ConstantVelocity
New Member
These are all over ebay at the moment, I couldn't resist at $125 shipped. It's basically a copy of the ripshifter, with some minor differences. First, for anyone worried about the legality. The ripshifter blurb claims its protected by Aust design registration 154581 but if you go to IP Australia's website and search you'll find this expired in 2010. Designs can only be registered for 10 years anyway, after which they are free game to copy (unless the workings are protected by a patent, which doesn't apply here, because it's the same as most other aftermarket shifters). The design of the ripshifter was probably inspired by the Mustang Pro 5.0 shifter anyway (below), which has been around in the states for ages and looks very similar. Nothing wrong with that, there's not really much to these shifters.
Pics of shifter as received... it's a nice chunk of billet aluminium. Here's one difference. The ripshifter has a steel stop ring/lid section and Al base, the copy is all Al. If you're slamming gears really hard into the external stops you might bend the stop ring. But it looks pretty solid and external stops aren't really needed on the T56 if you drive with any mechanical sympathy because it already has decent internal stops. Slamming gears can wear out the internal stops, but if you're shifting that hard on a stock T56 you'll break the plastic fork pads and stamped synchro keys anyway, and wear out the synchros. I left out the external stops because I rarely shift hard. For what it's worth Tremec doesn't recommend them, because they cause gear jump out if adjusted too tight (or if they come loose).
The shift ball and lower lever looks strong and won't break like the B&M ones do. The o-ring groove is probably a bit too shallow, I had to glue it in with silicon to make it stay which was a pain. You could probably just leave out the o-ring and seal with silicon.
I pulled the lid off to have a look inside. It's held down by 4 grade 10.9 allen bolts. The mechanism is simple and like most aftermarket shifters - a nylon ball joint, and a cross pin held down with two springs which centre the shifter and pre-load the ball joint. You can easily change the springs if you want. Everything looks good inside, quality of machining is good, with no left over swarf or sharp edges, and all the parts look strong. I removed the grease and repacked with lots of quality lithium grease.
I won't go through install details cause there's a few out there already. One change I made was to cover the trans tunnel hole to provide extra sound insulation and stop crap getting into the shifter. I cut a cover out of an old floor mat to fit over the tunnel hole and around the shifter body, then bolted the rubber boot down on top to hold it.
Initial impressions: shifting is very tight, much better than stock. The throws are probably about 30% shorter but the shift effort/weight is no heavier, because there is only one pivot instead of 4. It's notchy when cold but smooths out nicely when the gbox warms up. Side to side throw is much reduced. There is almost no play when in gear. It transmits a little more noise than stock, but it's not bad, I like to drive without music often and it doesn't annoy me. In neutral it is a bit tight moving side to side and doesn't always spring back to centre. Feels fine shifting through the gears though. I'll give it a couple of weeks to break in and free up, and maybe put stiffer springs in (note that shimming the stock springs will increase download on the ball joint but will NOT increase centreing force!).
Overall it's very good. If you want to slam gears down the drag strip the real ripshifter is probably the tool for the job. If you just want a nicer shifter for the street then this works fine. I don't anticipate any trouble with it and it feels great!
Pics of shifter as received... it's a nice chunk of billet aluminium. Here's one difference. The ripshifter has a steel stop ring/lid section and Al base, the copy is all Al. If you're slamming gears really hard into the external stops you might bend the stop ring. But it looks pretty solid and external stops aren't really needed on the T56 if you drive with any mechanical sympathy because it already has decent internal stops. Slamming gears can wear out the internal stops, but if you're shifting that hard on a stock T56 you'll break the plastic fork pads and stamped synchro keys anyway, and wear out the synchros. I left out the external stops because I rarely shift hard. For what it's worth Tremec doesn't recommend them, because they cause gear jump out if adjusted too tight (or if they come loose).
The shift ball and lower lever looks strong and won't break like the B&M ones do. The o-ring groove is probably a bit too shallow, I had to glue it in with silicon to make it stay which was a pain. You could probably just leave out the o-ring and seal with silicon.
I pulled the lid off to have a look inside. It's held down by 4 grade 10.9 allen bolts. The mechanism is simple and like most aftermarket shifters - a nylon ball joint, and a cross pin held down with two springs which centre the shifter and pre-load the ball joint. You can easily change the springs if you want. Everything looks good inside, quality of machining is good, with no left over swarf or sharp edges, and all the parts look strong. I removed the grease and repacked with lots of quality lithium grease.
I won't go through install details cause there's a few out there already. One change I made was to cover the trans tunnel hole to provide extra sound insulation and stop crap getting into the shifter. I cut a cover out of an old floor mat to fit over the tunnel hole and around the shifter body, then bolted the rubber boot down on top to hold it.
Initial impressions: shifting is very tight, much better than stock. The throws are probably about 30% shorter but the shift effort/weight is no heavier, because there is only one pivot instead of 4. It's notchy when cold but smooths out nicely when the gbox warms up. Side to side throw is much reduced. There is almost no play when in gear. It transmits a little more noise than stock, but it's not bad, I like to drive without music often and it doesn't annoy me. In neutral it is a bit tight moving side to side and doesn't always spring back to centre. Feels fine shifting through the gears though. I'll give it a couple of weeks to break in and free up, and maybe put stiffer springs in (note that shimming the stock springs will increase download on the ball joint but will NOT increase centreing force!).
Overall it's very good. If you want to slam gears down the drag strip the real ripshifter is probably the tool for the job. If you just want a nicer shifter for the street then this works fine. I don't anticipate any trouble with it and it feels great!
