I was getting ready to replace the leather shifting boot cover and I pulled the plastic molding out. When I did, I discovered that all but 3 of the plastic pegs are busted and it looks like the only way to remove the old shifting boot is to break the pegs (as there are self-tightening tabs over the pegs.

It looks like this cover has been previously replaced & all the tabs were broken at that point as well ( some are clear plastic & glued in and others match the console material). Does anyone know a good way to either remove the self-tightening tabs or replace the pegs?

Any help/recommendations are welcome. I'll post pics later.

Edit: it's a 1979, if that makes a difference.

 

i use a little screwdriver to loosen the locking tabs, you CAREFULLY bend the locking part up, and it'll slide off. when you're ready to put it back you bend em back.

 

Unfortunately, the previous owner had busted all but 3 of them off... so right now there are 3 pegs & all the rest are busted & flush with the rest of the plastic. I think I'm going to cheat & use these: http://s7d5.scene7.com/is/image/Staples/s0037505_sc7?$sku$ - just leaving the black part under the console. I should be able to get it pretty flush and it should look OK.

I'm going to be replacing the leather shifting boot with a chain maille one, so the pegs wouldn't be strong enough to hold it - I just want to keep as many of them as possible.

I did get the other 3 of those locking tabs off without breaking anything though. Thanks!

 

That sticky velcro stuff is what alot of people use, but i doubt it would be strong enough for chain mail. Snap a pic once installed this shoot look interesting

 

chain maille eh? that is interesting.

:AA:

 

To fix mine I epoxied small bolts in place of the pegs. It was then a simple task of slipping on the boot and screwing down the nuts with a little loctite, to keep them from backing off.

 

Sgt Fox, I'll look into that. That definitely sounds like a good option & yes, Rotor King, I will definitely post a few pics once I'm done.

 

Here are some blurry, crappy cell phone pics of the shifting boot in progress. (On my photobucket acct - the pictures are too big to upload here & I'm too lazy to shrink them at the moment.) I'll add more pictures as I get more done on it.

http://s12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...l/chainmaille/

Don't mind the other chain maille pictures there...

Evidently it resizes the images for you... I'll leave the link up so you can see new pictures as I update it. I'll try to take new pictures every night to show how it's coming.

 

wow are you making that yourself? How many hours would something like that take? that is some serious dedication that is gonna look SWEET!

 

right now I've logged 6 - 7 hours or so. I'm expecting a total of about 20 hours total. And I hope it does look freakin' sweet:P

I started chain maille with the hope of making extra money... but it's turned out that 90% of what I make is for myself. Next up? Seat Covers... I'll post pics of that as well (but that will most likely be a winter project)

 

Chainmail seat covers here in Cali would be like sitting on a barbecue grille in the summer... it'd look sweet, but yikes. You'd tuck-n-roll your buttocks with a branding iron!

 

but it'd *look* cool and that's really the point, isn't it?

 

Yeah... at least until the rescue squad has to use a spatula to get you out of the car!

 

Meh, it might be worth it. I still need to look into exactly how much I'd need & it might not be worth it labor-wise.

I've already decided that I'm going to get some anodized aluminum and make a new shift boot cover with a design in it. I can't do that until I decide on the colors for the interior, but I'm probably going to stick with black... so maybe black anodized & regular aluminum for a highlight. (or visa versa)