How To Install A Hurst Blackjack Short-Throw Shifter On A Foxbody Mustang

By: Wes Duenkel | 03/10/2021 < Back to Motor Life Home

Some things just go together like peanut butter and jelly: like Fox body Mustangs and 40-Series Flowmaster mufflers. Same can be said about Mustangs and Hurst shifters. Back in the day, a Hurst Comp stick and Plate Kit brought some muscle car styling back to the late-model Mustang interior. Old school is back, and fortunately Hurst continues to offer the popular Comp Stick and Plate Kit (P/N 5380036) for 1987-1993 Mustangs.

Hurst also introduced the new Blackjack Short Throw Shifter for 1983-2004 Mustangs with the T5 and T45 manual transmission (P/N 3916051). The shifter housing is CNC machined from billet 6061 aluminum, coated with a tough, black anodized finish with the Hurst logo CNC machined in the base plate. Other features include a hardened chromoly steel stick adapter, dual stick centering springs, hardened chromoly pivot pins and a durable Delrin pivot ball for positive, quiet operation. The shifter accepts countless shifter handle and knob options so you can customize the shifter action and feel to suit your style and taste. Shift stops keep you from bending shifter forks during the heat of battle. Hurst has been living, eating, and breathing shifters for decades, so using a Hurst shifter for this application is a no-brainer.

The Comp Stick and Plate kit's white shifter ball and chrome-plated stick are muscle car icons. When combined with the Blackjack Short Throw Shifter, Hurst brings modern mechanical manners and muscle car flair to foxy Mustangs. This is going to be fun. Let's get started!

Blackjack Shifter and Hurst Comp Stick/Plate Kit

To add some modern mechanicals and classic style to a Fox body Mustang, we combined the new Hurst Blackjack Short Throw Shifter, left (P/N 3916051), with the classic Hurst Comp Stick and Plate Kit, right (P/N 5380036)

The Hurst Blackjack Short Throw Shifter (P/N 3916051) is a beautiful piece of engineering. The premium materials and finish mean business. The positive shift stops help prevent drivers from bending shift forks when going for the win.

The Hurst Comp Stick and Plate Kit for 1987-1993 Mustangs includes a timeless white shifter ball and classic Hurst-embossed shifter stick.

The Hurst-logoed top plate snaps in place of the factory piece for great finishing touch.

Here's our factory shifter setup. While not bad for the era, the old shifter knob and boot's styling is equally at home in an '80s econobox. We also won't miss the flaccid stock shifter mechanism.

While we waited for an hour to let the gasket maker to set up, we transferred the factory top plate mount clips from the factory boot plate to the Hurst top plate.

Next, we installed the supplied boot in the plate with the stick opening facing the front (you may need to experiment with a front/rear orientation).

We used the supplied retainer clips to fasten the Hurst boot to the Hurst top plate.

Compared to the factory boot and plate (left), the Hurst boot and plate (right) brings some muscle car panache to our center console.

To keep dust, water, and heat out from our interior, we trimmed the factory lower boot so that it fit around the 3" base of the Hurst Blackjack shifter.

Once the sealant had set for an hour, we torqued the shifter bolts to 12-15 ft-lbs.

We adjusted and tightened the shifter stops as described in the instructions.

Next, we installed the supplied boot and secured it with the included zip tie around the shifter tower.

To avoid removing the center console, we trimmed the left side of the factory lower shifter boot as shown so that it cleared the opening in the console.