FocusCanada Forums

All right! Just finished installing it.

Install was fairly simple. Took about an hour. The torx bolts were really friggin tight.... I put the torx bit inside a 1/4 inch socket and used the leverage on the ratchet to turn them. After those were out it was fairly smooth sailing...

The pictures on the instruction sheet could be more clear. The write-up is nice and detailed, but some of the parts have wierd names, and I wasn't sure what part was being refered to by just the name of it, at some parts of the install.

So my first driving impression.... well, to be perfectly honest, I don't think it's living up to all the hype it's getting. It's a bit shorter in height, and the throw is shorter... but not a ton shorter like I was expecting. It also seems very stiff and notchy. It's definetly not a smooth throw. It also seems louder than the stock shifter. I emptied the entire packet of grease on the thing, but the sound is coming from the cables... I dunno.

Gimmie about a week of driving around with it, and I'll update my thoughts.

Oh yeah... with the knob tightened down on the new shifter, the shift pattern isn't straight. The numbers are turned about 90 degrees too far. I don't think with any tool I'd be able to tighten it another 270 degrees without damaging it.

When I installed mine, I had the same opinion as you, expected it to be shorter, smoother. Well the shortness is definitely good after driving for about two months with it in my car. Go back into a focus with a stock shifter and you will really notice the difference, I mean REALLY. Also, it took about a month for it to loosen up and the shifts are really smooth for me now. I stand behind this upgrade, it takes a bit to get used to it but when you do, you wonder why you didn't do it earlier.

You can add a drop of silicone or a piece of rubber on top of the shift lever before installing the knob, this should allow you to tighten it up nicely and align the knob perfectly.

Yeah I think it actually says that in the instructions or somewhere, I know I read it on a Steeda website or something, just put a piece of rubber, even heard an eraser from a pencil works....

Yeah mine was a little stiff at first, but after it works in a bit it got a lot smoother. I love it, the stock shifter seems so long now in comparison.. not sure about the SVT shifter height, but on the ZX3 it makes a big difference.

I love the shortthrow on my svt... its like a night and day difference.

Well, having Canada Day off work yesterday I did quite a bit of driving...

I don't like it. It's way too notchy between each gear. So notchy it's difficult to find gears. Shifting from gear to gear, it gets hung up in between... There's no way I can shift quickly with this thing.

I was sitting on an on-ramp with a slight incline yesteday. It was heavy traffic because of construction... Traffic starts moving, so I started to go... and almost rolled right back into the car behind me because I couldn't find first gear!

This thing better loosen up like you guys are saying, or it's coming back out.

I think that's my favorite part about the shifter is it's soooo mechanical. You can all but beat on the thing and it will hold up too. I have only driven in Marc's svt and mustang gt with one installed... thought they both were amazing. I felt it was difficult at first to speed shift but it's just a matter of learning it IMO.

re: the knob, I put some teflon tape on the threads so it tightens earlier...
re: finding first, I've had mine for about two months and still start in thrid by mistake, no biggie, I'm just not concentrating. Love the upgrade!!