[IanM]

This has been a work in progress for a few months now, and I believe I've finally found the correct combination of things to make my shifting problems a thing of the past.

I had issues changing gears, gears not engaging, and with finding the correct gears. To fully disclose, this is my first 6-speed manual car I've owned, though I've owned manuals for many years & learned to drive on a 4-speed manual Mustang. This MT-82 has been particularly difficult to learn and get good with, partially because I only drive it on nicer days, so I have not had thousands of miles to get used to it.

The changes made have made a tremendous difference in the experience though. I've added or done the following

1. Redline Synthetic fluid change.

2. New Shifter

I removed the stock setup and replaced the shifter, bushings, and all the goodies with an MGW setup. Far and above the best money ever spent here, the engineering and quality are 2nd to none.

3. Changed the clutch pedal height/depth.

I bought a clutch pedal extension. Mustang Pedal Extension link to Bondra Performance Engineering I thought this was ridiculous at first and it damaged my pride a bit thinking that maybe I was too short to drive my own car...and causing a few jabs from friends at my expense.
At 5'10", I found myself sitting way too close to the steering wheel so I could get the clutch all the way in while accelerating, making me uncomfortable, not to mention I was kicking the door panels every time I got out. This simple little thing saves all that, and aligns the pedals as they SHOULD be, giving an offset for the pedals that I think they should have had from the factory.

Now when I drive, no issues, the clutch pedal goes all the way down, and I can smoothly & accurately select the next gear.

 

[elco82]

Interesting. I just bought my 2011 gt/cs last week and I find the shifter clunky and sometimes hard to find gears. Of course a lot of that is me learning the car, but I've been skulking around the forum for a couple of days to see if this is a common problem. is the shifter you got a short throw?

 

[primer2tone]

I like the clunky feel.

 

[Daryll]

Ian - that is great info. I've been reading the forum for several months, and read about various shifters. Having driven manual transmission cars and trucks for over 35 years I know how to shift the fears, but have been a little frustrated about the smoothness of some shifts, especially 5-6. Is the MGW shifter that much smoother going into all gears? I like your shift knob too - not real impressed with the stock knob.
The clutch pedal extension is interesting - I'm also 5' 10" and it seems like I'm having to stretch sometimes to depress the clutch fully. Otherwise the car is great.
Daryll

 

[elco82]

I wouldnt mind the clunkiness if it didnt feel like i was breaking something.

 

[IanM]

Interesting. I just bought my 2011 gt/cs last week and I find the shifter clunky and sometimes hard to find gears. Of course a lot of that is me learning the car, but I've been skulking around the forum for a couple of days to see if this is a common problem. is the shifter you got a short throw?

There are about a million threads to read and many have posted great info, I went out, read as much as I could about the subject, and found this to be my perfect setup after digesting all of the information I found, and my own tinkering. This is a short shifter, as many others available from Steeda, Pro 5.0, etc...which are not bad shifters, I just didn't choose to use them, many others on here can and will tell you how great they are. Bottom line, anything is better than the stock shifter and bushing.

The difference I found with MGW was the engineering, and level of replacement. Most shifter upgrades just replace the shifter stalk that plugs into the shifter box, that's only part of the problem with the stock shifter. MGW replaces the stalk, shifter box, in addition to re-engineered massive bushings for the linkage rod, and the bracket that holds it all together tying it into the bottom of the car. The shifter mechanism its self has got great tension feedback from it being spring-loaded. I think that makes it feel a lot more confident when shifting, as it should feel.

All of this in conjunction with the synthetic Redline fluid, I used the following:
Red Line Synthetic Oil - Gear Oil for Manual Transmissions - MTL 70W80 GL-4 Gear Oil
Honestly I didn't see a huge difference at first, but once it had a chance to soak in, I think that's when it really started working better, that and once it warmed up a touch.

The pedal extension I found to be the final part that many didn't mention in posts. It helps tremendously to get your clutch pedal down far enough to not grind or miss gear changes, and get away from the feeling you're doing damage when you shift. There's still a small bit when it's cold, but it quickly goes away once up to temp.

 

[nosympathy]

I find the clutch pedal extension interesting as I am 5'6" and have no trouble getting the clutch depressed. I actually had a harder time depressing the clutch without pulling the seat so far forward I was inches from the steering wheel in my uncles 2004 350Z.

I sit pretty comfortable in this car. More so than I did in the dodge challenger or Chevy Camero.

 

[elco82]

I'm 6'6" and i fit more comfortably in this car than the camaro.

 

[IanM]

This is more of a preference issue than anything I believe. To each their own, this just happens to work for me.

The stock pedals are nearly equal in the distance from the pedal to the floor/firewall. This is what I didn't like about the setup.

I feel as all three pedals should be staggered in sequence, so the gas should be the closest to the floor on the far right, brake should be in the middle of them, and the clutch should be closest to you. I don't know what the actual spacing is, but if the gas pedal were 1 inch from the floor, than the brake would be 2 inches, and the clutch would be 3 inches away from the floor/firewall.

The brake isn't always going to go to the floor, where the clutch will go further every time. The way it's setup from the factory it just seems like I was straining to get the clutch in far enough every shift, causing some of my shifting problems.

 

[elco82]

I searched and read through a ton of threads on the shifters and this looks like it will be my first mod.

 

[IanM]

Well, if that's the case, better call them and get it ordered. Mine took nearly 30 days from the day I ordered it to arrive. They're a small company and machine it all in house, but like all good things, it was well worth the wait. You might get it quicker, but prepare yourself to wait.

 

[Boriqua0703]

Yea this info is great man, I just got my GT and the shifter is my biggest and most irritating problem. From first to second, 75% of the time I miss second and shift to fourth, and it pisses me off cuz no matter how hard I push it to the left and try to shift to second it goes into fourth. I might be getting this for tax season. I took it to the dealer an they said they changed the bushings on it, and when I got it back same problem was still occurring. Thanks for the info once again.

 

[nosympathy]

Yea this info is great man, I just got my GT and the shifter is my biggest and most irritating problem. From first to second, 75% of the time I miss second and shift to fourth, and it pisses me off cuz no matter how hard I push it to the left and try to shift to second it goes into fourth. I might be getting this for tax season. I took it to the dealer an they said they changed the bushings on it, and when I got it back same problem was still occurring. Thanks for the info once again.

That isn't the shifter....

That is the skip shift "feature" that can be disabled by a tune or I think there is a wire that can be removed under the car that will stop it too.

Was put in for fuel economy. The car depending on your rpm will try and force you from 1st to 4th.

 

[tc x 4]

I've never experience the skip shift feature, but I'm always gouging on it.

 

[nosympathy]

I've never experience the skip shift feature, but I'm always gouging on it.

I forget exactly but if you shift below 2000 rpms maybe it was it will force you from 1st to 4th. I have had it disabled for just about forever. So forget exactly.

 

[mmike87]

It's combo of speed, RPM, and throttle position I believe. It's actually a pretty narrow window ... but I found that in "normal" city driving, I hit it a lot, and IMO it's dangerous.

I tuned shortly thereafter and that crap is disabled ... but I was just going to unplug it. There is no harm in unplugging it - the message will still show in the info center, but you'll slide into 2nd normally.

 

[nosympathy]

It's combo of speed, RPM, and throttle position I believe. It's actually a pretty narrow window ... but I found that in "normal" city driving, I hit it a lot, and IMO it's dangerous.

I tuned shortly thereafter and that crap is disabled ... but I was just going to unplug it. There is no harm in unplugging it - the message will still show in the info center, but you'll slide into 2nd normally.

Yeah it is dangerous. Few times I had to get going to move out of the way and got stuck in fourth not moving at all.

My understanding was ford removed it on the 2013?

 

[ab_mach1]

Good info and write-up IanM! :good:

The New Edge body style Mustangs are the same way. I sit too close to the steering wheel in mine too.

 

[Maverick2004054]

I've never hit it in my 13, I'm guessing it was removed.....

 

[IanM]

You'll know if you do, it's really annoying to go from 1 to 4 when you expect a 1 to 2 shift.

Mine still has that, I need to turn it off, but normally I just get on it and it doesn't happen If I wanted an automatic I would have bought one.. I get that Ford wants to give us good fuel economy, though if that was my main concern i'd have probably bought a more fuel efficient car, right?