R.J. SEESE DISCLAIMER

APPLICATION:  My car is a 1996 V-6 with a standard 5-speed transmission.  The Steeda Tri-Ax shifter is available for the T-5 and the T-45 (a beefed up T-5) transmissions and  for the newer Tremec 3650 transmission.  The Mustang V-6 through the 2001 model has the T-5 tranny. In 2002 Ford started installing the new TR-3650 5-speed in V-6 Mustangs.

TOOLS REQUIRED:  You can install the shifter with basic mechanic's tools, but I found my trusty Dremel power-tool helpful in getting the trim bezel installed. 

TIME REQUIRED:  It took me about four hours to install the shifter and the bezel.  Of course, I worked slowly and carefully because I had no previous experience installing either of these items and no instructions for one (more about that later).

COST OF THIS PROJECT: Retail on the Steeda Tri-Ax shifter is $199.  I located one at a street price of $170.95.  I paid $109.95 for the trim bezel.  Add $20 or so in shipping and miscellaneous materials and you are at the best part of $300.  There are bezels advertised for less money, but I believe you will find they are plastic or thin metal "snap-in" styles rather than the more realistic true retro type.   

WHERE TO GET THE PARTS:  I bought the shifter from Parkway Ford in Adairsville, Georgia.  You can order from Parkway by telephone at 770-773-3673 or on line at www.parkwayfordga.com.  The bezel was ordered from Unlimited Performance Racing (UPR) in Lake Worth, Florida.  To order from UPR call 561-588-6630 or buy from their on-line catalog at www.uprproducts.com. 

There are a number of companies building Mustang shifters and each claims theirs is the best, strongest, not a cheap imitation, etc.  All suggest their shifter will make your Mustang shift better than it does with the stock Ford shifter.  Most also suggest they have a built in "never miss third gear again" feature. 

One thing you need to know is that all performance shifters omit the vibration dampening bushing between the shifter and the handle. If you install a performance shifter of any brand, you will experience increased vibration in the shifter handle and increased gear noise in the passenger compartment.  Yes, you can dampen the vibration by installing a rubber bushing between the shifter handle and the shifter shaft, but that will very appreciably deplete the ability of a performance shifter to deliver positive feeling gear changes.

After checking all the shifter claims in magazines and on the Internet, I decided on the Steeda Tri-Ax.  Steeda says the Tri-Ax shifter is the smoothest, most comfortable, quickest shifting, shortest throw shifter available.  Steeda also claims their shifter is the only one designed with a guard that allows you to reinstall the inner boot without modification.  The Steeda shifter is advertised to be precision machined from Billet 6061 T-6 aluminum to exacting tolerances for smooth precise operation and to have features such as -- offset pre-load springs to avoid missed gears, adjustable gear stops to prevent damage to the shift forks, and a shifter handle forged for maximum strength that offers two height positioning choices.   All of that sounds great and is probably 100% accurate, but in the end I choose the Steeda shifter because I have experience with other Steeda products and have always found them to be superior in quality and performance.

The UPR trim bezel fits on the console around the base of the shifter boot adding a very nice retro touch.  The UPR bezel was very well designed and made, but its finish left a little to be desired.  I devoted considerable time to hand polishing the bezel to remove minor blemishes.  More important, there were no instructions of any kind provided with the bezel I received.  That might have just been an oversight and yes you can call UPR for installation assistance, but not if you decide to do the installation on Sunday afternoon as I did. 

WHY MAKE THIS MODIFICATION?
Install a performance shifter to provide more confident shifting, avoid missed shifts and minimize the possibility of shifter failure - particularly if you plan to push your Mustang through the gears at the local drag strip.  The shifter trim bezel serves no purpose other than to dress up the interior, which it definitely does do.    

WHAT I ACCOMPLISHED: 
I now have a 3.8 with a much stronger shifter and one that offers a much more positive feeling shift and a much shorter throw.  I also have a 3.8 with a lot more vibration in the shifter handle and more gear noise being transferred into the passenger compartment.  That would probably bother some people, especially someone with big bucks in a stereo system, but not me.  I'm old so I would rather listen to gear noise than the stuff they are trying to pass off on the radio today as music.     

My bottom line on a performance shifter is that as a true gear-head I like all performance modifications even if I do not really put them to the test.  But, I have to say that unless you plan to push your car really hard through the gears to knock a fraction of a second off your quarter mile time, you might conclude there are better places to spend your money.  I think anyone would like the short throw gear changes of a performance shifter, but that can be achieved by purchasing a new shift handle for the stock shifter at a cost of under $50. 

The retro look of the bezel is very nice, but installing it was a bit of a pain.

PHOTOS:

1. The Steeda Tri-Ax shifter.  It is a really great looking and very well made piece of equipment.  It almost makes you want to use it as a hood ornament rather than hide it under the center console.   

2. The UPR bezel from the top.

3. The UPR bezel from the bottom.

4. The stock shifter with the console cover and outer shift boot removed.

5.  The most difficult to remove of the inner boot bolts.

6.  The inner boot and the rubber gasket installed by the factory between the stock shift handle and the shifter shaft to dampen vibration.

7.  The stock shifter with the inner boot removed. 

8.  The transmission with the stock shifter removed and paper towel placed to prevent remnants of the factory seal from falling into the transmission during the cleanup process.

9.   The transmission with the old sealant material removed. 

10.  Thread sealant and silicone high-temp gasket maker.  Both were used in the assembly process.

11. The transmission ready for installation of the Steeda Tri-Ax shifter.

12.  The stock shifter on the left compared to the Steeda Tri-Ax on the right.

13. The stock shifter handle on the bottom compared to the much shorter Steeda handle on top.

14.  The Steeda Tri-Ax shifter installed and with the Steeda patented BootGuard washer in place.

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15. The factory inner boot reinstalled.

16. Another view of the reinstalled factory inner boot. 

17. The shifter handle installed in the lowest position to achieve the shortest throw.

18.  The underside of the console shift panel showing how the outer shifter boot is factory stapled to a metal frame that is fastened to the counsel panel by pressure heated plastic tabs. 

19.  The metal outer shift boot frame removed from the console cover. 

20. The underside of the console shift panel with the UPR trim bezel installed.

21.  The underside of the console shift panel with the outer shift boot fastened to the new trim bezel.

22, 23 and 24.  These are some shots to show you how great the shorter shifter handle and the trim bezel look installed.

23.

24.  

HOW I COMPLETED THE MODIFICATION:
The Steeda shifter comes with some pretty decent instructions.  Follow them and you will not get into trouble.  Also, there are a number of web sites that have Steeda specific shifter installation information.  However, for those interested in knowing my installation suggestions:

The first step is to remove the threaded shift knob. Next is removal of the combination console panel and outer shifter boot.  I was a little nervous about this because the panel is a plastic snap-in and I did not want to break any fasteners.  Not to worry - a piece of cake.  Simply place your hands on each side of the shifter, push your fingers as far as you can between the panel and the boot and lift up.  You will have to disconnect a clip holding the lighter power cable to completely free the counsel cover.    

With the counsel panel and outer shifter boot removed, you find yourself looking at the inner rubber boot surrounded by its metal base.  Use a 10-mm wrench to remove the factory shift lever.  Use an 8-mm wrench or socket to remove the four bolts (one in each corner) that hold the inner boot in place.  Boy, does that sound easy - and it is, except for the upper left, which is really hard to get at. 

Once you have the inner boot off, you are ready to tackle the factory shifter.  Use a 13-mm wrench or socket to remove the four corner bolts.  The factory uses an adhesive sealant to bond the shifter to the transmission and to create a leak-proof gasket.  From the Internet articles, some of these factory shifters must be really tough to break loose.  Mine was easy.  Some Internet articles talked about prying the factory shifter off.  I hated to do that because I did not want to damage the mounting surface of the transmission.  So, I placed a small block of wood against the lip on the factory shifter and tapped it gently with a light hammer.  The shifter broke loose immediately.  The factory shifter should be lifted off carefully so as to avoid any broken pieces of the factory sealant falling into the tranny. 

In another tech article on this site I talk about replacing all the lubricants in my 3.8 with Red Line synthetic products.  That was one of the best moves I ever made.  Everything seems to run smoother with Red Line lubes and motor oil.  If you want to replace your transmission fluid, now is the time.  Instead of working under the car, you can use a siphon to remove the existing tranny lube and then refill with Red Line or any other brand you prefer. 

OK, on with the shifter installation.  The shifter ball shaft fits into a plastic bushing on the top of the transmission.  This bushing may lift out or be dislodged when the factory shifter is removed.  Inspect to be sure the bushing has remained in place and reseat it if necessary.   

Next, it is necessary to remove all the old factory sealant.  Start by placing a lint-free paper towel or similar material in the transmission to avoid sealant residue entering.  To keep from scratching the surface of the tranny case, I used a plastic scrapper to remove the old sealant.  It took a while.  I then cleaned the surface with one of my favorite cleaning products, lighter fluid.  Finally, I very carefully removed the protective toweling so that the residue sealant, and there was a lot of it, did not fall into the transmission.  Actually, a couple pieces did fall in, but I fished them out with no problem.

Now it was time to apply a thin layer of silicone high-temp gasket maker to the top of the transmission.  From the photo you know I probably overdid it.  Prior to mating the shifter to the transmission, I lightly lubed the shifter ball and the plastic bushing with high-temp white grease.  The instructions do not say to do that, but it seemed like a good idea to me.  Use your own judgement.

Mate the shifter and secure it with new longer 13-mm stainless steel bolts provided with the Steeda shifter.  Be sure to use them and not the shorter factory originals.  I used some thread sealant on the bolts.  Tighten the bolts in an alternating corner pattern.   Don't over-tighten.  The correct torque is 15ft. /lbs.

The next job is to set the shifter stops, which are the bolt and nut looking affairs directly in front and behind the shifter lever.  By the way, the instructions do not say to temporarily install the shift handle and shift knob to aid in this adjusting process, but I did. 

Begin by backing off the stops to the point they do not touch the shifter lever in any gear.  Then, place the shifter in third gear and with normal hand shifting pressure on the shifter handle; adjust the bolt head until it just touches the shifter lever.  Now back off the bolt no more than a ¼ turn and let go of the handle.    There should be a barely distinguishable space between the stop and the shaft. 

In their instructions, Steeda says "When you pull hard on the shift lever it should barely contact the stop bolt, but when you let go of the lever it should not touch the bolt."  I actually checked the space between the stop and the lever with the 0.15 blade of a feeler gage before using a two wrench combination to tighten the jam nut against the shifter housing while holding the adjuster in place.  I then again checked the space with a feeler gage. 

To adjust the second shifter stop, shift the transmission into second gear and repeat the process previously explained.  At this point, I decided a test drive was in order.  Everything seemed to work fine, so it was time to button up.

I removed the shift handle and knob and placed the Steeda patented "BootGuard" washer-like part over the shifter shaft.  This is a very important step.  On shifters without this guard, the inner boot has to be eliminated or at least modified making it a less effective seal and leaving it susceptible to being rubbed against the stop bolts during normal shifting. 

The inner boot was slipped over the shifter shaft and pulled tight against the BootGuard, then secured using the factory bolts.  I expected the upper left bolt to be as big a pain to install as it was to remove and I was not disappointed. 

The Steeda shift handle can now be installed using the new 8-mm bolts and lock washers provided by Steeda.  There are two position choices.  The instructions say, "Install the handle in the higher position for the greatest driving comfort.  Install the handle in the lower position for the shortest throw."  Don't be a wimp!  Use the lowest position.  Trust me, you will learn to love it. 

The next step would be to install the counsel shift panel and outer boot if you are not installing the UPR shifter trim bezel.  But, if you are installing the trim bezel, the next step is going to be to attach that bezel.  Since UPR provided no instructions, I can only tell you how I did it.  UPR may cringe, but it all worked out great doing it my way.

First, I clipped the heat pressure tabs that hold the metal frame of the outer boot to the counsel shift panel.  Then, I removed the staples that hold the shifter boot to its frame.  It was at this point that I wished I would have bought a gen-u-wine leather Cobra shifter boot to install, but I hadn't so I continued the process using the original vinyl boot.  

The UPR trim bezel is predrilled and comes with very nice threaded fasteners and even an the proper Allen Wrench for tightening them.  On the underside, the bezel is drilled and tapped in four places with screws provided.  I decided that the idea was to use these screws to attach the factory boot frame to the bottom of the bezel.  I tried that, but it just did not work because the fasteners extending through the counsel to mount the bezel would clearly interfere with attaching the boot frame to the bezel.  So, here's what I did:

I put the bezel in place and with a Dremel power tool on low speed drilled two of the six holes using the bezel as a guide.  Next, I got into my wife's Thunderbird and drove to the local hardware, which is thankfully open on Sunday.  I bought six stainless washers and nuts to fit the fasteners provided by UPR.  I then drove back home and installed two of the fasteners to hold the bezel in place, drilled the other four holes and installed the other four fasteners.  With the trim bezel installed, I pushed the boot through the opening from the bottom.

Using an ice pick, I punctured the skirt of the boot in four places to match up with the four tapped holes on the underside of the bezel.  Then, I got into my wife's Thunderbird and drove to the local hardware to buy four stainless washers to fit the screws provided by UPR.  I drove back home and used the provided screws and the added washers to secure the boot to the underside of the bezel.  The boot and counsel panel combination was slipped over the shift lever and the lighter cable clip reinstalled.  I then snapped the panel back in place.  Last, I threaded the shift knob on for what will hopefully be the last time.  Well, I still might buy that Cobra leather boot, so maybe it was not the last time. 

By the way, this is a good time to dump the crummy factory shift knob that comes on a V-6 for a nicer one. If you decide on one of aluminum, use some anti-seize compound on the threads.