MGW GT350 shifter

[Hack]

These are all opinions but do you really think the GT shifter is better than the GT350's? Feel? Just my experience of 12-14 and 15 16 GT's and know my 350, the 350's is superior in every way. The 350's shifter is a short shifter. IMO it is aggressive and has positive shift engagement, very mechanical in feel no vagueness.. Can it be made better? Sure, but I have yet at this point felt it needs to be upgraded. I have tracked the car and it performed flawlessly and assured my every shift. the 15 shifter was also better than the previous however I was not completely sold. 12-14 shifter? Frgedaboud'id!!!! horrible! crap! First mod I made was the shifter...

Yes there's no question in my mind that the 2015 GT I owned shifted better than my GT350. I owned it for a year and daily drove the car so I was very familiar with the feel of the 2015 shifter when I first got into the GT350. I owned a couple 2011 Mustangs and the GT was horrible but the V6 was ok. The 2015 MT-82 was definitely a big improvement over earlier years.

The 2015 GT shifter has a shorter throw than the GT350. It was easily noticeable by me, at least. I'm not sure why you say your GT350 has a shorter throw. I could see some shift characteristics being somewhat variable based on mechanical tolerances, but the throw distance seems to me shouldn't vary.

Some of these things have more to do with the transmission itself and less to do with the shifter. The 2015 and later MT-82 is a really great shifting transmission. The Tremec in our cars isn't bad in any way; I like it fine. It's just not better than the 2015+ MT-82 - as far as shift quality goes.

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[SchultzLT1]

Personally I don't have any problem with th shifter whatsoever. With 1000 miles and one track day I've never mis shifted or had any complaints. I'm sure this shifter is better than stock because well....anything can improve, but I can't believe how many people are coming out of the woodwork criticizing the stock unit.

 

[swedensky]

Get on the waiting list

 

[RoadRacer]

On it!!:cheers:

 

[stanglife]

price?

 

[Myshelby3425]

price?

Most likely higher than the s550 version currently out. $475-$500 I'm assuming.

 

[SlowArrow]

Im on the list as well. While I don't hate the stock shifter, I'm looking forward to the this upgrade!

 

[bdub85]

Already on it!

 

[ben@fatfab]

Look forward to getting our hands on one of these soon!!

 

[Honus]

MT82's shifter was a steamy pile of hot garbage. The 350's shifter is way better than the Boss I had. Leagues better.

Until the 350 locks me (and others) out for no Fn reason, I'll dispute that the MT82 for any model year has a better stock shifter setup.

 

[Epiphany]

It's important to note some differences between the two transmissions (MT82 and TR3160) if you are going to compare shift feel between the two of them. Both run triple synchronizers on first and second gear. The TR3160 uses linear shift rail bearings (and hollow shafts) which contributes to a much smoother feel than of the MT82. The TR3160 also benefited from time spent fine tuning the spring loaded plungers in the rail detents which are a huge contributor to positive shift feel. All of this being internal and having nothing to do with the actual shift mechanism itself.

The latest MT82 shifter had the potential to be a good one (setting aside OEM levels of compromise for a moment) at least from a design standpoint. A rigid casting with a fairly stiff front bushing along with a single axis shaft exiting the bottom of the "box" are a good foundation.





Where the factory MT82 shifter gets lost is at the multi-jointed rail linkage that connects to the horizontal shaft at the bottom of the box. Designed to allow articulation as well as to provide cover for production tolerances, it's a shift accuracy killer. In a perfect world, the lower shaft would be on a single axis all the way to the shift rail that comes out of the transmission, much like that used in a traditional tailhousing on a Magnum XL (for example). That is the approach MGW takes by incorporating a single axis rail with a remote shifter. The OEM MT82 shifter fails in other areas, notably the uber low durometer rear shifter bushing as well as the sleeve style reverse engagement design. The collar in particular, can fail. As Steeda puts it in one of their ads...

The all new Ford S550 Mustang shifter utilizes a reverse pull up collar rather than the previous push down method. The one big downside to this new reverse pull up collar is the materials used are cheap and wear/break after prolonged use. The plastic components in the reverse lock-out mechanism on your GT, EcoBoost or V6 shifter were not made to stand the test of time or prolonged use, once broken you will find yourself stuck and unable to engage your pony into reverse.

The OEM TR3160 shifter uses a "Camaro inspired" pendulum design. Ford would have considered a typical cost cutting move by incorporating elements (if not the whole thing) of the MT82 shifter if they could have. The issue for Ford was that the TR3160 transmission shift rail output shaft rotates in a direction opposite of that of the MT82. That meant a different approach had to be taken, hence the pendulum architecture pilfered from GM's Camaro TR6060 shifter. Again, the refinement comes from internal upgrades and not the shifter they created.




A different take on a multi-jointed linkage when compared to the MT82 shifter. Incorporating a single axis shaft is impossible with this design. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, this design tries to swing the linkage into position for each shift. The fulcrum materials wear quickly in these units and what little accuracy you had degrades with use, heat cycling, etc.







The TR3160 is indeed a much better transmission than the MT82 and most likely, more expensive (Mexican labor vs Chinese, material procurement, etc). The shifter most certainly, is not. They are both equally poor.

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