Workdawg
NARWHAL
As some of you already know, I recently bought a short throw shifter for my MS3 (http://www.mnmazda.com/forum/showthread.php?5228-Review-E4-Performance-Short-Throw-Shifter-for-MS3). Well, the stock shift boot was WAY to big for a shfiter that's 1.6" shorter than stock. I looked at buying a boot from Redline Goods, but I didn't really want to spend $50+ for a shift boot that would look pretty much identical to stock, only fit better. I could have gone with a more fancy looking one, but I really like the look of the stock boot since it matches the interior so well.
Below is some documentation of the process I went through to make my own shift boot. For the TL;DR version, check out the second post in this thread.
My first thought was to somehow shorten the stock boot so that it would fit better. The only catch with this was that I really didn't want to cut or otherwise modify it in case I ever need to go back to stock. After inspecting the boot and how it's attached to the car, there wasn't really any way to shorten it without completely destroying it (ripping seams, cutting and resewing). My next option was to make my own... so that's what I did.
It was roughly a 4 day process, putting in a couple hours a day taking measurements, drawing up a pattern and using remnants of various materials to make test boots. I admit I got pretty OCD about it, I printed off graph paper and drew up the pattern to scale and stuff like that. But it worked out well. I also had to guess at how much shorter my new boot would be than the stock one. Fortunately for me, my first guess turned out to be pretty good.
The first iteration of my shortened shift boot was made out of red polar fleece with soccer balls on it. After installing it and actually using it for a day, it fit just about perfectly. You can see from the pics that there was nothing holding the boot together at the top, I figured I'd tackle that later.
PICS:
So, the first try turned out great, but polar fleece is pretty stretchy. I wanted to make a test piece out of a material with a little bit less stretch, since the leather wouldn't stretch as much. I dug around in Jenny's pile of scraps and found some awesome (lol) cotton print fabric with Betty Boop on it. She's even driving a car!
My second iteration didn't go so well though. The stitching wasn't straight and it didn't fit properly. I wasn't sure if it was because of the stitching or that the less stretchy fabric was making it not work. I double-checked my measurements and decided to give it another shot. A second boot with the same pattern, only stitched straight, turned out to work fine.
In the above pics you can see there's something going on with the top of the boot. I found a possible solution for how to gather the material together under the knob. I'm actually using a screw driver to simulate the shifter to see how it looks.
Once I installed this in my car though, it turns out my solution for the top of the boot was a bit to big. Even though there is a pretty thick ring around the top of the stock shifter (something like 1" tall), it's mostly hollow. It turns out there's only 1/8"-1/4" of room between the knob and the ring around the shift column that holds the boot up, when the knob is fully tightened on.
Plus, with the solution I was using, the shift boot was actually a tiny bit too small. When shifting into R or 6, the boot would stretch slightly and pull up on the plastic assembly holding it in place. After inspecting it further, I came to the conclusion that this was likely caused by having too much material stuffed down through under the knob. I tried a slightly different solution to gather the material around the knob and the boot seemed to fit okay.
Now that I've got the solution worked out, time to make the leap into a finished product! I went shopping around to various fabric shops looking for leather or other potential options to make my shift boot out of. Unfortunately, fabric shops don't carry leather. I got a tip from one of them to check out this place though... http://www.tandyleatherfactory.com/. They have a location at 494 and Portland. I went into the shop and told the manager what I was looking to do. He showed me the remnants box, which didn't really offer much up. Then he showed me another option, deerskins! Dyed black, super soft and reasonably priced.
I was a little bit nervous about actually cutting it up and sewing it all together, cause I've actually got money invested now, but I sucked it up and went to town. Jenny just so happened to have some black upholstery thread, so I used that. After a quick test run over some of the scraps of leather, I went to town on the boot. I hit a little snag when the needle in the machine got all dulled up, but after a quick change I was back in business. I considered putting some red stitching up the seems, just as the stock boot has, but I decided against it. I figured I could make another one at a later date after I made sure the first leather one fits.
I sewed it all up and installed it. It took a little bit of work to get the leather all gathered together at the top but it worked. When I first installed it, it was a bit stretched in R and 6, as the previous iteration was. I pulled a little bit more material out from under the knob and it's worked fine. I also noticed that with the thicker leather, it was quite difficult to get the knob tightened down all the way. I had to crank pretty hard on the knob, and hold the the boot so it didn't twist, to get it tight. I thought about trying a different solution for the top of the boot, but I don't really need to remove the knob anymore, so I just left it.
Below is some documentation of the process I went through to make my own shift boot. For the TL;DR version, check out the second post in this thread.
My first thought was to somehow shorten the stock boot so that it would fit better. The only catch with this was that I really didn't want to cut or otherwise modify it in case I ever need to go back to stock. After inspecting the boot and how it's attached to the car, there wasn't really any way to shorten it without completely destroying it (ripping seams, cutting and resewing). My next option was to make my own... so that's what I did.
It was roughly a 4 day process, putting in a couple hours a day taking measurements, drawing up a pattern and using remnants of various materials to make test boots. I admit I got pretty OCD about it, I printed off graph paper and drew up the pattern to scale and stuff like that. But it worked out well. I also had to guess at how much shorter my new boot would be than the stock one. Fortunately for me, my first guess turned out to be pretty good.
The first iteration of my shortened shift boot was made out of red polar fleece with soccer balls on it. After installing it and actually using it for a day, it fit just about perfectly. You can see from the pics that there was nothing holding the boot together at the top, I figured I'd tackle that later.
PICS:
So, the first try turned out great, but polar fleece is pretty stretchy. I wanted to make a test piece out of a material with a little bit less stretch, since the leather wouldn't stretch as much. I dug around in Jenny's pile of scraps and found some awesome (lol) cotton print fabric with Betty Boop on it. She's even driving a car!
My second iteration didn't go so well though. The stitching wasn't straight and it didn't fit properly. I wasn't sure if it was because of the stitching or that the less stretchy fabric was making it not work. I double-checked my measurements and decided to give it another shot. A second boot with the same pattern, only stitched straight, turned out to work fine.
In the above pics you can see there's something going on with the top of the boot. I found a possible solution for how to gather the material together under the knob. I'm actually using a screw driver to simulate the shifter to see how it looks.
Once I installed this in my car though, it turns out my solution for the top of the boot was a bit to big. Even though there is a pretty thick ring around the top of the stock shifter (something like 1" tall), it's mostly hollow. It turns out there's only 1/8"-1/4" of room between the knob and the ring around the shift column that holds the boot up, when the knob is fully tightened on.
Plus, with the solution I was using, the shift boot was actually a tiny bit too small. When shifting into R or 6, the boot would stretch slightly and pull up on the plastic assembly holding it in place. After inspecting it further, I came to the conclusion that this was likely caused by having too much material stuffed down through under the knob. I tried a slightly different solution to gather the material around the knob and the boot seemed to fit okay.
Now that I've got the solution worked out, time to make the leap into a finished product! I went shopping around to various fabric shops looking for leather or other potential options to make my shift boot out of. Unfortunately, fabric shops don't carry leather. I got a tip from one of them to check out this place though... http://www.tandyleatherfactory.com/. They have a location at 494 and Portland. I went into the shop and told the manager what I was looking to do. He showed me the remnants box, which didn't really offer much up. Then he showed me another option, deerskins! Dyed black, super soft and reasonably priced.
I was a little bit nervous about actually cutting it up and sewing it all together, cause I've actually got money invested now, but I sucked it up and went to town. Jenny just so happened to have some black upholstery thread, so I used that. After a quick test run over some of the scraps of leather, I went to town on the boot. I hit a little snag when the needle in the machine got all dulled up, but after a quick change I was back in business. I considered putting some red stitching up the seems, just as the stock boot has, but I decided against it. I figured I could make another one at a later date after I made sure the first leather one fits.
I sewed it all up and installed it. It took a little bit of work to get the leather all gathered together at the top but it worked. When I first installed it, it was a bit stretched in R and 6, as the previous iteration was. I pulled a little bit more material out from under the knob and it's worked fine. I also noticed that with the thicker leather, it was quite difficult to get the knob tightened down all the way. I had to crank pretty hard on the knob, and hold the the boot so it didn't twist, to get it tight. I thought about trying a different solution for the top of the boot, but I don't really need to remove the knob anymore, so I just left it.
