Leather shift boot in camaro w/automatic
 

I installed a leather shift boot in my Iroc-z, along with a Pontiac "snake head" shifter from a mid 90's Grand Prix.

I never really liked the stock square shift knob.

Also if a leather shift boot is good enough for a Corvette, it's good enough for a Camaro.

Lastly, I can go back to stock if I want. I was able to do it without butchering anything.

one more shot

Nice, so is there no need for a detent button no more?

Do you mean the button that lets you shift out of park? Never heard of it refered to as a detent button before.

Anyway it's on the front of the shifter, instead of the top, in the picture. Much more comfortable to shift.

I did the same thing in my GF's camaro, but just used a 5 speed console plate. I think I like your idea better, I'll have to show her that pic and see what she thinks :)

Great work

man, that looks awesome. How did you go about doing this??? I love the idea! Mine looks plain....I thought about installing a megashift....but..i don't have the time right now to install one. I with I could get a hurst shifter knob or something similar and get a leather boot......then again...I have to push the button down to get it out of gear....anyhow...if you could....post all the parts that you had to get and how you did it. Looks great man :D

I guess what I'm wanting is a "T" knob. Here is a picture of what I was looking at: http://store.summitracing.com/partde...rt=BMM%2D80658

I don't really care about the wires....but I know I have to have a knob that will alow me to shift it out of park....and this has the button. Does anyone know if this can be done?

does the button allow the shifter to move in and out of gear or is that to activate whatever is hooked up to it? (which I wouldn't do)

n/m...just found out that button is to activate the electrical stuff that can be added.....that idea blown to hell....:(

700r4 here B&M Mega shifter.

http://www.cecoatings.com/images/92Z/NOS.jpg

It was really simple. The shift boot is from lightningautocustoms.com it's the Corvette automatic one, there is also one for third gen firebird with auto, but it's not real leather like the Corvette one.

I took off the shift plate, took out the plastic slider, and then found some convenient places to drill holes to hold the boot in place. There are good spots at the front and rear of the shift plate to drill screw holes that don't show.

That was it!

Also if you like T-handle shifters you can use one out of a Trans AM, they do interchange if they are both the staple type.

Does the one you got just screw on? I don't even know how to take off the stock auto shifter, but now that I've seen this. This is the first auto mod I've seen that I actually like. I salute you.

The shift knob is held on by a staple in a slot on the front of the knob. Pry it out with a small screwdriver. The knob pulls right off.

The boot itself has four holes in it. I used four pan head screws and attached the boot to the plastic tabs that held the shift plate slider in place, on the bottom of the shift plate.

Really easy and inexpensive mod.

i shamelessly robbed your idea dood.
Went down to GM and picked up the vinyl/rubberish version (to match the rest of the formula today...kept my normal shift boot too.

$23.00 total new.

looks and feels pretty good, but its a hair taller than i'd like.
wonder if theres a way to shorten the shifter stalk a bit? like, pull it out and cut an inch off the bottom?

good stuff...ill try and get some pics up.

-JT

Here's mine on my 84,I kept the original knob, but the shifter plate was opened up & the shifter boot was adapted to fit.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.thi...b73bc5c9b3.jpg

Looks good. I thought about modifying the shift plate, but I haven't found one at a reasonable price yet. I want to keep my original one stock.

I did that once long ago i put a auto shift boot i got from a late 80's Formula into my (at the time) 83 Trans am. looks good.

The reason i cut my original one is because i got a really nice N.O.S peice.Im saving that one when i get bored w/this one & want to(restore) it back to stock.

Labrat,
I got my shift boot in the mail today. It seems that the only way to mount it is to remove the gear indicator, is this what you did? Also it would be awesome if you would consider taking off your sifter plate and take some pics of how you mounted the boot.

Questions - how does the boot stay attached near the knob? And how do you make the button work?

89 Iroc z,

I didn't have to remove the gear shift indicator.

Mine is attached to the shift plate with four pan head screws at the front and rear of the shift plate, through the plastic tabs that held the plastic slider in place.

The rest of the boot is loose in the console, not attached to anything.

WishIHadaZ,

The boot itself is way taller the the shift stalk. So the boot is pushed down by the shift knob, and stays there by itself, it's not attached to the knob at all.

Lastly, I'm not sure what you mean by making the button work. You should be able to put the shift knob back on and everything will work.

I'll try to post a picture later today

wow.. thats looks awesome labrat.. I really like it.
By the way.. what Stereo is that you have there. It doesn't look stock.. Is it out of a Corvette?

The radio is an Audiovox AV-GM-1. I also have a 10 Disc changer in the trunk.

It was in the car when I bought it. So I don't know how old it is, or whether it is still available. It is a direct bolt in with no mods to the face plate.

89 Iroc Z,

Here is a picture of the bottom of my console, where I attached the shift boot.

One other idea, is if you pickup the shifter that has the traction control button on the side, you could make that a Nitrious button, or perhaps a control switch for the torque converter. Can an override switch be used with the 700R4, or would the ECM detect the torque convter didn't lock..

labrat,
Thanks for the pic, that helps a lot! Would you happen to get a picture from a side angle of the back?

It would be a while before I could get a picture like that.

Your shift plate is going to be different underneath than mine because your dealing with an 89 and i've got an 87.

Just be carefull to attach the shift boot to the shift plate where the screws don't come through the top of the plate, or otherwise show and you will be fine.

Here's a picture of the bottom on the 89's shifter panel with the shifter slider removed. I do not see any way of mounting the boot without removing the gear indicator. labrat did you have to remove the gear indicator if not I will have to pick up a shifter panel from a 87 at the junk yard if they are interchangeable, anyone know?

opps forgot the pic

Boy that is REALLY different from mine. I think that you would be better off buying an 87 or older shift plate and using that.

I've been searching Ebay for them and they do come up frequently. Also there are usually some for sale in the classifieds here and at www.irocz.com

They should interchange.

I didn't have to do anything to my shift plate other than drill some holes and attach the boot

I should add that 87 and older shift plates have plastic molded into the shift plate that hold the slider in place, and the gear shift indicator is seperate from that. Unlike your's where the plastic that holds the slider in place and the gear shift indicator is one piece.

Great idea! I would use the 88/89 shift plate however, as it has the gear marker built into it. It should not be too tough to figure out. I will probably do that in my '79 malibu that I am swapping an '87 Z28 interior into. :D

The only way to use the 88/89 shift plate is the take out the gear indicator so the boot can pass through

This gives me a great idea.

I have a Hurst Dual Gate Shifter 2, very nice, but I also keep my car looking stock as much as possible: http://www.theblackbeast.com/bandit.htm

My father alerted me to the fact that you can't tell what gear you are in when it is dark out without turning on a light. Now, of course that would never be a problem for us, we know what the hell gear we are in. But my sister's and sometimes my mother need to move the car around to free other cars in the driveway. Despite the 10 minute lesson I gave them on how to use the shifter (push to left, pull back, etc) they will screw something up eventually. But I digress...

I have a few different ideas. One was to simply cut out the middle platic peice of the Hurst plate and put in a simple leather boot, just to make it look a little nicer and not as flashy. Another idea would be to get an '87 shifter plate and modify it so that it would accomodate all the movement of the Hurst Dual Gate 2 shifter, then put on the leather boot. This would allow for me to have a very close to stock look, combined with indicator lights, both for the stock look, and so no family member kills my shifter or trans. I'm not sure if I could modify the indicator to accomodate the side-to-side movement of the dual gate system as I am not familiar with how it opperates. Anyone have any comments on that, or technical info on if I can make it work or not?

Leather boot for automatic
 

Did mine over the weekend, came out pretty good, looking for a leather knob now. cool idea :)

Labrat, awesome mod man! I love it! What year corvette did that shift boot come from? Or is it like any manual tranny GM Camaro or Corvette shift boot from mid 80's and up?

Thanks, Ted

The boot is from www.lightningautocustoms.com They say it's for 82-84 Corvette with automatic. They also have ones for third gens, but those are synthetic leather, the Corvette one is genuine leather. Runs about $20.

look great i may consider doing it myself. my question is how did you get the button to work, like asked above, the button on mine is on the top and the button on that is in the front of the knob. how did u manage to get that to work??? thanks for the help and great mod!

The shift knob is out of a 90's Grand Prix. It interchanges with 87 and later staple type shift knobs. So the button being on the front works the same as if it were on the top. I put it together without doing anything to the knob or the shift stalk. Works great.

Finshed mine, here's a pic.

Looks awesome...I might have to do that to my car if I break another plate.

Finshed mine, here's a pic.

OMG...a double post with mine in between..!:eek:

looks good!

Re: Leather shift boot in camaro w/automatic
 

I know this was a long time ago, but I would like to know, how did you get the orange indicator (showing where you have shifted to) connected with the leather shift part? I love the idea of getting rid of the ribbed slider as I can't find any original smooth sider reproduced plates. I have a leather round new nob, which I love, but I also have a wood turned one that is very attractive on the stick. Mine is also automatic 5-speed. Thank you much! Vicki

Re: Leather shift boot in camaro w/automatic
 

Hi Vicki
Boy you aren't kidding a long time ago! I sold this car over ten years ago and moved on to Corvettes. To answer your question there was no orange indicator on this car.

Re: Leather shift boot in camaro w/automatic
 

Anyway it's on the front of the shifter, instead of the top, in the picture. Much more comfortable to shift.