harryk387

Installed the MGW Short Shifter Flat stick in my 2004 C5Z about a month ago and while the throw was definitely shortened there still seems to be a "crunchy" feeling when going through the gears.

I did the Antivenom mod with 1 washer thinking it would fix it, but it didnt.

Sometimes going into 1st gear when I start the car in the morning or from a dead stop feels like there is something in the way or takes a couple tries to go in smoothly (for example, I push the clutch in, try to shift to 1st and it either doesn't go in at all or goes in but feels like its got some resistance/notchiness. Same goes for reverse)

I've noticed that if I press the clutch in and shift to 1st then shift out of 1st back to neutral and do that a couple times, it gets smoother each time.

Any ideas on what's causing this or how to fix it? I've searched on here and found a shifter adjustment thread, so I followed the steps on there. Took apart the MGW this morning, repositioned everything to line up better and still the same.

Would really appreciate some insight as I hate the way the shifter feels even with the MGW

mikey4play

Try a second washer in the Antivenom mod.

harryk387

I might give that a shot

TGO

Was there a problem before the shifter install?

If not seems doing the whatever mod to the transmission is unnecessary. The shifter doesn't affect anything in the trans. It's either installed correctly or not. Don't go making things worse.

baddboyz03

change trans fluid to a high perf fluid, like royal purple.
let the trans warm up, its designed to work smoothly warmed up not cold!
MGW = best shifter ever.

baddboyz03

change diff. fluid while your at it!!!!

Pounder

it comes with a fool proof alignment tool so I guess we could count that out ??? I have one washer in mine and after three summers of use(18,000 miles) it is butter !!!

TGO

It comes with a fool proof tool but that doesn't mean he used it right.

harryk387

I did use the alignment tool the first time. Like you said, pretty foolproof since there's really only one way to bolt down the alignment tool.

And yes, i did notice these same problems with the stock shifter, but I think it's now more noticeable because of the stiffer and shorter throw of the MGW.

I juat want the same butter shifting that everyone talks about with these MGW shifters.

Black 03 Z06

One would have to think no shifter is going to overcome a transmission problem. That is what this sounds like to me.

Pounder

you have to make sure the clamp bolt is tight on the shifting rod !!

baddboyz03

remember this is a race designed shifter, it takes more effort to select gears than a stock shifter.
maybe that's being confused with misaligned?
I use MGW shifters in all my corvettes, none work "smoothly" but they all work as designed, as a precise racing shifter.
at 7K RPM I don't want to hope I have the correct gear, so I use MGW.
and I think they work smoothly! perception!?

harryk387

Definitely wasn't expecting honda civic shifting here, and was ready for stiffer shifting, but its the "crunchy" feeling of getting into the gears that's got me worried/not liking the shifting feel.

TGO

You obviously have an internal transmission problem that you need to address. Not sure why you would think changing the shifter would help.

Grinding/crunching usually means bad syncro's or maybe your clutch isn't disengaging all the way. Either way you should fix it before you really break something.

harryk387

I may not be describing the problem correctly. The shifter in my 04 GTO felt the same way. There is no grinding whatsoever. It's almost like a 2 notches going into gear rather than one solid notch into 1st or reverse. Like I mentioned above, with the clutch in, if I move the shifter into 1st then back neutral a couple of times, the more I do that, the smoother it gets.

I completely uninstalled the shifter yesterday morning and was able to get the shifts from 1-2, 3-4 smoother but now getting into 1st and reverse are even more difficult to get into. I'll probably disassemble the shifter one more time and try to readjust everything and if that still doesn't work I'll take it to my local corvette shop

neutron82

... I would start off by trying a high quality trans fluid such as amsoil torque drive and if that doesn't help then it sounds like you might need to have the trans refreshed to fix the issue

TGO

If your slave cylinder was bad or going bad it would be most noticeable trying to shift in to first/reverse.

QCVette

My MGW was very stiff but very precise.

It was so stiff I didn't like it and was considering something else. It was a chore to drive because of fighting to get it into 1st or reverse.

I did the anti venom mod and it made a ton of difference. From the first time I drove it the stiffness was gone but still precise. Instead of fighting it, I just drove it and didn't notice the shift effort.

Since it made so much difference on mine, I would suggest adding another washer. It is cheap, easy and quick to see if it helps.

Good luck.

Pounder

I have one washer in and three summers of driving and I can shift it with two fingers !! it will loosen a bit with driving. I love that with just feel I know what gear I'm in !!!

TGO

You guys must be a bunch of limp wristed pansies thinking the MGW is too stiff to shift lol!