Shift boot....it's not as easy as it looks....
 

Well I really did it now..... well my newly purchased 1985 944 came with that worn out old shift boot... well I thought that it wouldn't be that difficult to fix so I proceeded to Brumo's Porsche and picked up a leather shift boot and recieved some advice to soak the boot before applying it to the knob. So I went ahead and soaked it for about an hour in luke warm water took the old boot off cleaned the knob and little clip up a little bit... grabed the soaked boot and following the directions to insert the lower end of the knob "thinner end" through the top of the boot and work the rest over the head of the know... with much effort I did but accidently went up and over and stretched out the middle part of the leather boot... then I worked it back up again...put on the little cap and congratulated my self....WELLL.... i proceeded to reinstall the knob with the new boot and after getting everything on realized that the leather along the shaft of the knob with the new boot was all streched out...I looked at my brother's since his was done by a "professional" and noticed his leather tightly followed the contour of the knob and shaft...mine was all bushed out around the shaft and tight around the knob........ Then he smacked me over the head and asked if I used the glue that I was supposed to and of course in response I said "What glue?"....well does anybody know the proper method of installing the leather boot with all the details...and if there is a way to say mine...thanks....

Brandon85-944

P.S. If I can't even do a dumb shift boot, I don't know how and the hell I 'm going to manage replacing my motor mounts...!!!! LOL

Cross you fingers, and hope that the leather shrinks from being wet!

Brandon,

Brumos' in Jax....Are you in the area?

Erik

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Go the distance....

Well, I also had a bit of a problem with mine (although different). I bought the combo (more $$'s but you didn't have to install the leather). It arrived on a Monday and I opened it and placed the open box on the bed. Apparently my wife put it on the floor and sometime between then and the weekend when I went to install it, the dog discovered it and thought it was a rawhide chew toy...

The dog chewed up the top tip pretty bad but didn't damage the lower leather at all, so I cut off the good leather, bought a dino 911 shift knob (black leather with red stitching) with 944 adapter kit and using the remaining good leather as it's boot, installed it that way.

Here's what the result looks like:
http://pages.ripco.net/~jwn/tmp/shift1.jpg
The boot reflected the flash badly as in the car, they look the tint.

[This message has been edited by jwn (edited 02-24-2001).]

Yes Erik....I'm in the Jacksonville Florida area...and I was referring to the one and only Brumos Porsche Dealership... I asked Buddy if they did tours of the racing garage...he gave me a big laugh..ha..

That's awesome...I was begining to think that all the 44/51's in the world lived in California... http://www.pelicanparts.com/ultimate/wink.gif I've had great experiences with Brumos... They are one of the only garages I'll go to. By the way they do give tours you just have to bother them more. I'm about 30 min. north of you in Georgia so I'll keep my eyes open.

Erik

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Go the distance....

When I bought my shift boot a few years ago, I had a tough time replacing it too. I used some Kiwi Leather Protector on the ball and it helped it slip on. It still took about an hour of struggling with it. It was worth it because it looks great now.