Installing new magnetic paddle shifters - tips, photos, DIY how-to instructions

[GTP]

I think the 10-speed transmission is just great on a road course. But there are a couple things lacking for me.

The Problem
First, because the steering wheel web is so thick at the 9:00 and 3:00 hand position, I prefer to drive 10:00 and 2:00. (So do some other drivers, I found out.)
But that means that the OEM short height paddles can't be reached without moving my hand. I tried those stick-on paddle extenders, but pressing on the paddle from the upper end puts a torque onto the momentary switch, which causes it to bind and not even actuate a gear change.

The Product
So I shopped the category of Magnetic Shifter Mustang at eBay. I settled on this one because I liked the second set of paddles. It turns out that was a good choice, because the carbon fiber paddles have sharp edges everywhere, while the aluminum ones are thicker, with rounded edges, and more comfortable.

The Product Modification
Unfortunately, neither set still reached up quite as far as I wanted to operate the paddle with my pinky finger. At least the actuation was solid, and didn't bind when pressed at the upper end. So I decided to modify the aluminum pair to move them up still further. Each photo below is captioned.

Installation Tips
Write-up continues in the second post.

OEM shifter on the right, new (unmodified) paddle on the left. Still not high enough for 10-2 hand position.

Modified new paddles installed. They now reach up 1/2" higher. (I carefully kept the viewing angle the same.)

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[GTP]

Installation Tips

SAFETY FIRST - Disconnect the negative battery cable and wait 15 minutes!
(And don't forget to operate your windows or open your trunk, or whatever, if you need to beforehand.)

Getting the damn airbag/horn off
I read a post or two, and watched a video or two, and this process still seemed mysterious. However, I observed how the retaining springs work from a disassembled wheel photo, and used that info to come up with some tips.

First, this 1/8" flat blade screwdriver is likely in everyone's toolbox, and it worked better than everything else I tried. It has to be squeezed into the side plastic holes. Pulling the handle gently towards me pushed the blade forward (car's front). Keeping the blade horizontal gave me the best change to "feel" the spring. The spring then has to be pushed in quite a bit, because the barbs on the airbag retainer posts are quite generous.

This photo shows the tip of the screwdriver up against the spring. It is right at the center of the photo.

Here I have intentionally moved the screwdriver further inboard just to illustrate how the blade needs to be kept horizontal, i.e. crosswise to the spring.

And here we see the barbs on the plastic retainer post. (The napkin in the background was used to better highlight the shape.)

I chose not to unplug the airbag and just let it hang down.

 

[GTP]

Installation Tips

Disassembly / reassembly
Only the bezel-buttons at the sides need to be taken off in order to change out the shifters.

Remove the two screws holding each side bezel. Note that the lower screw is washer head to secure the larger hole in the bezel plastic. The upper screw has no washer. Refer to Post #2, second photo.

Next of course is unplugging the two connectors for the OEM paddles. They have the usual spring tab that you squeeze as you pull on the connector.

Then the paddle comes out with a single silver screw. This is a coarse thread screw that will not be reused. There was a post about the small plastic hook at the corner of the paddle switch, and how it is stuck and difficult to remove. However, I encountered no such issue.

Reassembly is the reverse procedure of course, but pay attention that the various plastic posts, barbs, tabs, etc. all seat properly before replacing the screws. And note that I found that it is easy to strip a screw because the steering wheel metal is a bit soft.

The bezel has a small tab under the rounded black plastic cover at the top of the wheel. The black cover can be manipulated inside the tab as shown here.

Pull the bezel from the inboard end, but also pivot it up and out. The reason is because there is another long barb at the top of the bezel.

This photo shows the barbed tab that was holding me back.

The side bezels can also be left plugged in and hanging down.

 

[GTP]

The New Paddle Shifters
The build quality of these TDD brand is obviously high. The magnetic actuation is more positive, and has a longer throw than OEM.

Comparison of TDD and OEM shifters. The new paddles reach just a little higher.

The carbon fiber paddles are not really any higher than the aluminum ones. That they reach lower is of no practical use.

The carbon fiber paddles are thinner and with sharper edges.

 

[GTP]

The Product Modification
Once I knew the shifters would not bind when operated from the very end of the paddle, I modified the aluminum paddles to move them up even higher. Even though this involved drilling just two holes, I knew the importance of being very precise to achieve a good result.

I calculated the spacing of the screw slots by taking the average of OD and ID measurements. (16.2+9.8)/2=13mm.
OD:

ID:

Then I measured the slot width. Guess what? It was 1/8", which was nice because who has metric drill bits? (Okay you - the showoff in the back - put your hand down.)

Next I calculated the distance from the edge of the lower slot to the new hole center to be 11.4mm (=13 -1/2 slot width = 11.4mm)
I locked the caliper to this position and then used the sharp jaw tip to scratch a line for the new hole elevation.

Finally, I center-punched the hole location at the mark and halfway across the flat area of the paddle. And then drilled 1/8" at the drill press.

Voila! New higher position of the paddles. Post#1_photo#2 repeated here:

Ready for the track! Aw, but I gotta wait until next season.

 

[Joe Gonsalves]

Nice write up! Now I'm tempted to go do it myself. Where did you get the paddle shifters and how much did you pay?

 

[GTP]

Nice write up! Now I'm tempted to go do it myself. Where did you get the paddle shifters and how much did you pay?

That saga is almost another thread in itself. I considered AliExpress and Amazon. eBay was the median price plus had domestic sellers. Some shifters come with wires that tap into the OBD harness (I believe) for LED functionality, but that seemed problematic and unnecessary.

Here are two that I would consider. Very tall paddles, and $20 less than I paid.
eBay Paddle Shifters1 (same as mine with aluminum paddles, from Indiana)
eBay Paddle Shifters2 (tallest CF paddles, but from China)

If I had to do it again, I would choose the second set because the paddles are probably tall enough to not need the extra hole mod that I did. Still, the thicker aluminum paddles are definitely easier on the fingers than the CF ones.

 

[Joe Gonsalves]

That saga is almost another thread in itself. I considered AliExpress and Amazon. eBay was the median price plus had domestic sellers. Some shifters come with wires that tap into the OBD harness (I believe) for LED functionality, but that seemed problematic and unnecessary.

Here are two that I would consider. Very tall paddles, and $20 less than I paid.
eBay Paddle Shifters1 (same as mine with aluminum paddles, from Indiana)
eBay Paddle Shifters2 (tallest CF paddles, but from China)

If I had to do it again, I would choose the second set because the paddles are probably tall enough to not need the extra hole mod that I did. Still, the thicker aluminum paddles are definitely easier on the fingers than the CF ones.

Thanks

 

[rickytan05]

how far are you??? Where can I bring my car to you so I can have this done as well!!! Just kidding great write up & explanation and everything!!!

 

[GTP]

Thanks. I am in Indy, not too far from you.

If things go smoothly (do they ever?) it should take about an hour.
As for me, there was research, discussion with advisor, experimenting with the tool for the airbag, the swap itself, including the photos, and then creating the five posts. So, probably several hours, haha.

 

[Gray Cage]

Do you still have access to the holes to remove the airbag after the installation or does the shifter backplate covers block them, making future removal very difficult or nearly impossible? That’s been my concern about going this route.

 

[GTP]

That's a great point, and I hadn't considered that.

The new shifter switches are considerably thicker than OEM and cover most of the hole access. Dangit!

 

[GTP]

I looked into this further. I found the part numbers for the upper and lower steering column covers, fr3z3530aa & gr3z3530ba.

I could not find a photo of either, but here is the upper cover showing several tabs that fit into matching lower cover slots. I think that if these covers were removed then we may have a new path to actuate the airbag retaining springs.

 

[MD18EcoStang]

What a great service you've provided for the next person looking for this info!

 

[JWS]

I tried some of those stick-on Shifters Extensions. They stuck up where you could see them, but because they were stuck to the original Plastic Paddles, they put too much torque on the Plastic Paddle.

They would Twist, but not activate the Switch.

Decided to go with 3D Laser Printed Aluminum Paddles that I polished to look like Chrome. Only problem was trying to get the stick-on Paddles Unstuck. Ended up destroying them. Had to get them off because they blocked the spring access hole. New Paddles have a Dowel type pin that can be pushed in or pulled out from the bottom of the Paddle. They also act as the hinge.

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