Well, it's in. I got the retainer off without breaking it, but broke it trying to put it back on - D'oh!
No matter, I just broke off the rest of the "fingers", reinserted the retainer and then held it in place by twisting a wire around the exposed groove on the shaft so it could slide out of position.
Now let me say that I though my chopped shifter was good...until I drove down the street with the OBX shifter. HOLY cow is 1st to 2nd short. I almost though that I wasn't in gear as it didn't "feel" right, but sure enough it was.
It wasn't too hard to install, took me about 1 hour, without instructions trying to work out how everything came apart. I realised after fighting with the bottom link that it has a release button opposite to the side the ball goes in to let it come off.
I thought the gearknob it came with looked cheesy, but once in the car, it looks nice, and I love that it's bigger than my Sparco. I just wish I had an SVT insert instead of the regular Ford one it came with. I will keep an eye open for something like that. It's about the same size as those logo key rings you can get for every car, so maybe I can find an SVT one and peel the decal off it and put it on my shifter instead.
I'll try and get the company digital camera to take a pic and post later to show you guys, but al I can say that for $69, you cannot look past this mod!
Kurt - I still have the cut shifter - did you want it??