Making Custom Shift Knobs

[psychrunner]

WOW

John,
Very much appreciated. I can't wait to put that in the coupe. It will certainly finish the restoration in very fine fashion.
Randy

 

[cpeavey]

Nice work!

I made a pair of knobs myself three years ago, one for my coupe and another for my son's 2002. I used Bolivian Rosewood, otherwise called Morado. The biggest problem was threading the bore. I drilled the bore oversized, used "tappable" epoxy putty to line it, then tapped the epoxy with the correct size metric tap when it hardened. Not as durable as I'd like but it has held up so far.

I'm curious what you used for your inserts, JJ.

Charlie Peavey
'74 3.0CS

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[jhjacobs]

I am using threaded inserts. Oranger, Georg, and Gunter (Austrian E9 contingent) sent me a care package with about 10 old shift knobs. The knobs were trash but I am salvaging the inserts.

However, for the knob I did for my car (Bavarian Flag laminated motif) I simply bored it with a 0.75" forstner and then I cut a rectangular piece (about 1" by 3.25") of thick packing plastic (the stuff used for retail packaging that won't tear), rolled it, and slipped it up into the hole. I actually tapered one of the sides so that if get a bit thicker the farther the threads go in. It seems to have grabbed nicely. I had to play around a bit with the plastic thickness until it fit perfectly. If you need more details send me a PM.

 

[cpeavey]

Another Entry

Now that I've figured out how to post pictures, here's my entry, a knob of Bolivian rosewood. It's got more than ten coats thin coats of polyurethane rubbing varnish. It's beefy enough to feel comfortable to my hand and I think it complements the interior, while being distinctive.

Charlie

 

[stuartljohnston]

Amazing

some really beautiful knobs here...for those of us less talented the quest to find something unadorned by a brand name or chrome continues. Any tips on removal/refitting for when i do find something i like?

 

[bern-GEE]

Automatics...

....do you make any automatic shifters?

 

[bill]

Doc Laz: Yikes..don't even want to think about what happened in that car that would require an air-freshener if the PO wasn't a woman...or even if it was.