Hey Guys hope everyone is having a good summer, its been hot here in the northeast.
I know I have seen the fix for this before but can't find it now.
70 Mach Hurst 4 spd shifter. After only a couple hundred miles the boot is tearing again. I marked the first one up to old age. This one has only been on the car ten months.
I was thinking of cutting up a ping pong ball.. any thoughts?
It is a small piece of plastic that fits in the upper part of the boot. I have been using it all season with no more tearing. I did not replace the original torn boot but used weather strip adhesive to repair it.
You can probably make the piece but I think a ping pong ball is a little thin. This link will give you a good idea what the piece looks like especially with the offset of the opening. But for the guys genius idea I paid the $4 bucks.
The reproduction original style boots are fairly rigid. I couldn't use one because it tended to pull the shifter out of 4th gear. I installed a Hurst boot. I made both (1) a trim ring to attach it to the original 4 bolt holes in the trans tunnel, and (2) one of the plastic pieces to prevent the boot from sliding down the shifter.
Thank you guys. I ordered the support. For under ten dollars you can't go wrong, Think I'll try and fix my boot also, maybe some industrial strength super glue, or maybe some 3m black gasket maker. or what ever I can find when I have all the pieces in my hand. Thanks again
Cheers John.
I am curious if preventing the boot from sliding down the shifter too far will help stop it from tearing. Might end up scrapping that repro shifter boot. I initially tried two of them. Both were too rigid for the shifter to function well. When I move the shifter I don't want to feel the boot fighting back at me. Both repro boots ended up in the garbage can. Another quality reproduction part.
I placed the Hurst Shifter Boot support in my 70 Mach1 last fall and so far no re-occurrence of tearing. I would recommend turning the boot in-side out in order to fit the piece in more easily.. Other than this tip the use of a 3m sealer or glue to hold the piece in place is up to you as it really might not be necessary.
I placed the Hurst Shifter Boot support in my 70 Mach1 last fall and so far no re-occurrence of tearing. I would recommend turning the boot in-side out in order to fit the piece in more easily.. Other than this tip the use of a 3m sealer or glue to hold the piece in place is up to you as it really might not be necessary.
Good Luck
Turning the boot inside out will work but I used a putty knife like a shoe horn and the support slipped right into place with no problem. Either way will work.
As the shifter handle gets closer to the trans it gets wider. The boot is Probably not as robust as the 1970 version, so the plastic support I believe will work, only time will tell.
I did glue it in with some motorcraft gasket maker, used light pressure until it cured to secure it. Maybe fixed the small crack, it is close to the same color of the boot so you can hardly tell a repair was made. Thank You for the help
cheers J
Nice work...I am sure you will be happy with the boot support insert. As I mentioned, I put one in my boot and my only regret is not installing before my boot tore.