opinions on shifter quality......

wwho makes a better shifter, hurst or steeda? i see that the hurst shifter is about 100 bucks cheaper and looks a little cheaper as well. and the steeda is a large chunk of soild aluminum. i am wondering if it is worth buying the hurst shifter or is it crap?

I have shifted so many different stick shift vehicles during my 45 years or so of driving that I have completely lost count.

In the sixties when the four speeds became popular, many of the factory shifters left much to be desired. They basically were an outside mounted piece that made a transmission case that was designed for a column shifter into a floor shift transmission. On THOSE transmissions, an aftermarket shifter was a necessity for drag racing use in particular and most any kind of performance use in general.

In the last twenty years or so, the four, five and now six speed transmissions have a shifter that goes through the top of the case and the whole transmission was designed for floor shift from the get-go.

Because of all these changes, the factory shifters are VERY good. I have used factory and aftermarket shifters and I personally see absolutely no need for an aftermarket shifter on most of todays manual transmissions, certainly not on our Mustangs. There is an aftermarket there providing these items and they are, I'm sure, more than happy to take your hard earned money. As far as I'm concerned, the people selling you these shifters are the only ones getting any advantage from them.

My $0.02.

I had an MGW shifter in my '03 Mach 1.

Very high quality. Put the factory shifter to shame.

Solid, short and fast shifting.

I'd buy another in a heartbeat.

I can't say if they have one in the works for the new gen Mustang, but if they do I'm sure it's a winner as well.

I have the Hurst Short shifter and love it. Night and day difference between the stock OEM piece. MY .02 cents.

you can get a hurst shifter with the billet rail, similar to steedas. i think its about $209 for the billet version. IMO, the hurst was money well spent.

What about keeping it stock looking? Can you put the boot up and stock knob back on so it looks stock?

I like the way my car is inside, but I want to clean up the slop in the shifter.

Short Shifts

To look at the Hurst shifter it seems junky looking compared to the Steeda, but the Steeda is a lot more expensive. I would like to see the Hurst billet shifter. But I can say for sure that the Hurst shifts so nice and close and tight, that I still am amazed. I tried one on a AJ Foyt GT at Jordan Ford, and sitting still with the engine off, you could easily shift through the gears and the throw was at least half of the stock shifter it seemed.

I want one!

Steeda has a new support bracket that will eliminate the shifter from mounting to the body. They are currently developing it. Not available yet.

MGW Limited has a new design that's going to be released soon. They make bad ass shifters. The stock shifter is junk, but it is quiet.

http://go.mrgasket.com/newproducts/flyers/74230G.pdf

Hurst

I pulled out the sloppy OEM unit the first week. This isn't the billet model-it's the "cheap" one. Maybe I should try one of the more expensive ones one day, but so far, this cheap model is perfect. Much shorter throws, solid feel, t-handle. Great deaL. I don't slam gears all the time so I don't know about extreme use, but for an everyday driver it's fine.

I just installed the Hurst in my O6 and so far i love it. Retro look, much shorter throws and good overall feel.

Hang tight for another month or so.I read on another forum that MGW is about to release their new version of S197 shifter.The owner of MGW posted that this will be the best of the best,as many of the sn95 owners already know MGW makes one of the best shifters out there. He promised some new and inovative changes to the shifter that has him applying for new patents.He Stated that cost would be somewhere around $300.00 but would be worht it.Based on some of the MGW products I've purchased in the past(quaility second to none) wait will be worth it

I've only tried the stock S197 shifter with the TR-3650. I don't have any complaints and I don't see any need to buy an aftermarket shifter at this point. YMMV.

Allright!

Thanks for this man....

That's the one I've been waiting to see.

Steeda

Installed Steeda last weekend, didnt take 2hrs... used stock boot and knob.

Very pleased!

hmmmmmm

Overall consensus seems to be that most aftermarket shifters are much better than stock. To me stock felt like it was made of rubber.

The stock shifter is too rubbery but LM Performance sell poly bushes for it for $26 so that's the cheapest way and keeps the shorty shifter. I plumped for the chrome white ball shifter from Hurst. I too was almost wooed by the billet but to be honest, you can't see it unless you're a stuntman on Indiana Jones so what does it matter it's steel, it does the same job and it's hardly heavy.

The chrome shifter is taller than stock which may be regarded as a retrograde step but I like it. It uses the stock gaiter. the only thing that jars with me is the plastic oval that goes in the top of the gaiter for the shifter to slip through. It looks like a half cent piece of waste plastic. If I could get a little chrome or billet cap to go over it, I'd be a lot happier.

As for the quality of the shift, it's far more precise, short throw and "metallic" and you don't miss 3rd any more.

So are all shifters tall? Because I wanted something stock height if not a tad shorter. Are any adjustable?