Try to cut the smallest amount of the ring on the bottom of the boot off as you can. It's ok if the boot bulges up a little bit as long as it makes a seal. You're better off with some bulge than with a leak.



If you're running any shifter; stock as well but also including and especially the Hurst or B&M you will absolutely enjoy the shifter more with the upgraded box. The box is almost as important as the shifter itself and even a brand new box is significantly sloppier than the upgraded box. One of the most important characteristics of the upgraded box is that it is sealed up, that's why I leave out the pin hole. I have rebuilt a whole lot of these boxes and dirt and debris getting inside is one of the main reasons the stock boxes fail so quickly. That's also why I make the billet version with a complete bottom enclosed like the factory box which is significantly more time consuming and expensive than leaving the bottom of the box open would be. It's a much harder part to make, it's just important and it makes a big difference, that is why I do it that way.

I know a lot of people think it's a big deal to line up the box without the pin but I assure you it is not. These are the instructions I give every customer:

Shifter Box Alignment With or Without the Pin Hole

Center the box as best you can front to back (just eyeball it) and lock it down. Next center the stick right to left and tighten the bolt in the rear (the bolt that goes through the linkage). Start the car and drive it forward ten feet or so then backwards ten feet or so. You have to move the car after you make any adjustment, it doesn't have to be far but the car needs to move so the gearbox turns over. At this point some people are getting nervous thinking it's this big issue I'm sure but I assure you it is not. If you can get into all the gears you are good to go. Contrary to a lot of opinions you're not going to be able to fiddle with it and "line it up better", that's not how it works. There is an envelope that you're either in or you're not, it's not some tiny target you're trying to find. I promise you the people that have trouble are the ones who think they can "dial it in" and make the shifter feel better, those are the guys who have problems. If you can get into all the gears you're good to go. How good it feels going into those gears is a function of the quality of your box and the shifter, that's it.

These are the most common issues and how to fix them

Sometimes you'll get every gear except for either first or reverse. If this is the case you have confirmed that the box is good fwd\rwd wise; if it was not you would only be able to get into either 1,3,5 or 2,4,6, because you are able to access the fwd. gears and rwd. gears the box is centered front to back. Now you're left with the stick which is either too far to the right (passenger's side) or too far to the left (drives side). If you can get into 1st but you can not get into reverse (this is the most common) that means the stick needs more travel in the direction of the reverse gear (to the right) so it needs to be loosened up, centered, but this time tighten it down with the stick a little bit more towards the driver's side (to the left). This gives you that little bit more travel in the right direction to get into reverse. When you make an adjustment to the box it's important to remember you need to move the car; ten feet forward and ten feet backwards, then try to get into all the gears.
If you have problems and cant get into first instead of reverse you do the same thing but opposite; the stick needs to be tightened down a little towards the passenger's side.
I recommend small adjustments at a time, you're almost always going to be very close; 1\8in adjustment at a time. If you go too far you will have the opposite issue, it will go from having first but not being able to get into reverse to getting into reverse but not getting first. If this happens you know your correct alignment is less than the adjustment you just made.

After you get everything in and you confirm you can get into all the gears you want to drive the car a little bit, around the block, the track, etc. You can expect everything to be on the tight side, it will be a little harder than you may like to get into reverse, that's normal if it goes in, if not you have to make another adjustment. I build the boxes, and the shifter, on the tight side. They are extra tight right out of the gate but they break in and loosen up a tiny bit. Everything will feel much tighter than your factory setup, that's to be expected, this way they have the least amount of slop possible when they break in, typically 100 miles or so. After you drive around the block and confirm that you can get into every gear you have one more thing to do before the console goes back in. Center the stick in neutral and hold it steady, remove the bolt in the rear that goes through the shaft and the linkage. Apply some RED Loctite and put that bolt back in. Torque it to 22lb, (this bolt is the one that will give you problems if you don't use RED Loctite). Drive the car around the block one more time and confirm the stick didn't wander around while you were taking that bolt out and putting it back in. You need this bolt to be secure, but you don't want to use more torque because you'll strip it. This is why I recommend RED Loctite. Contrary to popular belief you don't need a blowtorch to get that bolt out if the occasion arises down the road, it will be just fine; RED not blue.

The key IMO is understanding what is going on and how the box and shifter work together. It's not the easiest thing to comprehend, it's actually backwards to what you may think, I understand that but once you have the shifter in your hand and you read these instructions it usually makes sense, if not that's OK tho. Once you understand how it works you learn how to work it which is good for everyone I think. Lots of my customers have told me this is the first time they have done anything beyond changing their oil. Many of them just got their first Corvette, they have never worked on a Corvette at all.
The last part of the instructions I give my customers is to feel free to get a hold of me, I'm happy to help with anything I can. Here's my email info@tmodcustoms.com I tell everyone that and then I get an email telling me they got it in, and it was much easier than they thought; that happens 98% of the time. I really don't help that many people out at all when it comes to lining up the box. Please don't take this the wrong way, I'm not saying only idiots have trouble, that's not it at all, I'm just saying it's not something to worry about, if you need a hand I'll be here to help, it's not a problem at all, I've never had anyone who couldn't get it installed right and I've never had anyone tell me the box upgrade was not worth it.

If anyone has any questions I'm happy to help out with anything I can.

 

If you can explain in detail what feeling you're having that you think could be better I can probably help. What changed; for better or worse after you adjusted it last time? One thing you can do if your running the Hurst is to replace the factory bushing on the bottom of the shifter with my upgraded shifter bushing, that helps a lot. If you want to let me know when you will have the console off next time I'll make sure I'm available to help if you have any questions.

 

While you're here, a question. I have one of your earliest tubs in my project car and have transferred it from the original coupe. Does the billet tub with the same seals offer a benefit over the oe tub?

 

Thanks for the very detailed explanation. I wasnt really having too much of an issue other than the shifter feeling a little "heavy" and was difficult to get into reverse at times. After doing the rpm diff money is a little tight at the moment. I would definitely be interested in one of your boxes in the future. I just checked out your site, I am going to go ahead and order the "cup" on the bottom of the shifter you offer. As well as the anti venom mod as u am not sure if the previous owner did that or not.

 

I think I am sold on the ISO shifter with the 5% reduction. Precise smooth shifting is what I am looking for.

 

Similar feedback/experience as above. The HURST is very notchy and when cruising around it requires more force than I prefer to shift into gear. Plus mine rattled like a ****. Others had the same rattling issue back in the day and it was annoying AF. The B&M was the same as far as force required to engage but never rattled. Perhaps the anti-venom would have helped the notchiness and force but not help the rattle. I bought the washers then sold the car.

Now I run the new MGW with the lower box and it's an all around better piece. However, my first ripping ride with the MGW I did miss a high speed shift due to the really tight gear patterns and a careless grip on my part. Not something that ever happened with the HURST or the B&M at 150k+ combined miles.

I've yet to do the anti-venom in any of my C5s but I've bought and misplaced the washers 3 times over the years! I found the three packages in the same box on a shelf in my garage a few weeks back. Which is pretty funby. And now with the MGW I'm going to finally give the anti-venom a go. As the MGW out of the box could use to smooth out a bit.

 

PS...for those considering the MGW I found a pretty old discount code for the MGW doing a quick Google search and it worked for like 10 or 20% off. I can't recall.

I think I posted the code in the "what did you do to your C5 today" thread a few months back..

 

Correction...I lied.

It was a 5% coupon code which covered the shipping cost. And it still works as of this AM.

MGWPATRIOT

 

I used to run my mgw **** fully down the handle. I switched that and now run it high on the handle. It is still plenty low but feels better in the hand.

I'm running a bpp as something random to try in my coupe in place of the nearly new C6 Z06 shifter.... And dang if the bpp doesn't feel just like an MGW but with a really tall handle. It takes getting used to but is really comfortable.

 

It's been upgraded a lot since you bought it, you were one of the first versions I'm pretty sure. Send me an email and I'll confirm, I'll probably have you send your box in and I'll put all the new components in it.

 

You'll notice a difference with the new bushing for sure, that will give you the idea of the direction you can expect it to go with the whole box, tighter and smoother basically. It's the same bushing I use in the my shifters, it's a little tighter and dampens a lot better that's it.
Another thing to keep in mind is that when you go to an aftermarket shifter, even my 20% reduction shifter is really 20% less leverage you have on the stick pretty much, that going to make it harder to get into reverse. It's usually not an issue but some cars are a little hard to get into reverse, that's why I have a softer spring for the reverse lockout solinoid. This does not mean that it's going to be so easy to get into reverse your risking accidentally going into reverse instead of fifth, that's why the lockout exists, it locks out reverse under 10 or 15mph, something like that, in some cars it's a nice thing to do, not usually necessary to but it's a cheap option with no downside.

 

That is exactly what I'm after with my shifter setups. I sacrifice a little bit of reduction which makes the travel a little longer than other aftermarket shifters, but that helps make the 5% and the 20% reduction shifters easier to move through the gears (it's not the only reason but it is a large part, my shifters are a very different setup than every other available shifter, of which are 95% similar in design IMO); the shift effort is much closer to what the stock shifter feels like and makes it much less notchy. The 5% having the most mechanical advantage (leverage) because it has the least amount of reduction, is the easiest to move; it's pretty much as easy to row through the gears as the stock shifter is, it's just much more precise and smooth than the stock shifter is and it dampens better than any other aftermarket shifter does. There are countless posts everywhere with people noting that when they went to an aftermarket shifter they got a lot of vibration, buzzing in the cabin, much more notchy feel, etc.; it doesn't matter what shifter it is, it's been that way for the better part of thirty years; that is what I was trying to solve. I still have that happen very rarely; someone will tell me the same or similar thing when gong to my shifter but I can say for certain, it's been proven ten times over the years and the customers will absolutely agree, that if you still have excessive vibration in the shifter, typically in the ****, that it's something in the car causing excessive vibration. Typically it's torque tube couplers coming apart but it can be something as minor as a wheel weight. The unfortunate reason the stock shifting assembly as a whole is so floppy and vague is because these cars have a lot of vibration in them right off the factory floor and the stock setup is built to dampen this given amount. Once you exceed that amount it becomes apparent quickly in the cabin, by way of the shifter. The best way I can explain it is the shifter is like a stethoscope; it is picking up the vibration in the drivetrain and bringing it into the cabin of the car and right into your ear, or your hand. I'm getting off topic now but when you go to an (aftermarket) shifter that fails to dampen vibration as well as the stock one does, any more vibration than the new car had will become apparent quickly. This is why I'm so concerned with the vibration dampening of my setups.

Typically I would have had this conversation with you via email but there are some new guys in here and I like to share what I've learned while I've been developing these things. Shoot me an email and let me know how much power your making and how you drive the car and we can discuss other options and any questions you have.

info@tmodcustoms.com

 

So spent some time with Tusc this afternoon. I brought my car down along with my (used, but new to me) MGW shifter and of course my Hurst installed. The (used) MGW came with the lower box, so it was easiest to just swap the unit whole. It was a night and day difference, the MGW was just a little less notchy and less clunky. However, one thing I noticed with the Hurst out of the car ( I never had the lower box removed until this point) is that the shaft had a ton of play in it. Like it would rattle if you shook it. The other lower box that came with my MGW, had a nice solid shaft, no discernable play.

So now our suspicions were that my Hurst shifter issues were likely due to the extremely sloppy and worn out lower box. To confirm this, we installed the Hurst onto Tusc's car (Just the shifter, left the crummy lower box on the grass) and low and behold the clunkiness of the Hurst was gone, it felt completely fine on his car.

I have yet to put the Hurst back into my car onto the less sloppy box to really compare it to the MGW, but will soon. In the meantime, I just ordered a lower factory box upgrade from TMod, and will send that tired/rattling box in for an upgrade! And then I'll update again with my findings.

 

This experience did improve my impression of the Hurst shifter greatly. I believe that it may improve further still with a full tear down, cleaning, fresh greasing of all internals, and replacement of the springs with a lighter set. Yet nowhere could we find/confirm that it is absolutely a Hurst shifter.

Adding to the experience was finding that the older MGW shifter Mark was able to find for half price just ten minutes from his house (!!!) was that while his is the same generational design as mine it does still have a small design difference. His has the four vertical bolts used only to mount to the tub. Mine has these, but also has four laterally mounted set screws fore and aftwhose only purpose I have been able to discern is to lock the mounting bolts in place once secured. His actually has a second design difference in that the bore cut into the base for the mounting bolts is much wider and accommodates washers beneath the bolt heads while my own is a tight bore the size of the allen head bolts only and has locking washers under the head.

His:



Mine:

 

This confirms to me that the mgw is not right for me and I would be really upset to have spent the money on it.

 

Not sure how it does that, but ok. Higher chance his hurst is finding the for sale thread above than anything. All we did was determine that it works as intended on a functional/upgraded box. It remains a notchy pile he had to run four (4!) anti venom rings on to make it less offensive. The mgw will want only two, possibly one.

 

And, in fact, we have identified what was thought to be a Hurst piece is in fact a B&M.

 

As previously mentioned, I installed a Hurst shifter in my C-5, about 20 years ago. Although I can't provide a picture of it, installed, this is the box it came in, and it's exactly as pictured on the box. Maybe this will help with you identification....

 

I already put in an order for the upgraded "cup/bushing" for the bottom of the shifter as well as the anti venom mod as I am not sure if the previous owner had done it. After getting the diff back yesterday and putting the car back together, I saw how much slop was in my box. I went ahead and ordered one of your upgraded boxes. Looking forward to receiving it and will ha e mine sent to you the following day!

 

Hope this thread is not to old, but have a few questions. First off I know this is in the C5 area and my questions are about a C6 Z06. I understand that the C5,6 &7 use the same "box" so everything should be relevant.
My '13 has only `16500 mile on it, however in 1st. and 3rd. I have maybe 1/2" play in 2nd. and 4th. a bit less but still quit a bit of "slop". Obviously I wish to minimize that, and I am not wanting to go MGW or any other short throw. So is this box upgrade the way to go? Also I noticed that there is no alignment tool for this box. Is that not a big deal? 2nd. to 3rd. under normal driving conditions hit it 99.99% of the time. Under hard driving maybe 85%, which is no good. I am always looking to improve my car, even if its only small stuff in the long run it all adds up..

Forgot to state my purpose for posting here, is the TMOD the way to go?