I bought the MGW shifter 3-4months ago just before they were releasing the new shifter gear box. I put the shifter in my 2012 and was very unhappy on my maiden voyage as I had a audible chatter, not to mention the shifter also had a horrible vibration. The other day I called and spoke with MGW about my issues. The tech said there new gear box would solve everything needless to say I was skeptical. I just finished the gearbox install and I forgot to put the thick rubber cap that goes over the cap that bolts down so I wAs a little worried about gear noise. Took the car for it's first drive and there is no vibration what so ever not to mention absolutely no gear noise even without the rubber cap. If anyone has the issues I was having you really need to look into getting a gear box. I am one of those guys that any vibrations or squeaks drive me nuts and now I couldn't be happier with my car again.

 

It's called a 'shift box' . Gear box is the tranny itself. There're no gears in the shift box.

Hey, may I ask you if you had the dreaded 'crunching' some of us have on the 1-2 and sometimes 2-3 shifts when tranny is cold? I got around that issue delaying the shifts in N (with clutch still depressed) so rpm go down. Zero crunching like that, so obviously not a synchro issue (I'm baffled what the hell it is, actually). After switching to Amsoil fully synthetic fluid, aligning the shift box perfectly, and relaxing the detent spring with just one washer, it shifts beautifully when hot. It still feels a bit notchy, but I don't think anything can cure that since it's a tranny issue. In fact, heard the MGW makes the shifts more notchy due to the reduced throw. I'd like your your precise input in the shifting differences, and what the MGW solved and what not. Thanks man.

 

I also have the MGW, the Amsoil and the single washer. I hear a lot about notchy on here all the time. I'm thinking that's what we should want these to feel like. Whats the opposite of notchy? Mushy? When I grip it and rip it my gears do exactly what there're supposed to do. No grinding, missing or bitching. Not too sure what else you can expect?

As a side note mine is a Z, the shifter is the latest model and I installed it on the stock shifter box. Against the recommendation from George at MGW. Stock shifter box on a Z has no rubber grommets, it is solid mounted. I have no vibration or chatter. I think most of the problems with these are from installation and or alignment problems.
Is notchy even a word???

 

First of all, I'm not bitching. Second, you might not have the pleasure to drive cars like Aston Martins, Ferraris, and Porsches (or even Hondas), but that's how a shifter should feel. The best is the Aston. Both Ferrari and Aston use the same Graziano tranny, but Ferraris use the gated shifters, which detracts from the amazing feel and precision of the Graziano tranny. Porsches also shift great, but have the drawback of feeling rubbery, due to a cable linkage (vs rod linkage). Nothing is perfect in this world, and even less in a car. The 'notchy' feeling A TON of Vette drivers who have driven other cars acknowledge is a feeling that you hit something when shifting gears. It has nothing to do with reliability, since I haven't missed a single shift. BUt it's not a nice feeling when instead of a smooth snick, snick, if feels like you hit something. Problem is Tremec's cheap solution of getting the 'H' pattern on top of the tranny, rather than the more precise (and expensive) way of having it on the shifter itself, like Ferraris and Astons. Plus you can precisely adjust them from the center console. By the way, compared to the best tranny I've ever driven (that being a 10, not because it's perfect), I'd rate my tranny (with all the things I've done to it) an 9 when fully hot, which is remarkable. But the crunching when cold brings that number much lower. My solution is to delay shifting in N until things heat up, so not a huge deal, but not happy about it.

 

Just to clarify my car is a base 2012. I dont recall any crunching when shifting but the noises and vibration deminished quite a bit when the car warmed up. The shifter still vibrated bad enough that you could see it moving back and forth even after it warmed up. The car does shift smoother when cold actually I didn't notice any differences once the car warmed up. Once the car warmed up with the stock box I noticed it shifted smoother compared to to the notchy feeling.

 

Thanks for the feedback. The 'problem' with GSs is they have a different 2nd gear, with angled teeth, for some weird reason. I'm sure that's the source of the issue, whatever it is. My car shifts really nice when hot, so will definitely not spend money blindly on a shifter until I (if ever) have a chance to drive one first. When I opened my shift box to align it perfectly, it had very little grease, so I lubed it pretty good. It should last a while since I only drive about 4K miles a year on this car. The notchy feeling is due to the 'H' pattern being on top of the tranny, which is not very precise. A shifter can't eliminate that completely. And that's basically the only thing left to improve on my shifter. Hope I have a chance one day to try the MGW shifter.