Wooden gear knob

What would be cool...

Turn the shift knob so that it is like an original and find a way to embed the BMW CS Register lapel pin on the top!
Anyone with a CS Register grill badge has the pin!

I seldom wear lapels anyway...
 
no prob

i can inlay anything you want in the top. i have the lapel pin, so ill make a walnut sample and inlay the pin and take a pic.

re threaded insert, i assumed it was a std size so lolo, sorry to learn youve had trouble finding one. do you know the exact size/pitch of the thread? i guess worst case i could size the hole so the shaft cut a slight thread into the wood. much better to find and inset though.

anybody know where i can get the std roundel that is in the top of all of our current shift knobs?
 
voila

i played around in the shop this morning, made 3 proto's, not representative of final product (only 2 coats of lacquer, etc). but came out ok. i especially like the one with stan's idea of lapel pin. re photos, in last pic, top knob is my current knob from ck, next all wood knob in high gloss, next roundel knob in semi gloss, and bottom lapel knob is satin - all lacquer.

re roundel - have looked at bav auto and other places and cant find in right size (needs to be 30ish mm) - so that might be a prob.

re threaded insert can easily tap the wood with correct size tap if cant find insert to that not a prob.
 

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Super nice work Alan. Think you can start a nice side business selling these. Just me and others may feel the same way, I am really partial to the shape and contour of the original BMW wooden knobs (no emblems). The head and dome is much shallower than the newer knobs. The 1st pic below was originally supplied by forum member "Stefan".

csshiftknobs.jpg


6391121093_3b5d9072ce_b.jpg
 
no prob

i can make those too - hard to tell from that pic but the wood looks more like mahogany than walnut, plus the top cap is a lighter wood - either way, no prob. i think i have some mahogany so i'll make one of those next, and see what you think.
 
BTW, from a design perspective, i have to say i really like the shape of the one without the roundel. if anybody has an old one that isn't in good shape, it might be worth cutting one in half ... i'm wondering if the nut was set onto the cap piece and then attaching the two pieces together.
 
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looks like they used the bottom piece as a blank then fitted either the logo or plain top as desired
 
sure

i can do whatever you'd like. for push on version just need very accurate measurement of the shaft dia.
 
Hey deQuincey,

As far I as know, all CSLs delivered from the factory had the wooden shift knobs. Believe the rubberized knobs were fitted to the 2002s and the E3 sedans.
 
rsporsche said:
BTW, from a design perspective, i have to say i really like the shape of the one without the roundel. if anybody has an old one that isn't in good shape, it might be worth cutting one in half ... i'm wondering if the nut was set onto the cap piece and then attaching the two pieces together.
Click to expand...

I have three of these originals as shown in the ad interior picture. They are two piece, but not as you might expect. The top piece is a thin veneer. I don't know how they shaped it into a dome, but they did! I have a very good one, one with a small portion of the veneer missing, and one with the veneer completly gone. They all three appear to be walnut and have the black plastic insert. FWIW RB
 
Stefan said:
Here is the non labelled gear knob when car left the factory towards newer one with BMW label. There's a different in shape as well. Also the structure in the wood isn't the same.
Sad to say but the original knob looks similar to "homemade".

Daily driving and visiting the meetings without E9 nerds I use the labelled knob... :-)
Click to expand...

I've recently refinished one of the original knobs and the work done by a master furniture builder and wood worker. He is an expert in all woods. Anyway, he said that the knob was made of walnut but the domed top veneer is mahagony. He said they put the domed veneer on so that the long grain would show through instead of the "top" of the walnut which isn't as beautiful. Why they used mahagony instead of a walnut veneer is unclear. The mahagony seemed to be dyed slightly to match the walnut color.
 
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