Stock vs. Blowfish bracket vs. Steeda Tri-Ax vs. MGW vs. MGW + BG Syncroshift II

fcarpio said:

How is the noise inside the car with the blowfish?

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The version I had caused the lockout collar to start rattling above 3.5k RPM as I remember. But seems like they may have fixed that as per [MENTION=10281]BmacIL[/MENTION] comment above.

OK, so I got the blowfish bracket installed and the feeling of the shifting has completely changed for the better. Shifting is more "sure" and there is some added vibration as mentioned before, so the car feels better. During normal driving the vibration is negligible but you can feel it more under hard acceleration where it can shake a bit. So far the third gear lockout seems to be absent, which is a good thing as that is the main reason I got this piece. The only other thing I would like to add is that there is some heat, coming from the area around the shifter, nothing too crazy like my 1995 RX-7 R2 (that shit used to heat up a lot). I bought mine "used" (it was like new except for a scratch in the paint) from eBay ($137.50) and I think I got the newer version as there is no reverse collar vibration and it has the rubber bushings. It has only been a day but I am very pleased with the results.

Thank you mindys for the original post as you convinced me to try this first before going full blown $$$ MGW, which I think I do not need, for now...

Day two of the Blowfish bracket, crazy vibration from the shift knob. Any one else experienced this? Were you able to fix it? I don't think replacing the knob would work as it seems to be coming from the reverse lever.

Emailed blowfish and they told me that heavy grease in the reverse lockout would fix the issue. Any suggestions for heavy grease?

I run the standard Race Spec MGW shifter with an Amsoil MTF fluid fill and can confirm similar results. That shifter was the best money I ever spent modding the car.

fcarpio said:

Emailed blowfish and they told me that heavy grease in the reverse lockout would fix the issue. Any suggestions for heavy grease?

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I had the 1st gen Steeda Street Shifter which didn't have the rubber o-rings to help prevent rattling. I used DOW33, a thick grease (used for my old Shocker paintball gun), on the shifter stem and it resolved the reverse lockout rattle.

Those of you with MGW Race Spec shifter. Do you feel that 1st to 2nd is very notchy? It feels like I need to muscle it a little more than I should have to. Also, sometimes 1st feels like it isn't always all the way in but I have heard that may be how the gears align.
I've been locked out of 2nd a couple times during hard acceleration. the rest of gears work great, no more 3rd or 5th lockout.
When I row through the gears when the car is off, everything is smooth as butter.

ChitownStang said:

Those of you with MGW Race Spec shifter. Do you feel that 1st to 2nd is very notchy? It feels like I need to muscle it a little more than I should have to. Also, sometimes 1st feels like it isn't always all the way in but I have heard that may be how the gears align.
I've been locked out of 2nd a couple times during hard acceleration. the rest of gears work great, no more 3rd or 5th lockout.
When I row through the gears when the car is off, everything is smooth as butter.

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I've only been locked out 1-2 when I didn't pull towards me hard enough under WOT acceleration. You need to beast it. Definitely not notchy though. I did have to readjust my reverse lockout bolt once to get the 1-2 to feel just right.

Maybe that's what I need to do. The guy that installed it did not touch this.
How much do I need to take apart to get to that, just the console or do I need to go way down and start taking apart things that are harder to get to like that boot that you had all the issues with?

ChitownStang said:

Maybe that's what I need to do. The guy that installed it did not touch this.
How much do I need to take apart to get to that, just the console or do I need to go way down and start taking apart things that are harder to get to like that boot that you had all the issues with?

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Unfortunately it involves taking the boot off. [MENTION=17191]mindys[/MENTION] actually came over yesterday and got the boot on properly with his extra-dexterous hands and only very minor help from me. It's reduced the gear noise in half and I only hear that when I am gripping/putting a little pressure on the shifter before a shift. The slight in gear noise I could hear in 2nd and 4th is gone now.

I would recommend getting it adjusted though. It definitely makes it feel perfect.

Maybe I'll see how yours feels to compare before I take it all apart. My expectations may be off on what smooth really is on a aftermarket shifter.

ChitownStang said:

Maybe I'll see how yours feels to compare before I take it all apart. My expectations may be off on what smooth really is on a aftermarket shifter.

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Mine actually feels crisper after the boot got fixed too. I am really enjoying it.

Yeah it sounds like the reverse lockout bolt needs to be adjusted. For that you need to remove the boot, and that is really annoying to put back on.

mindys said:

Yeah it sounds like the reverse lockout bolt needs to be adjusted. For that you need to remove the boot, and that is really annoying to put back on.

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Did you get a chance to adjust the tension as shown in the MGW video and did it help? It doesn't bother me when tracking the car but is kind of annoying to DD with the resistance going into gear.

Also, did adjustment help with reverse? First and reverse feel pretty much the same so I have to wait for the camera to turn on to know if it's actually in reverse :headbonk:

I didn’t do anything yet because I talked to George at MGW and he said that if it is smooth when the car is off then you do not need to adjust and mine is very smooth. The only thing I feel is a notch or bump when in between 1st -2nd gear (car off)but I think that’s normal as I feel that notch in every gear you go into so maybe my trans or clutch just aren’t the best. I really just need to feel someone else’s before I take everything apart.