Shift knob restore...

[Danno]

My old shift knob was looking like garbage, so I sanded and tried to stain it. The wood it's made of is garbage, so the sanding didn't take well. I tried to stain it a nice dark color, but the endgrain showing on the knob just really soaked it up and looked black, while some of the knob wouldn't take any stain at all, even though I'd used wood conditioner. anyway, long story short, if you have an old knob that looks like this:

and you want it to look like this:

you can just sand it smooth as possible and use (forgive me Father for this) any stain/poly combos (the all in one type dealies), because these usually end up being more like a translucent paint, that allows grain to show through slightly and look like a stained and finished piece of wood.

(ps, sorry about picture quality, new camera, and I haven't figured out the macro mode and exposure setting)

[manoa matt]

Are your interior lights actually candles? I know thats not spilled coffee.

The refurbished knob looks great by the way.

[Jazgeek]

how do you take the knob off? I'd like to do this myself!

[Danno]

I think it just unscrewed.

[mbouse]

10mm x 1.25 threads, standard twist. Righty tighty, Lefty loosy....

of course, you should just toss those knobs in the trash cuz they ain't no good for a Michigan SHORTER SHIFTER Too big and bulky. like having a softball on the end of a boat oar.

[Danno]

refresh my memory, Mike. Is that a short-throw shifter, or a shorter shifter.

[mbouse]

I don't know of anyone that currently offers a short throw kit for the Spider. If you do.... I would love to see it or meet the guy. that is illustrated by the middle example in your diagram.

I have a shorter shifter. (the right hand example is my shorter shifter)

The stock Chrome shifter is approximately 7" long and is mounted to the shift lever with a nylon & rubber set of bushings and clips.

My shorter shifter is roughly 4" long and is mechanically fastened directly to the shift lever. Rather than the shift knob sitting 3" + above the tip of the shift lever, my design puts the shift knob less than 1" above the shift lever. the only thing shorter than that would be to mount a shift knob directly to the shift lever.

therefore, as your illustration shows, the travel below the pivot point does not change from stock setup, because the shift lever is the same.



I love your drawing by the way. Did you do that, or copy it from somewhere? Send it to me, will you?

[Danno]

it's on my photobucket site, or just right click and "save-as" I got the pic from B&M and then had to make the third picture (one on the right) using the one on the left. align things good, fix that shifter on the left pic and the right pic (i think I took a chunk out of the handle) and you are good to go.

[Danno]

Mike, your sales pitch should be "remove your upper console with ease with the new Shorter Shifter". Getting that Radio console piece out, even with the shifter back in like 2 or 4 is a major PItA.

[rlux4]

Danno, Even with no garage you don't know how lucky you are. I have a garage, but I don't have 2nd or 4th gear! My '82 had a bad 4th when I got it and now it won't go into 2nd. Lost it one mile from home on the way back from the get-together at Merkel's place on the 17th.

[Danno]

Danno, Even with no garage you don't know how lucky you are. I have a garage, but I don't have 2nd or 4th gear! My '82 had a bad 4th when I got it and now it won't go into 2nd. Lost it one mile from home on the way back from the get-together at Merkel's place on the 17th.

Do you go 1-3-5 then? sucky!

[rlux4]

I did it that way to get it home (into the garage). I had already committed to get one rebuilt from Jon Logan. He had it ready about the same time mine went out. I'm sending him the $ this weekend, then it's swap out time!

[Jazgeek]

funny how the flash shows different color striations..... the actual color is closer to the first one but the second one really shows off the wood grain. Need about 5 more coats of polyurathane though before I'll put it back in the car.



and

[Danno]

WOW. yours looks great! I can tell just by looking at it, though, that yours seemed to be a better piece of wood. I mean, just look at the nice grain in yours. I don't know what the problem was with mine. Different batch of wood, maybe it just got too weathered, maybe both. At any rate, I think yours turned out wonderfully. I might have to try to get a "salvaged" knob off of someone's parts fiat and try again.

[manoa matt]

I hope I don't burst you bubble Mike, but those short shifters are real easy to make from a stock shifter. Thanks to Ventura Ace (Alvon) I now have one for my car. You just take the stock shifter and cut it off 5" from the bottom. The walls of the shifter are thick enough to drill and tap. If you don't have the capabilities to tap the hole you can drill it out a bit larger then insert the threaded part you cut off and solder or weld it in. Shifting is a lot more precise and does not feel like you have an "ape hanger" shifter. However since yours mounts directly to the shift rod with what I assume is a set screw. You don't have the problem with the stock shifter where it jiggles and rotates on its own.

I may take a picture of mine when I get home tonight.