I acquired a leather shifter boot off a 3.8L Impala and I was wondering if anyone has added a leather boot on an automatic Camaro. I know some people have bought the manual console plate, but I still would like to keep the part that shows what gear I'm in. I don't think the Impala boot is long enough, but it just gave me the idea to look into this.

 

I really don't see any way of that working.
You don't have alot of room to work with between the shifter handle itself and the gear indicator.

 

A boot from an auto Fiero may work, they are tall and skinny.

 

Here you go.The boot is hand made/stitched leather.I did this some 6 or 7 years ago.I cut the stock shifter plate to fit the boot.The boot is held in place by the shift indicator housing.I had to remove material from the housing to accept the boot on that side.The outer side of the boot is sandwiched between the shifter plate & console body.I made two wire frames from a hanger to hold the boot to the shape of the cut-out on the shifter plate.One wire frame is just under the shifter plate & the boot is stitched onto this frame.The other is about 1.5 inches lower.Which is there to keep the boot from catching on the shifter mechanism when going form park to dr & back.

 

Why not just run a manual plate instead of the auto plate? Sorry didnt read all of what you wrote apparently...

 

I think he said he wanted to keep the gear indicator with the boot.

 

Did you make the boot yourself then?

I was thinking about taking the shifter plate apart and take out the top slider that is just there for looks and leave the one that moves the gear indicator. I don't know if there would be enough room to get the bottom of the boot in there or not since I've never taken one apart yet.

 

I saw a recent episode of Horsepower TV, and they were reviewing new parts from somewhere. There was a complete electronic shift plate, with no shifter **** for automatics. You could just push the button for the gear, and it would shift and light up the gear it's in. Forgot what brand it was, been looking around with no success. After my console swap I've never been able to get any shift boot on because of clearance issues.

 

Find a shift plat from a Vette with a automatic,it is a direct fit.

 

Was it the RetroTek thing? http://www.retrotekspeed.com/product...art-shift.html

 

Say I switched the plate to one from a manual it would fit right in? Then where would I get the boot.

 

What year Vette? Have you done this?

 

Yes i made the boot i cut the pattern & stitched it by hand(very tedious).I believe the slider & the indicator on your console are linked together, but there should be a way to keep the indicator & remove the slider.As for having enough room.The opening where the slider goes is narrow & a boot would be pretty tight there without widening the open section.I tried putting the boot in this way, but was having problems with the boot bunching up when i shifted into park or pulling out when into 1st or 2nd gear & almost at times when in drive too.The boot needs to be long enough for the shifter to go from P to 1.Without the boot pulling out from the other end.This means the boot needs enough material to stay in place, but this also caused it to bunch up.Widening the opening allowed the boot to spread outward...I looked at vette shifter plates(mid 80s-early 90s) & non of them are what i would call a direct fit.Not even close.As for earlier vettes who knows, but i doubt they would fit!

 

That was the one. Didn't think It would be so expensive, but I guess they're the only ones with it right now.

The manual shift plate would fit perfectly. Only problem is you don't see the gear you're in anymore, just go by the feel. You could get one from anybody in the classifieds. The shifter plates can swap out without any modification. It also comes with the boot on it.

I've never heard of a corvette plate fitting in. More info?

 

The top of the mid 80's to mid 90's is the same length and width as the 3rd gen camaro's.Yes I did the install before on 3 different car's.

 

got any pics of em junior?

 

 

With a quick search on ebay I came across this




Looks like it's a bit wider at the top than at the bottom, so trimming must be involved..

 

Where would you trim that so it still looks untouched.Not to mention the texture is different from our 3rd gens.This is more work to fit just for the boot.Than to make your own boot & mod the stock shifter plate.At least thats the way i look at it!

 

Years ago when I still had my 83 Trans Am, I took a shift boot from a 85-92 Firebird, and mounted it into the Shifter Plate in my T/A.

Since the 82-84 Firebird consoles are basically the same as the 82-92 Camaro's, you should be able to do something similar.

 

No I don't have picture's,the shop I used to work for did not allow picture's to be taken of the car's.
----------



That one is from a 96-up,going by the Detroit book's I have.

 

There is NO WAY you could make a vettes shifter plate fit a 3rd gen!

 

77-8284-89Now question, when you graft or whatever you do to make it fit, is the ashtray lid a inspection cover for a 3rd gens shifter. How do you reposition the 3rd gens shifter .... 77-82 vette ... do you move the a/c controls down to the center console and again relocate the shifter?

 

i have an 85 camaro as a daily driver and an 85 vette as a show car and i can tell you that there is no way this swap is a 'direct fit.' they are completely different shape and as someone else mentioned, texture. so even if you did all the trimming this that and the other, it would look like crap. and i dont see how that vette plate could be 96 and up, as 96 was the last year of the c4 and the interior was completely redesigned in 97. just my 4 cents