Just breaking in my new GT/CS and I'm finding the same thing as I did in the loaner GT I drove: third gear can be very hard to find with the manual shifter.

The shifter is notchy and sticky in general, nothing I won't get used to (or maybe it'll get used to me, what do you think...?) but I had a hard time today. A successful shift seems to be a two-step process: release the shifter from second, virtually letting go of the stick to allow it to travel to the right in neutral, thenapply pressure forward to select third. In every other stick I've driven you have to maintain positive pressure on the lever to select a gear. The Mustang manual transmission seems to want you to release it momentarily in neutral, wait a short beat and then put it in third. It's the same for the other "zig" selection, fifth from fourth. You don't so much select the gear as move the stick into neutral and allow the transmission a half second to position itself. Does anyone else find this? I'd appreciate all tips. It's no joke to be caught grinding the gears of a brand new Mustang GT in front of a high school at going-home time. No joke at all.

 

I test drove one of my friend's GTs today and the third gear on the T3650 tranny seemed to go easier than my T5 tranny. But to answer your question, 3rd is sometimes hard for me to find as well. Most of the time when I go to shift I don't go far enough to the right.

 

Bought an auto because of my knees but all the stick cars I drove first shift just like you say.

 

I hit third every time now with the hurst shifter and Che K-member + torque limiters. I gave it a good work out and it always goes into third even at WOT and 6500 on the tach. It will increase the engine noise so be warned, not to mention the starter noise is more obvious than before the limiters.
These are small prices to pay to have third gear there when I need it.

Before the torque limiters I was never sure if third would be were I last left it or not. Now i'm much more confident in my shifting.

 

Can't say I have any problem hittin it even at WOT. But that is just me!

 

No problem hitting 3rd gear, but I have the Prothane motor mounts.

 

Moose, what did this mod entail, who did it and what might it set me back, please? And -- supecting the answer to be painfully obvious -- wot is a WOT?

 

haha.....wide open throttle....took me while to figure that out when i first saw it too.

 

Oh I could hit third 9 times out of 10 with the stock setup, maybe 7 or 8 times, but it only took the one time for me to want to remedy the problem.

 

Here's my post after I installed it.

https://mustangforums.com/m_2464758/tm.htm

The k member brace and limiters total $140 or so, www.pmpparts.comcarries them. The install was easy except for removing the 21mm nut from the k member. You'll need a 21mm wrench or a 21mm deep well socket and probably a swivel joint because there isn't any room to get a standard socket/ratchet on it. I actually used a 13/16 wrench because I didn't have a 21mm and it was a tight fit to say the least.

The car seems normal when easy shifting, but when you drop the hammer the car has a whole different feel and sound.

The k member brace is also supposed to improve handling, but I don't do much spirited driving that isn't in a straight line.