Mustang shifter handle

[I bleed Ford Blue]

I did not like the overly large shifter handle ford choose to use in the 4th gen Ex's and since mine was starting to peel on top I decided to change mine out to something else. I like the flex handle that seems to be rather popular upgrade, but they are like 140 bucks now new from ford, well I don't like it that much. I only paid 80 for the shifter handle upgrade in my mustang from https://www.wmgarage.com/ Well I had my old stock handle laying in a box and decided to repurpose it

If you like this style of handle It is standard on all auto equipped mustangs from 2015 and up and the part # is FR3Z-7213-AC

Install was pretty straight forward, just get your shifter down to the bare metal handle like this

I drilled and tapped the new hole where it needed to be with a 3.3 mm bit and a 4.0 x .7 tap

There was some bare shaft exposed after so I trimmed down the old plastic chrome tube that was under the stock handle and it fits on to the mustang handle perfectly, almost looks like ford designed it that way.

Then I had to decide what to do with the O/D button, first I popped it out of the old handle. Once you get the old handle off and fish out the pigtail for the button, you can pop the button out of the handle and feed the wires up thru the handle and get it out with the plug intact, no cutting required, you have to assist the plug with a small screwdriver or something to force the plug thru the handle but it can be done.

Once out there is a curved lip on the button because it was mounted on a round handle

So I used a dremel with a small cut-off wheel and carefully flattened out the lip so it could be used on a flat surface and I knocked down the ridge so it could be snapped in place a little easier

The diameter of the button housing is .590" at least that what I measured, so the closest size drill bit without going bigger is a 9/16 so I drilled the hole to that size and massaged it with a drum sander on my dremel until it fit.

and the finished product

I had to trim the light bar housing underneath to clear, but it all fits and now the button is accessible and if you want to change the handle to something else later on you don't have to even pull the top of the console off to get to the shifter underneath ever again. Basically all ford floor mounted auto shifters use the same basic design, a metal tube with a plastic rod that gets pushed down to change positions. You can just change the handle to whatever factory design you like and make it work pretty easy. You can even use an aftermarket handle if you like.

This is the one I put in my mustang

The collar below does not move, you push down on the shifter ball.

 

[I bleed Ford Blue]

I forgot to mention, You can lower the handle if you want to. Just decide how much lower you want and remove the center plastic rod and cut off an equal amount from the metal shaft and the plastic rod and reassemble everything. You can even lower the stock handle.

The handle I put in my mustang is the short throw version and in the directions it says to cut-off 1" from the top of the metal shaft and they give you a new shorter plastic rod.

Once you take apart a ford floor mounted auto shifter you will see what I mean. It's pretty easy to modify it to make it your own.

 

[Bazz270]

Nice job

 

[410Fortune]

Really cool upgrade!