded nothing but quick, crisp, shifts under some pretty demanding conditions. The two (plus) hour drive each way was quiet and vibration free.

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Steve16 said:

What is the black part of the knob made from? Composite? Or is it metal of some sort?

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CSL said:

Damn Tob, it seems I have repeated this post time and time again over the last 8 or so years......Very nice write up, professor! Thanks for all the technical detail and sharing of information.

George hits another home run, of course. The shifter is mechanical art, but that damn laser work is impressive as hell! I'm really liking the looks of that shifter ball! I am in the front of the line and anxiously awaiting my new shifter.

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J_Maher_AMG said:

The ONLY part that makes me a little hesitant is having to lower the transmission, as I don't have a transmission jack, and thus I would have to "jerry-rig" something up to make it work. Chances are I will eventually do this though, as I love love love that "bolt action lever" type feeling.

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CSL said:

When I first got the car I felt the stock shifter was pretty good and the best OEM Mustang shifter I had experienced to date. But after a few track days the shifter definitely "broke in", and on track I started experiencing typical OEM shifter flaws. My high speed 5-4 downshift became very imprecise, and finding that gate became a bit of a crap shoot for me. I had to think very hard about the shift itself and be very precise with my downward motion to find 4th. Any slight variation in my motion either landed me in 2nd or 6th. All of this would happen upon entry into the highest speed corner on the track. So, as good as the stock shifter may feel, when pushed mine certainly revealed its flaws.

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DrumReaper said:

When I talked to George he said that some reported some NVH. I was impressed that George listened to the few that did and made a whole upgraded package so that "everyone" would be pleased.

Dude, if that's not quality service I don't know what is.

As for the NVH, I have no additional noise or vibration whatsoever from my shifter. Maybe it's cause the designer installed the equipment himself?... idk, but I was impressed to hear George say he was working on an upgrade. I was even more impressed that George called to tell me what some had complained about and that he was in the process of working on an upgrade, of which would be available to Gen 1 guys.

I am thoroughly impressed with MGW and will continue to support their business.

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Varekai said:

For me the abnormal vibration could be felt through the seats, like one of those message chairs that vibrates, but only happens in between 3k and 6k rpm. It is great that George immediately started coming up with a solution for the select few. Ford would have just said that's normal.

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altjx said:

Agreed!! This is another reason I really like George at MGW. Very professional and the customer service is just top notch. Definitely going to be grabbing an MGW shifter on every manual car going forward as well!

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zombiekiller said:

I'm actually wondering how much lighter the gen2 bits are.

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morjo02 said:

I just need to find a reliable and thorough installer in the Long Island area........any recommendations

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Epiphany said:

George will show up sooner or later and hopefully he'll see this. I'm curious too. I can say that the shape fits the hand well with good grip.



Thanks for the kind words. The shifter is indeed art.



J, you don't need a "transmission jack." A regular jack with a block of wood works just fine to lower the tail of the transmission down a few inches.



The factory sphere/race degrade fairly quickly and shifter quality suffers noticeably. Some perceive the light effort as good when in effect it is the transmission internals that are much improved over previous years. The shifter sneaks by when in reality it is a weak match given how good the transmission is. George's unit is a much better match for the internals that allows far more precise shifts. It is incredibly robust in comparison to the factory piece and I think you can see as such in those short clips I posted earlier.



George is motivated to find solutions. I give him a lot of credit for that.



You've got a resonance that others don't have. Why the amplitude may be greater at a given rpm in your car than in another GT350 is interesting. Definitely not normal.

If anything, the MGW shifter (or the update kit in your case) is even better isolated now than factory. The rear mount/bushing is a potential path to the body that George addressed.






Isolating the main arm from the body of the shifter is something the factory doesn't do either.





The body or "box" itself is isolated at various points with rubber gaskets, etc.





The above should definitely help to quell the issue you were having.



While I was down there George asked me if I saw the photos "of the red GT350 with the white stripes." I knew he was talking about your car. When I mentioned your name he confirmed it. I know he'd be proud to see his shifter in that car!




George lightweighted because he could, and to offset the weight of the larger arms/bushings.




Anyone?

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morjo02 said:

Nice job and video....I just need to find a reliable and thorough installer in the Long Island area........any recommendations

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TDC said:

Had TKX Performance in Huntington Station install an exhaust on my 350. From the outside the place looks small but inside its cavernous with many lifts. My car was in good company of many Porsches and a trailered M3 track car.
Like anything on the Island the labor rates are high but I dealt directly with the owner and he handled job well.

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Epiphany said:

While I was down there George asked me if I saw the photos "of the red GT350 with the white stripes." I knew he was talking about your car. When I mentioned your name he confirmed it. I know he'd be proud to see his shifter in that car!

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TDC said:

Had TKX Performance in Huntington Station install an exhaust on my 350. From the outside the place looks small but inside its cavernous with many lifts. My car was in good company of many Porsches and a trailered M3 track car.
Like anything on the Island the labor rates are high but I dealt directly with the owner and he handled job well.

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Rimox51 said:

TKX did my exhaust as well. Excellent job.


By the way an I missing something....what is NVH??

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