Last week I got in a new shifter by MTI Racing in Georgia. I heard some people saying some good things about it over on CorvetteForum, so I figured I would give it a try. I now have a Hurst shifter, but not sure I really like it. Some days I do, and others I don't. I had to remove the bias springs because it was just TOO stiff shifting to fifth, sixth, and reverse for my liking, but now that the springs are out, yes, it is somewhat easier, but the tradeoff is that it feels much sloppier then before. So I am hoping that maybe this would be what I am looking for. Which is a nice solid feeling shifter that works smoothly, firmly, and effortlessly.
In the pic, the MTI is to the left and the stock shifter out of my 2002 Z06 is on the right.
I haven't installed it yet, but have been looking it over to see what the differences may be. Unfortunately the Hurst is still in the car, otherwise I would put that in the pic as well. Compared to the stock shifter, the MTI is notably shorter then the stock. It also feels like the pivot point is slightly higher than stock. What becomes obvious looking at these things is that there really isn't all that much to the shifter at all. Basic a stick we shove back and forth to move the linkage levers to change the gears. Nothing really fancy at all about it. And it also appears that the amount of variation between one shifter and another has to be rather small. About all you can do is to change the hand side of the handle's length and perhaps move the fulcrum of the lever slightly as well. That's about it. And there will necessarily be tradeoffs to deal with no matter what you do.
With any system based on leverage, you can only change 3 things: the length of the lever on the top, the length of the lever on the bottom, and where the fulcrum is positioned. And in this case we have a constant that must be adhered to: The ball at the bottom of the shifter MUST engage the linage levers from the transmission. Any and all of these variables can directly affect the leverage you can exert while moving the shifter handle and are directly related. You can shorten the stroke of the top side of the shifter arm to create an apparent increase in the distance the bottom part will travel in relation to your hand movement. In effect shortening the amount of distance your hand must travel to effect a gear change in the transmission. The tradeoff here is the amount of effort needed to make the movement of the lower arm is greater. I suspect there is probably not a whole lot you can do with the amount of movement the lower arm can move, as this is probably limited by the transmission itself in how much movement the linkage will permit. Which means that if you lower the fulcrum (pivot point), the amount of distance the lower arm can travel will be reduced unless you lengthen that lower arm to compensate. There obviously must be a minimum amount of travel needed in order for the gears to be engaged in the transmission, so I would assume this is a rather critical measurement for any shifter. On the other side of the coin, you really don't want the lower arm of the shifter to travel TOO far, otherwise you could be jamming the linkage and subsequent engagement within the transmission beyond what it was designed to do.
Picturing this all in your mind, you can see how the shifter's design must be quite limited in the number of variables you can play with. The lower arm can only allow so much change between where it is not enough to engage the gears and it is too much to possibly cause damage within the transmission. This in turn limits how much the pivot point can be adjusted as it's location will determine the length of the lower arm. Which in turn controls the length of throw of the upper arm. The lower the pivot point, the shorter the lower arm yet the longer the throw on the upper arm, but with less effort. Raise the pivot point, and the lower arm must be longer, and conversely the upper arm can be shorter however the effort increases.
So is there a magic number for the dimensions of these interrelated sections? Is one combination of all factors going to be noticeable better then ones that almost, but not quite, hit the mark? Maybe. I guess that is what I am hoping for. A shifter that hits this "magic" number.
Also, notice that the stock shifter has a weighted section on the hand section of the shifter. This is likely a good thing, as the additional mass there certainly would help the "feel" of shifting. That additional mass would just help the shift effort to feel lighter then it really is. Plus it appears to be insulated from the lower part of the shaft by a rubber or plastic insert, which probably reduces transmitted noise somewhat.
Now with that in mind, I can recall people describing their shifters as being "notchy". But what exactly is that? What is "notchiness"? And why would one shifter feel differently then another when ALL of them merely appear to be sticks of metal shoved down into the console area to move around the linkage?
I'm thinking that a shorter arm on the hand side of the shifter would reduce this "notchiness" simply because it reduces the distance where the shifter might hit between gears in the transmission linkage. The shorter that "gap" the less likely you are to hit it while shifting.
Anyway, as they say, the proof is in the pudding, so I guess I just need to install this MTI shifter and see what it just FEELS like. I am hopeful it will be better then the Hurst, but I have to wonder how much of this is just a placebo effect. The Hurst shifter felt better then the stock when I put it in. For a while. Then the Hurst felt better after I removed the bias springs then it did WITH the springs. For a while. So if I come back here raving like a maniac about how much better this MTI shifter feels, give me "a while" to really wring it out. What is needed, I guess, are identical vehicles with the different brands of shifters installed so you can just easily see the difference in a side by side comparison. Yeah, it's really no big deal to change a shifter, but the bloom goes off the rose pretty quickly after you do it a couple of times. It's not just like changing a channel on the radio. And in reality, I'm not so sure there will really BE all that much difference between shifters at all. It just doesn't appear to be that much leeway in the variables to allow dramatic changes.
Oh well, just thought I would share my thoughts on this. Stay tuned.....