Here's the bottom half and the knurled ring being test fit against the top piece. Testing the fit between the bottom half and the knurled ring: I'd heard this was the case, and today I proved it! Fortunately it was a very small fire and fizzled out in a couple of seconds. It DOES catch on fire like magnesium, though. Nice, clean, doesn't make sharp chips & stringers. Titanium has a cool color, is tough, doesn't scratch, is "exotic" and just seemed like the right stuff for the project. I had just the thing sitting on the shelf. Now my dilemma was what to make the body out of? The two pieces on the left side of the picture are supposed to be one piece. I was right - there are two body parts, a knurled ring that's held in place with an o-ring and then a hard plastic sleeve that secures the knob to the top of the shift lever. Green locktite is a beast and I ended up twisting the center of the lower body in two - the threaded end stayed in the upper half. I worked right up against the knurled ring so I could get it off (hopefully).Īfter putting it in a vice and going after it with pliers, it was toast, but I was in. I chucked it up in the lathe and started working out a non-tapered section so I could clamp it in the vice. I already had plans to make a new knob, so this one was going to become the sacrificial lamb. Since my knob was already sort of scratched up, I decided to try and work it apart. One in the center with some sort of plastic puck under it and a pair offset under the button - assembly holes! The full knob is US$365, the button was US$69.59. And, I sort of had this plan in mind yesterday when I picked up the car (new clutch master cylinder seems to have solved the issue thus far), so I ordered a new button. I used a stylus and was able to push the shifter pattern button out of the aluminum body. So off I went trying to figure out how it comes apart. That means this thing comes apart! (I'm good at taking things apart - sometimes not so good putting things back together - at least on the first attempts.) Sure enough, the knurling spins and that means it's a separate piece. That's odd - the knurling seems to have rotated. Wasn't sure what I was going to do exactly until I started unscrewing it. I decided that I was going to copy and/or modify the OEM shifter and put my own touch on it. I've had a few other ideas too, but I digress. I've tossed around the idea of making a carbon sleeve that replaces the knurling. I've tossed around the idea of wrapping a knob in carbon. There's nothing that says "exotic" sitting there surrounded by carbon weave. I like the knurling, I like the shape, but it's sort of generic in a way. I've been trying to figure out how to modify the shift knob on my car for a while.
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