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Automatic Shift Boot project - G/I... fabrication, cost and fitment

Soda Popinski

By Soda Popinski
in Interior/Audio

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Soda Popinski Mentor

Soda Popinski

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http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u148/cherrybloom203/legacy%20gt/DSC02238.png

 

My cutting station. I use the cutting wheel (yellow tool) to quickly trim the fabric around the pattern.

 

http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u148/cherrybloom203/legacy%20gt/DSC02239.png

 

A close up of one of the 4 pannel patterns I use for the MT trial run.

 

The AT is a smaller version.

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Soda Popinski Mentor

Soda Popinski

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Note to self: don't get your finger caught under the side-needle screw on the sewing machine... it can crush your finger nail!

 

I am just putting the final touches of FrayCheck on the seams of a Beige 5/6-MT shift boot. I had to alter the snap because of the thickness of the material. I'll be using it for pictures and since my buddy has a tan interior, showing off the color next to the OEM version and colors. Stay tuned!

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  • 2 weeks later...
BAC5.2 Grand Master

BAC5.2

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Anyone break one of those chrome rings, and want to donate it to me? I'd be really interested to see if it fits the 5MT
[URL="http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/proper-flip-key-interesti-159894.html"]Flip Key Development Thread[/URL] "Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped." - E. Hubbard
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Soda Popinski Mentor

Soda Popinski

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It shouldn't. I have a broken one. I bought a new one and I'll ship it to you.

 

Here's the status update:

 

I successfully re-created the 5MT shift boot in brown/tan. The problem is, however, that the sewing machine I have has trouble doing the decorative stitching through material that thick. A machine that does will set me back nearly 300 bucks. I would have bought this first instead of the 100 bucks I spent on the basic sewing machine but meh.

 

What happens is the seam is sewn 10mm inside the edge of the fabric pieces when they are lined up. The seam is then folded back on itself and stitched from the outside in to both reinforce the seam and to add a nice decorative 5m stitch line on either side of the main seam.

 

Problem is, this doubles an already thick vinyl/cloth batting back, and the "foot" that holds the material down while the needle threads it snags or retards the fabric from passing through it.

 

I would either have to give up on the decorative seam, and use a seamless fabric bond, resulting in no decorative stitching, or find a source for a thinner material.

 

I bought my material at jo-ann's fabrics. It had the same grain pattern, but the OEM stuff is much, much thinner.

 

I also purchased the e-brake boot.

 

Good news: this is a snap to make. I can make this in any fabric you want.

Bad news: you have to remove your e-brake boot and ship it to me so I can glue the fabric to the plastic base. You can't buy the base by itself.

 

As for MT shift boots: the OEM boot is attached to a plastic ring, also unable to be purchased by itself. The OEM boot is stapled to the palstic ring with 8 staples. These staples can be removed with a screwdriver and plyers. the new boot can be restapled, glued or rivited on.

 

Good news: any fabric will work.

Bad news: you have to remove your old shift boot material yourself and fasten the new one on yourself.

Good news: I'll buy your old OEM fabric for $5, provided it's not destroyed or cracked in the upper 2/3 of the boot, including the snap.

 

A/T shift boots, the fabric thickness is the holdup. OEM fabric is about 1/2 the thickness of the stuff I found. I've been busy, but searching for ways to possibly omit the seam where it goes into the ring.

 

Good news: if I can get it to fit, you can have both tan, and black options with snaps.

Bad news: I can't find any tan snaps. the snap will have a shiny black button on the outside, but facing the radio.

 

Sorry for any delay.

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Vbelisle Rising Star

Vbelisle

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A/T shift boots, the fabric thickness is the holdup. OEM fabric is about 1/2 the thickness of the stuff I found. I've been busy, but searching for ways to possibly omit the seam where it goes into the ring.

 

Good news: if I can get it to fit, you can have both tan, and black options with snaps.

Bad news: I can't find any tan snaps. the snap will have a shiny black button on the outside, but facing the radio.

 

Sorry for any delay.

Thanks for the update, I will keep an eye out for thin fabric for the a/t...if you need a tester for the a/t let me know.

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Soda Popinski Mentor

Soda Popinski

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No dice on the fabric yet... I have some leads, something called sumbrella, sold from sailrite, it's a product that somewhat matches the very cheap fabric that the e-brake boot is made from.

 

http://www.sailrite.com/Categories/Sunbrella-46-Outdoor-Marine-Fabric

 

This got put on the back burner once I realized my fabric I'm using is twice the thickness of what will adequately fit the original project.

 

I WILL keep this thread updated, please subscribe if you are interested.

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Soda Popinski Mentor

Soda Popinski

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OK, I know I keep postponing on this... but I've received enough emails about all of this. I'll keep pushing on. Like I said before, I have the pattern for the 5-MT boot and material to make them black or tan.

 

As far as the A/T boot, I've been tinkering with one, and I've had a prototype on my car for a month. I want to see 2 things:

 

1) durability

2) fading

3) seams not coming apart.

 

I'll start stepping this up. I'm hoping to have a few prototypes and have someone field test them for me.

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06jax2.5se Proficient

06jax2.5se

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you guys can thank redlinegoods for NOT having a AT boot right now. i was in japan over a year ago and picked up one thinking that maybe he/they might want to work some kind of deal where i send in a $75 AT boot straight from japan for $60 worth of goods which would have been a MT boot and ebrake boot for my leg. Needless to say i guess he didnt want to do that and was tryin to make it where i send him the AT one, they make a temple and then he send it back to me and i still have to pay for the boots i wanted and he got a templet for free and the market too! its not like i wanted $$ for all the boots that he made all i was tryin to get was some boots for mine for the legacy i own. he/they could be making hella money off of it. But i still have it so if someone is interested shoot me a PM!
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Soda Popinski Mentor

Soda Popinski

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I think I'm ready to make my final prototype before casting the templates for mine. The MT has a large cutout for the boot, the AT has a chrome bezel around the shift gate... the two are not interchangeable... perhaps only if you changed out the entire face of the shift deck.

 

My design is targeted at keeping as close to OEM/changes as possible. No cutting, no removals, no deletes... just unscrew the knob, put the boot over the shifter, screw the knob back on. Lift the chrome ring, place the boot tabs into the groves, securely snug the chrome ring back down without breaking it. Enjoy.

 

There will be initially 2 colors: black and tan. No stupid blue threads on a black cloth, or red, or embossed logos, etc. Just a simple boot to tidy up the compartment and make it easier to clean around the shifter without having to use q-tips to pick crud out of the numbers and the shift channel.

 

I may have already posted this:

 

2 colors, black and tan.

2 versions, snap collared and solid

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Soda Popinski Mentor

Soda Popinski

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I've just got to sew it up and glue it to the ebrake frame (seen here).

 

The OEM fabric for the BLACK boot is shown next to the color I have. You can also see the grain is similar.

 

Once I get this one made... I'll throw this in and take pictures. I will most likely make these for about 60 bucks, and $15 returned if you send me your OEM boot as a core. (making it 45). Without cores I will not be able to make these easy.

 

For those who want to go through the p.i.t.a of removing your oem boot from your oem frame and gluing this on one on, I'll sell the boot for 45 by itself.

 

Once I make sure this works 100% (should be a direct swap) I'll make a thread for a group buy.

 

Keep in mind I'm making these by hand! There are 2 seams which don't play nice with a sewing machine!

 

http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u148/cherrybloom203/legacy%20gt/ebrak3e.png

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