First of all I would like to apologize for my low attendance and participation on the site over the last month or so. I am an accountant by trade so this time of year work gets the best of me.
Anyway, I took today off for some me time and decided to tackle a small project on the car. I purchased a shifter boot support a few months ago and was motivated enough to get it in despite the cold temperatures here in New England.
Last Spring I was surprised how quickly my brand new shifter boot tore. As I researched solutions to the problem I stumbled across this relatively inexpensive boot support which made sense to me as the solution to tearing more shifter boots in the future.
Before I purchased another shift boot, I decided to install the support in the torn shift boot and used weather strip adhesive, as suggested by the vendor, which made a for a "not so noticeable repair" to my torn boot.
Has anyone used this shifter boot support before and was it an effective solution to prevent the shifter from tearing the boot"
I made a plastic support piece like that to stop my Hurst shifter boot from sliding down. It's not as nice but works just fine.
On another note, I tried that same repro boot you have. On my car, it was far too stiff and it tended to pull the shifter out of 4th and into neutral. I haven't seen an original shifter boot. But, that reproduction boot seems too rigid. I replaced it with a Hurst shifter boot. It was close in size. I made a stainless steel bezel to fit the Hurst boot to the original mounting holes on the trans tunnel.
Thanks for the feedback Mike. I picked up a Hurst shift boot at a swap meet over the summer and would like to try and make a bezel for it as well. Where did you pick up the stainless steel from and did you cut it yourself?
Honestly, for 10 years I was a Mechanical Engineer at a company that manufactured processing equipment for the food and beverage industry, and miscellaneous items for the pharmaceutical industry. 99% of our work was with type 304, 304L, 316, or 316L Stainless Steel. I was fortunate and for small items like this a fabricator in the shop would make it in a few minutes. For this trim plate, it was made from 10 ga. (1/8" thick) flat strips welded together. The welds were then ground flat and blended. I polished it as best I could in my garage with a buffing wheel on a bench grinder. Stainless is difficult to polish.
Stainless Steel is very difficult to cut, machine and to polish. But surprisingly easy to weld with the correct equipment. If you want Stainless Steel, flat bar can be mail ordered from McMaster-Carr. You'll need to find somebody that can weld it. TIG is the best weld method for it. Simply use an Argon gas and type 316L is the best filler rod for something like this.
If I did this at home, I'd try mild steel and either paint it or have it chrome plated. And I think I would cut it from a single piece of material. If you know of a small fab or welding shop in your area, make a cardboard pattern, they can most likely cut it from a single piece of material.
(02-16-2016, 08:17 AM)Mustangmike Wrote: First of all I would like to apologize for my low attendance and participation on the site over the last month or so.
Has anyone used this shifter boot support before and was it an effective solution to prevent the shifter from tearing the boot"
All, I purchased the Shifter boot support from the Site Muscle Car research web site earlier this year, very reasonably priced, and just got to install it last week so I can talk about the performance but I can talk of the installation process. In using a new boot to install the support I can tell you that the best way to insert it into the boot is by turning the boot inside out and match the support piece opening to that of the boot before placing an adhesive to the boot/support in small quantity.. The fit is perfect and I can see that it has to strengthen the top of the boot so that it should reduce wear, and possibly tearing, at the opening.
I hope this helps as only time will tell if the $4.95 was a good investment. I'm sure that we've all spent 5 bucks needlessly on a part here or there.. http://mach1club.com/images/smilies/Smiley2/thumbup.gif
I am glad to see someone else has invested in this boot support and I have to agree that it is a tight fit getting it into the upper portion of the boot. I used a scraper as a shoe-horn and it pretty much popped right in.
I ended up repairing my torn boot by gluing the boot to the support insert with weather strip adhesive. This way if the support doesn't work I am not out the cost of a new boot.
So far it is working as advertised. I will let you know by the end of the summer if it holds up.