Brian

The fact you can miss a shift and hit the wrong gate. It may be me being too aggressive, but I feel something may be wrong. (Remember, my mechanic never experienced anything like it either.)

I have spoke to George and I will be sending him a photo of the unit to see if it is the newer one or the older model, (or even if indeed it is an MGW shifter! Seller claimed it was an MGW, but there is no record of him ordering anything but a Corvette shift ****; but he may have bought it through a local club).

It seems the older units (Spring '09 & earlier) had helper springs that the new ones do not need in a Corvette tranny due do the fact the vette has excellent springs. (sorry, George, if I got my 10 cent explanation wrong, lol)

George indicates that the new unit is much improved over the old shifter, so I hope that will solve it. Thanks George.

Maybe unscrewing the shift **** will work. I'll try anything. Thanks again everyone!

Fuego

If you push the stick and it ends up in the wrong gate, it simple driver error. I dont see how if youre going from 4th to fifth, you could mistakenly end up in 3rd? You ,surely, would know if your hand is moving right or not. Are you saying you end up in 3rd from a 6-5 shift? if so, you would feel your hand move left. I dont get it. Grab that damned thing with some muscle.

Brian

Fourth to fifth, ended up in third. Maybe my fault. But the shifter feels weird, I can't describe it other than tight. It can hit the wrong gate very easily. Mechanic noticed it was touchy too without any prompting from me. Simply put it out there for comment. There are a lot of dedicated MGW fans here who are defensive. Not my intent to pzz anyone off here. Just looking for other members who may have had a similar experience as me.
I will be shooting a picture of the shifter to George to see if is the older model or a different brand altogether. We'll get to the bottom of this sooner or later.
I have driven and owned a lot of muscle cars over the last 35 years and have never encountered a shifter with characteristics like this one. I can't believe it is all me, but you never know.
I am almost sorry I posted anything about it.

BearZ06

Something just doesn't sound right about this. If you've had that many cars it shouldn't be you and I can hardly believe it's the MGW either. If it's one of his shifters George will make it right unless someone has somehow tampered with it, before you had it.

nch209

Any updates on this? I am curious as to what is going on...

GREENTAHOE

Great info on here. I also have an MGW and it was the best mod I have made. That said the positioning of the **** makes a world of difference. Once you have that done I can't imagine you not loving it. Take it out, make sure it's an MGW, check the wear items, and then simply adjust the **** until you like it. My bet is that that **** is screwed all the way down... or it isn't an MGW

Fuego

Hope you figure it out. Sorry, I was a bit harsh.

Brian

I have to take a picture of the shifter and send it to George at MGW. My Mother-in-Law was dying of cancer when all this started and she finally passed away on January 1st. My wife being an only child is taking it hard, so this shifter thing has taken a back seat.

Anyways, I hope to get a picture of the shifter to MGW to see if it is the older style or the newer style. Once that is done George is going to work with me on getting me into the newer shifter - if indeed the shifter is the older style.

I am of the opinion that my mishift was my probably fault - shifting too fast and missing the gate. I didn't want to believe it could be me, but I got to be open to that possibility!

As soon as I get it photographed and a response back from MGW I'll update you.

Brian

AORoads

Take care of your wife (but send a note to MGW telling them why the delay). We, and the shifter can wait.

Brian

Thanks, That's a good idea. I appreciate your thoughts.

Brian

MadDogZ06

Brian,

I've owned several Z06's and personally put 5 motors in my vettes. I've been driving on the track for over 20 years and I'm performance driving instructor for Ferrari and several tracks. I only say this so people will not say I don't know how to shift a performance transmission like they told you.

I'm inspecting a C6 Vette on the lift in my shop and considering buying it. It has an MGT shifter and it. It is so stiff, it would be almost impossible to drive on the track without risking the car or the motor. My wife literally does not have the strength no matter how hard she tries to get the car into 2nd gear and she almost can't get it into 1st. I know exactly what you are talking about. I'm sure you know how to shift and I'm a bit disappointed in all the people on this forum assuming you don't.

What was the final resolution to this issue? The rest of us would like to know. Thanks for sharing!

0MGW George

This thread is VERY old back when we still used the oem lower box which was causing the high effort and notchy shifting.

Our design we have had for ab out 3 years now WITH our billet lower box is so smooth and so easy to shift i cant imagine ANYONE thinking it is hard to shift on street or track. I have been road racing for over 25 years and certainly would NEVER use anything much less design something that wasnt a joy to shift on a road course.

George

Dano523

Too tight as in up and down, or side to side?

Side to side tension comes from the rubber boot on top of the tunnel, and if the boot is not cut correctly, can be causing some problems.
Also, the shifter shaft can be threaded out more from the base to added shifter length so less pressure is needed to over come the pressure of the shifter boot cover.

As for the final position into gears (last 1/4" of travel), trans detent can be shimmed out with a brass shim to decrease the actual transmission detent pressure (anti venom mod).

As for up and down, shaft length again, and make sure that not only was the end bottom ball on the shifter correctly greased, but that the lower box shaft is moving smoothly as well in the lower box.

As for the neutral cross position across all the gates left to right, if that is the problem, then the shifter was not index correctly, or the lower shifter box bushing are falling apart and the lower box is not holding index.

The key to the MGW shifter is when you are in the neutral gate, if you take all side pressure off the shifter, it will be in the 3/4 gate line every time. Hence, don't shift with your palm on the top of the shifter, but on the side of the shifter ball instead).

Think this type of shifter **** where you hold it like a broom stick,

Note, if you are using the stock shifter ball, then position the shifter shaft so the side palm swell on the OEM shifter ball is in a natural up/down feel position (shifter positioned to around 12:30'ish, instead of 12:00, since it puts the side swell to hand feel straight up and down as you are moving the shifter from gear to gear)

So into first, side palm over to the left and push up to get you into first.
Second gear, side palm pressure to the left and straight down.
Third just push the shifter straight up with no side pressure. It will find Third gear every time.
Forth, pull straight down with no side pressure, and again, it will find 4th gear every time.
Fifth, pressure to the right with your thumb, and straight up.
Sixth, pressure to the right with your thumb, and straight back.

As for back down, pretty much the same, and remembering that if you do not put any side pressure on the shifter, you will be in the 3/4 gate line.

The key to the shifter and finding the right gear come down to either no side pressure on the shifter for 3/4, or side pressure on the shifter to get into the 1/2 or 5/6 lines. Hence you get a feel for the amount of side pressure resistance it's feeding back to you to tell you what gear line you are in.

As for short throw up and down, as well as short distance left to right, short/tight is good, but these pattern can be increased in travel if need by just un-threading the shaft from the base more winds out, or if you have a screw in type ball, that can be threaded up on the shaft as well (All comes down to how you set the shaft up for length of travel).

Really, what the MGW really does is removes a great deal of the slop from the shifter itself, and make finding the right gear a snap due to side tension feed back (just have to have your hand position correctly on the side of the shifter shaft so you are gliding the shifter through the gears, instead of on top of the ball trying to cram it into a position instead)

AORoads

Send George a pic of the shifter, model of the car and if you know, the approx. date the shifter was bought. Maybe it needs updating.

MadDogZ06

Thanks guys!

George, the shifter is likely about 3 years old or more. I love the pride you have in your product and I can tell from the forum that you stand behind them.

The problem is side to side. Like I said, my wife physically can not put it into 2nd gear or reverse. I can do it, but it takes a ridiculous amount of side pressure. I know how to hold my hand and wrist while shifting. I know the MGW is a good shifter. This one is either defective or installed incorrectly.

If I buy the car, I'll open it up, take pics and send to George. I was just curious what happened in this thread since I'm seeing the same problem.

Rich

Dano523

Maddog.

Go to 5:58 on the video. Note that the boot cover is the spring tension for the shifter for side to side movement.

If the boot is heat dried stiffened, the boot is not cut or installed incorrectly, it's going to cause problems with the shifter having too much tension getting the shifter off side of the 3/4 shift gate.

Also again, the shifter rod can be threaded out from the base to add shifter throw length to give better leverage.

Note: on the boot, if you find that it's hard a rock, it can be softened back up again. Pull the boot, and spray it both sides with BreakfreeCLP and let it sit for about a day or two, then wipe the CLP off the rubber and reinstall the boot. Between the lube and cleaning agents in CLP, it will make rubber more playable.



http://www.mgwltd.com/corvette_short...allation.shtml


As for if the problem is not the tension over to the 1/2 gate, but finding the gate, then the shifter was not indexed correctly instead. Her, it could be the lower house bushing are worn out and need to be replaced on the stock lower box, and/or, just indexing the shifter correctly to the trans shifter shaft.

Source for new Poly lower shifter box bushings.
http://www.zip-corvette.com/catalog/...sing-bushings/
Note, if you are pulling the lower OEM housing to replace the bushings, take the time to pull the OEM lower housing apart to clean, polish, and relube it as well. To pull the OEM lower housing apart, just remove the front plastic cap screws, pull the plastic cap off, and the lower shifter rod pull right out the front of the lower box.
As for lube, the same Super lube that comes with the shifter works great for the lower box as well.

swhutson2005

I installed my MGW (incl Box) about a month ago and followed the video's on their website. What an awesome improvement over stock. No fight on 2-3 shift under hard accel anymore!! Nice, short, firm, and direct shifts now.