You'll have to modify a banshee shifter to clear an oil cooler. And yes, a direct shifter is night a day compared to the stock linkage. There's almost no slop, shifts are really precise, but it does have less leverage and it goes further out than stock.
yup as far as i know the only shifter that will clear the big bear oil cooler is a modified banshee one. there is a thread in the tutorials section about it.