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Barton vs Steeda vs other shifters

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SVO WOODY

Cruising Southern Ontario
90
0
Canada
I see American Muscle has the Barton Shifter and bracket on sale any reviews on the product or comparisons with others??
 
I'm one of the few that is not in love with the MGW. The quality is top notch and it's an improvement over stock. My opinion is that it's the bracket design that delivers the largest improvement in the shifting feel.

The first thing I'd ask is WHY are you changing out the stock shifter? If you hate the stock shifter go straight to the MGW. If you just want to eliminate the vague shifting but want to retain the smooth feel of the stock shifter I'd try the Barton twin post bracket. If that doesn't do it you can always sell the bracket and recoup most of your money.

I had the Steeda bracket installed before I installed the MGW and it wasn't that big of a difference to me. IMO the MGW is more notchy than stock and by now it's not going to get any better. I'm keeping my stock shifter and if I ever stop tracking my Boss it's going back in.
 

PeteInCT

#LS-378 - So many Porsche's, so little time....
Moderator
2,848
14
Connecticut
SVO WOODY said:
I see American Muscle has the Barton Shifter and bracket on sale any reviews on the product or comparisons with others??

Woody - take a look at the construction of each. You can see details of the MGW via the SVT Performance site, I'm sure Barton has something similar. I don't know much about the Barton but I can say the MGW is built like a fully pro-use component. I have the MGW and used it for a full season in '12 and am very happy with it. It totally eliminated my lock out issues and the feel is much more definitive than stock IMO. If you go that route also invest in the heat shield, small price to pay for added shifter protection of the bushings. Some drivers have reported that the cabin interior noise level increases with the MGW, however I see no difference at all (and I didn't use dynamat since I already have the heat shield.
 

PeteInCT

#LS-378 - So many Porsche's, so little time....
Moderator
2,848
14
Connecticut
NFSBOSS said:
I'm one of the few that is not in love with the MGW. The quality is top notch and it's an improvement over stock. My opinion is that it's the bracket design that delivers the largest improvement in the shifting feel.

The first thing I'd ask is WHY are you changing out the stock shifter? If you hate the stock shifter go straight to the MGW. If you just want to eliminate the vague shifting but want to retain the smooth feel of the stock shifter I'd try the Barton twin post bracket. If that doesn't do it you can always sell the bracket and recoup most of your money.

I had the Steeda bracket installed before I installed the MGW and it wasn't that big of a difference to me. IMO the MGW is more notchy than stock and by now it's not going to get any better. I'm keeping my stock shifter and if I ever stop tracking my Boss it's going back in.

Try taking out the second spring do-dad ?
 

Sesshomurai

NFSBOSS said:
PeteInCT said:
I have the MGW and used it for a full season in '12 and am very happy with it. It totally eliminated my lock out issues and the feel is much more definitive than stock IMO.
There are several of us with the MGW and it did not eliminate shifting lock out...

The reason for the lockout that I've concluded (from experience and research) (and there could be other reasons than this) is the semi-remote design of the transmission shifter mount/bracket. It is not a direct shift and thus is prone to contortions from the chassis/body at high speed. In fact, other track drivers with earlier model mustangs say they also experience this. It can't be corrected with a new shifter, but maybe it can be 'reduced' with strong billet materials. Oddly enough, after I put my rollbar/half-cage in, I've not noticed this happening.

I only experience it a couple times (before my Hurst shifter) and that was decelerating at VIR on back stretch braking hard from 140 down to 60 very hard and turning in left - shifting 5th to 4th. After I learned toe/heel shifting though, it also has not happened.

Just my $0.02 (slightly off topic I know)
 
Toe/heel is for down shifts, I get lock outs on up shifts too. I suspect it is the contortions as I have figured out how to force it into gear, and it works most of the time, by using angled pressure on the stick (pressure toward the right going into 3rd is the big one for me) BUT I don't think that is a good solution. A couple times I put too much pressure and went into 5th, because the shifter is already a little vague. Luckily it is pushing right, so you go into a higher gear not a lower one, and that is better than not going into any gear, but it is still not a real solution. Has anyone tried stiffer trans mounts yet? I've driven cars with remote or cable shifters before and not had issues. I've also tested that I am not just shifting poorly by driving other manuals with no issues, including one with pretty much gone synchros.
 
No doubt the movement between the trans, engine and body is part of the problem but it's not the only problem. I still think it's either the clutch or the actuating system at fault. Think of all the guys having the clutch pedal stick to the floor. The MGW or Barton twin post bracket tightens it up enough that there shouldn't be any problems with lock out. Look at the design between the stock bracket and the MGW/Barton and it should be obvious. My car is driven on the street and track and I don't want to add any more NHV than I've already added. I was also cautioned on stiffening up the trans or engine mounts or using a frame bracket. The problem is once you start you really need to go all the way, going part way may cause more problems than it solves.
 

SVO WOODY

Cruising Southern Ontario
90
0
Canada
Thanks guys for the info, Rick, I live about an hour from http://www.mosport.com/ so I plan on going to a track school and going through some tires! With the sale on and knowing of the issues others have had I was just considering stocking up on parts for the spring! By the way if anyone is up this way, let's hit the track!





NFSBOSS said:
I'm one of the few that is not in love with the MGW. The quality is top notch and it's an improvement over stock. My opinion is that it's the bracket design that delivers the largest improvement in the shifting feel.

The first thing I'd ask is WHY are you changing out the stock shifter? If you hate the stock shifter go straight to the MGW. If you just want to eliminate the vague shifting but want to retain the smooth feel of the stock shifter I'd try the Barton twin post bracket. If that doesn't do it you can always sell the bracket and recoup most of your money.

I had the Steeda bracket installed before I installed the MGW and it wasn't that big of a difference to me. IMO the MGW is more notchy than stock and by now it's not going to get any better. I'm keeping my stock shifter and if I ever stop tracking my Boss it's going back in.
 
Rick, I had the clutch issue too. My suspicion is that there is too much heat getting in there, as after driving it rigorously it will still spit some black gunk up into the reservoir if I pump the clutch. Also, bleeding the clutch will result in better all around clutch performance for a few hundred miles. But I also suspect that many of the lock outs are not caused by the clutch, it seems to be independent of when the pedal gets soft or sticks. I plan on bringing my vacuum kit to future track days to test my theory.

And with the bushings, yeah you should probably do them all if you are doing any. But if anyone has the 3rd gear lockouts, try applying slight right pressure instead of going straight up. Like 2mm to the right. You have to do it coming out of neutral, not after you pushed up, if that makes sense. Push right slightly then up. My trick is I twist me hand so my palm is on the left side of the ball, and elbow is out to the right, and it naturally pulls my hand that direction as I shift.
 

Sesshomurai

CaliMR said:
Rick, I had the clutch issue too. My suspicion is that there is too much heat getting in there, as after driving it rigorously it will still spit some black gunk up into the reservoir if I pump the clutch. Also, bleeding the clutch will result in better all around clutch performance for a few hundred miles. But I also suspect that many of the lock outs are not caused by the clutch, it seems to be independent of when the pedal gets soft or sticks. I plan on bringing my vacuum kit to future track days to test my theory.

And with the bushings, yeah you should probably do them all if you are doing any. But if anyone has the 3rd gear lockouts, try applying slight right pressure instead of going straight up. Like 2mm to the right. You have to do it coming out of neutral, not after you pushed up, if that makes sense. Push right slightly then up. My trick is I twist me hand so my palm is on the left side of the ball, and elbow is out to the right, and it naturally pulls my hand that direction as I shift.

Yeah. I think one of the primary reasons the clutch pedal gets soft or sinks is because the factory clutch line is plastic and when that plastic heats up from heavy use it expands. And when that happens, the clutch pedal gets soft. Easy to confuse this with the actual clutch, etc. I upgraded to a steel clutch line and this problem (which only happened once) hasn't happened again.
Sorry to drift off-topic though.
 

PeteInCT

#LS-378 - So many Porsche's, so little time....
Moderator
2,848
14
Connecticut
FYI - some guys have switched to the SS clutch line and they still had the issue. According to Ford the plastic line can handle any temps generated by our engines, the SS lines are really an 'overkill' solution for the 302S/R (since it looks odd to put a plastic line in a true race car). Anything is possible, but there's evidence that it's not that plastic line - at least in some cars.

-Pete
 
Ive ran both and Barton has the least amount of throw and is a very well re-designed piece. I say re-designed because instead of doing what others have and just replaced the stock style with a different material, they took the stock look and completely changed it to a billet and used energy suspension bushings. They re-invented the wheel I guess you can say.

One thing these cars are KNOWN for is the sloppiness while in gear. Barton..... you will not see that.

Their brackets are hands down a fantastic design as well. For the people who have only used 1 shifter, I urge you to try this. I have not met anyone who has regretted it
 

PeteInCT

#LS-378 - So many Porsche's, so little time....
Moderator
2,848
14
Connecticut
The MGW is a redesign billet design with vastly different bushings. Not sure if you were taking them into account in your analysis.
 

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