OP
OP
Abilor
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- May 12, 2025
- Threads
- 4
- Messages
- 89
- Reaction score
- 49
- Location
- Albany, NY
- Vehicle(s)
- 2025 Mustang GT
- Thread starter
- #16
Further adventures! Got the MGW Shifter I got for my birthday down off the shelf, boned up on the install procedure, and managed to get this on the car. The experience was not for the faint of heart, a lot more involved than any other Short Shifter I've installed, and there's some tips and tricks I'd share below.
Started by getting all the tools set up and ready along with parts the night before. This made a huge difference:
Started early the next morning, around 9AM on a Saturday. Initial breakdown was easy except for this part, for which I invented the "Abilor Three Flathead Shims" maneuver to finally get stock parts off:
Got the car up on the QuickJacks, and started poking around.
One thing I noticed right away is that at top height of the QuickJacks, I had plenty of clearance under the car, and given the sheer number of extensions and flexible heads I have for my electric ratchets and impact drivers, I made the bold choice to do the job WITHOUT removing either the driveshaft or exhaust, *mostly*. Here's where the trouble began, with this guy:
That's the Top Arm bolt, probably the trickiest thing about this project. It's where I stalled for about 45 minutes to an hour just scratching my head. This bolt is massive when you finally pull it, and is one of two major mechanical connections to the transmission itself. The bolt is around three to four inches long, and the transmission tunnel isn't wide enough to fully unseat it. That's why all the directions say to drop the transmission by loosening the K-Member, which I was able to do and didn't even need my jack to support it. The problem there was I was about a quarter inch too high still, unable to remove the bolt. The fix, and this is dubious, is to very gently loosen the exhaust coupler screws, talking maybe a turn or two; the transmission will drop just a little bit more, and voila:
Things got a bit easier from there. Aside from the top arm bolt, there's another 1/2 inch (13 mm) bolt that's hidden from you where the shifter linkage itself connects. Needs tenacity, and ability to settle a 13 mm ratcheting box wrench onto the nut; I was able to use one hand to steady it, and one to turn the nut, finally got it off. Disassembling the stock shifter for removal after that was cake:
The FINAL little gremlin was getting the shifter linkage lined back up so you can use one of the stock screws to connect it. This gave me fits, as I couldn't get things to line up quite right:
Fix for this, a little embarassed to admit it: Shift gears! I had to move it from first to neutral (I think), and the gates opened finally:
From there, easy peesy, put it all back together, and behold its wonder:
Shifter itself feels amazing. Super mechanical, and the locking points where you fuse it to the transmission really inspire confidence. Very crisp, very machined, and the vibration feedback is fantastic. Push down to reverse lockout is how the car should have come, in my opinion, no more fiddly ring. 2 to 3 in particular is vastly improved; the gear is right there, ready to be grabbed. 4 to 3 downshifts were a problem stock, I'd get locked out and grind the gears once in a while; this kit has completely eliminated all of those alignment problems.
One small issue is that the knob keeps coming loose after using the lock nut, but I chalk that up to not using loctite while I wait for my custom knob and lock nut from Billetworkz. Those I will glue up with loctite, and it's another job in the bag.
100% can recommend the MGW X-Spec, with full 25% reduction. Car feels so right now. Job took about 10 hours overall, taking my sweet time and losing about 2.5 to 3 hours just to gremlins.
Started by getting all the tools set up and ready along with parts the night before. This made a huge difference:
Started early the next morning, around 9AM on a Saturday. Initial breakdown was easy except for this part, for which I invented the "Abilor Three Flathead Shims" maneuver to finally get stock parts off:
Got the car up on the QuickJacks, and started poking around.
One thing I noticed right away is that at top height of the QuickJacks, I had plenty of clearance under the car, and given the sheer number of extensions and flexible heads I have for my electric ratchets and impact drivers, I made the bold choice to do the job WITHOUT removing either the driveshaft or exhaust, *mostly*. Here's where the trouble began, with this guy:
That's the Top Arm bolt, probably the trickiest thing about this project. It's where I stalled for about 45 minutes to an hour just scratching my head. This bolt is massive when you finally pull it, and is one of two major mechanical connections to the transmission itself. The bolt is around three to four inches long, and the transmission tunnel isn't wide enough to fully unseat it. That's why all the directions say to drop the transmission by loosening the K-Member, which I was able to do and didn't even need my jack to support it. The problem there was I was about a quarter inch too high still, unable to remove the bolt. The fix, and this is dubious, is to very gently loosen the exhaust coupler screws, talking maybe a turn or two; the transmission will drop just a little bit more, and voila:
Things got a bit easier from there. Aside from the top arm bolt, there's another 1/2 inch (13 mm) bolt that's hidden from you where the shifter linkage itself connects. Needs tenacity, and ability to settle a 13 mm ratcheting box wrench onto the nut; I was able to use one hand to steady it, and one to turn the nut, finally got it off. Disassembling the stock shifter for removal after that was cake:
The FINAL little gremlin was getting the shifter linkage lined back up so you can use one of the stock screws to connect it. This gave me fits, as I couldn't get things to line up quite right:
Fix for this, a little embarassed to admit it: Shift gears! I had to move it from first to neutral (I think), and the gates opened finally:
From there, easy peesy, put it all back together, and behold its wonder:
Shifter itself feels amazing. Super mechanical, and the locking points where you fuse it to the transmission really inspire confidence. Very crisp, very machined, and the vibration feedback is fantastic. Push down to reverse lockout is how the car should have come, in my opinion, no more fiddly ring. 2 to 3 in particular is vastly improved; the gear is right there, ready to be grabbed. 4 to 3 downshifts were a problem stock, I'd get locked out and grind the gears once in a while; this kit has completely eliminated all of those alignment problems.
One small issue is that the knob keeps coming loose after using the lock nut, but I chalk that up to not using loctite while I wait for my custom knob and lock nut from Billetworkz. Those I will glue up with loctite, and it's another job in the bag.
100% can recommend the MGW X-Spec, with full 25% reduction. Car feels so right now. Job took about 10 hours overall, taking my sweet time and losing about 2.5 to 3 hours just to gremlins.
Sponsored
Last edited:
