My point on the reverse valve body was what's natural is what you're used to generally. When people grow up shifting forward and then the first try and they try to use a reverse sometimes they don't feel natural. For instance when I rode my Harley and I had a hand shift and a foot clutch and I wrote it for several years that way and one day I jumped on my uncle's motorcycle I almost crashed it coming off the freeway because the controls didn't feel natural and I had to think about what I was doing all of a sudden going very fast coming off the freeway LOL.. it wasn't natural to have the clutch on my hand and the shifter on my foot...
I know when I put the Transco 3 full manual shift kit in the 904 I had with that pink motor for my wife it would start out in any gear you put it in... I personally used a quicksilver ratchet shifter and loved it..
