I put a Hurst in mine. The best mod I've done. Easy to do about a 1 hour job. You won't ever miss 3rd gear again. Got mine for $150 shipped.

 

Picked up my new C6 on Thursday.
Had a B&M on my C5Z and liked it.
Just finished the install of a new B&M on my C6.
WHAT AN IMPROVEMENT!!!!

 

Cheapest price around $174.95. Its the right combo for what you are looking for. Comes with great instructions, you can do it in about an hour. Heres a good thread showing the process...If you need any help, just let us know.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...ighlight=hurst

 

here is a pic of the Z06 shifter.....

 

What can you guys tell me about this? The highlighted portion about the shift pattern being tighter and reverse being where third is now?

"I got the Callaway, as did RMitchell. That thing kicks butt!! The shifts are positive...you know exactly where you're putting the stick. it reduces shift-distance significantly...bot fore and aft as well as side to side....much tighter shift pattern that puts Reverse just barely right of where 3rd was on the stock shifter. It dropped the stick by about an inch and a quarter, but this also made the shift heavier. The heavy is ok though, because you know exactly what your gears are doing without thinking about it. When the car is cold you will hear the gears meshing a bit, but after a few hundred yards of driving, that goes away. There is ZERO noise increase otherwise....I'm not saying that, just to sing the praises of Callaway. It was a snap to install, but the stock can be difficult to yank out, because you have to break the blue silicone seal...I reccomend sealing, as callaway states, with more blue silicone when you install the new one.

The Callaway is a tad pricey, but it is well worth it, you get what you pay for in this case.

Go Callaway, and you won't regret the decision."

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...02&postcount=3

If the shift pattern is this tight, how difficult is it to find 5th and 6th??

Also, I have read a few posts about people having difficulty getting the car into 1st and reverse after the install of short throw shifters. Whats the best way around this?

 

You may have to re-adjust the stops to get the shifter into reverse. After you adjust the stops, try all the gears and re-adjust if necessary then, button it up.

 

short of that, you may be able to adjust the 'shifter linkage' clamp.

 

My B&M ss kit allows for retention of the stock shift ****.

 

The Z06 shifter throw really isn't any shorter, but its a lot tighter. The difference is in the bushings used to mount it, they're solid where the non-Z06 part uses rubber inserts. There's quite a bit of difference in the feel, and although the fore-aft movement is little different the side-to-side movement is reduced significantly.

It should be possible to replace just the bushings for much less than the cost of a shifter.

My Z06 shifter has rattled once or twice, but its not a common problem.

Regarding the installation: in theory (or according to the shop manual, which is sometimes the same thing) you don't actually have to remove the console; you can just remove the boot and get to the shifter that way. I don't know if its easier or not - the hard part would be getting everything back together. I took the console out.

Taking the console out is easy enough except for a couple of the electrical connectors - at least on my car the latch for the auxillary power connector is on top where its very hard to get to.