[808FE]

First post, wanted to share my shift knob swapping adventure with y’all. I have seen a few different responses to the “ugly shift knob” for 6 speed manual. Besides spending a couple hundred on boomba (eventually) I used patience and frustration lol.

1 popped up shift boot right and left top corners followed by pulling up hard (seriously hard) on knob while firmly holding reverse lockout button. I thought it wouldn’t go until it kinda just went into 3rd gear from N then the whole thing came out. Knob attached to reverse lockout with boot retainer and boot clipped in between. (Sorry I didn’t take any pics of it in one piece.)



below is where the boot retainer was in between knob and reverse lockout

retainer floats between the two

boot retainer glued to boot

this is where the knob clicks into the reverse lockout

 

[808FE]

Continuing on… pulled boot apart from retainer. When separating, I just gently pushed tabs outward and shimmed them open with small flathead until there was enough clearance to pull apart. (The tabs have enough bend to not snap if you’re gentle. My goal was to do this whole sway for minimal cost and be able to put it back together stock without any hiccups or breaks.)

perfect latch on stick for bungee to mimic spring

wrapped bungee around R lockout piece a few times tight enough to keep lockout pulled down safely for R lockout to work the way it should. Also hard/easy enough when you pull up on it it feels very similar to the amount of pressure I applied in OEM knob

Lol DIY wooden spacer/boot retainer. Unnecessary but you know how it goes when you start something, realize it’s stupid and a waste of time, quit, have a hot pastrami sandwich, then try again and it works.

It fit so snug! I was planning on possibly drilling a pin sized hole through wood and lockout to mimic WRX style lockout pin to stabilize the lockout piece. The clips on lockout piece actually hold it in perfectly. I can always go back and do that but I feel it’s solid as is. Wood also makes it easier to feel where to grab for R through the boot leather

Ok, I am like soooo proud of this one! It’s a key ring!!🤯😎

Seriously had been racking my brain how to make this part look good and have enough space to lift up R lockout.

Plumbers tape around $20 weighted universal knob screws. I had tried several way to make knob feel secure because little adapter sleeves that go over non threaded rectangular (I swear it’s not square) stick didn’t fit. I didn’t measure prior to ordering. I thought I was getting a screw on knob so I ordered a universal adapter for non threaded stick. I may try that later, adapter adds a few inches of height so we’ll play around with the rally style length stick on a non short throw transmission another time and I’ll let you know how stable it is lol. Sorry sidetracked, small screws taped up hold better on the bare stick than when I tried tape around stick and other such things.

 

[808FE]

2nd Post turned out better sorry newbie. Continuing…
Got numbers straight lol

this is what it looked like without my wooden retainer

with wood, key ring top half retainer can slide up around bottom of knob making everything look and move smooth smooth. Below I am in R

1st gear

Below, before I had removed OEM glued on boot retainer. It worked but didn’t feel sturdy. Even couldn’t get it in reverse after fidgeting with it while out on a drive 🙄

it worked, just couldn’t stand how it looked. Almost went back to stock!

why I had to tear off the glued on boot retainer

ok so sorry it was such a long posts. Hope this helps anyone. Spent $18.99 and a few hours of fidgeting but totally worth it! It is my accumulation of many others’ different trials and errors BIG THANKS to all them. Aloha! (PS I cleaned my car after I was done ok lol) (such an eyesore 😔)

 

[noturbonoproblem]

Nice. Seems kind of janky and certainly doesn't feel as good as the Boomba short shifter, but it's also $300 cheaper.