How to make a leather shift boot

specalk · 01-30-2009, 04:26 PM

This is a Cheap Mod for Those with a Rubber Boot or a Cheap Replacement for Those with the Leather Boot from the Factory..

The Nissan Shift Boots are Really Expensive and all i did was go to a Local Fabric Store and Got some black Vinyl Material with a Semi Gloss to it, it was $9.99 A Yard and it was 50% off of that LOL. the First one took me over 1 hr to make and the 2nd one i made for a friend of mine took me 20 mins. I do have another one i made as well and if you have a sowing machine this mod will take you half the time it took me because i did it by hand..

ill tell you how to do it the best i can in this step by step with photos.

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Does your shift boot look like this ?

Would you like a new one to replace that old one?

Well now you can and all you need is less then $10 and 30 mins of Time and theses simple Items and Tools

Now you have to Take out your center Console which is a Few Bolts then Take out the shift Boot which is Easy do not Brake the Plastic Clips Holding it in, you'll have to replace parts on the center console if you do..

Now how do you start, well take a razor blade and cut the old threads holding the two pieces of vinyl together, and it the one holding the metal retainer and pull out the plastic shift knob cap and save everything.

This is what it should look like

Lay the best condition half of the old boot down on the new vinyl material then cut it out and trim it to the size of the original, you can make it a tiny bit wider if you want.

now with both cut its time to sow it together, i lay them on top of each other with the vinyl side facing inward then choose the color string you want, ( red, black, blue which ever )

See the side my hand is on you'll want to sow that area

now see where my hand is now, you will not want to sow that area at all, in fact leave a inch on the sides un-sewed so you can tuck it later.

This is where if you have a machine it will go quickly, i did not so i did it all by hand

now both sides done

now if you bent or brake your metal retainer you can always make one out of a coat hanger

now comes the Plastic shift knob topper piece and there's a rubber band and a metal retainer clip

the Small side will go inside so all you can see on the top is the larger hole

slide the metal retainer over the boot

put in the plastic knob cap piece, with the larger hole facing out

Put the rubber band on first then slide up the metal retainer, there is a Groove that the metal retainer slips into

Now flip the boot inside out so that the black vinyl is on the outside..

Slide your Metal Boot Retainer in barely so that you can loop over the vinyl to sow it..

now your Done, here are 2 of them for a b14 i made can it works out the same for a b13 and nx2000

Finish Product

Rob_96 · 01-30-2009, 04:32 PM

thats sick... good job man

eggman · 01-30-2009, 09:51 PM

sweet I wanna check them out....that was quick!

keith455 · 01-31-2009, 01:44 AM

do you need pink scissors to do this? I only have black handle ones.

The boot looks great, now if i can just get my crazy glued shift knob off.

specalk · 01-31-2009, 07:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by keith455

do you need pink scissors to do this? I only have black handle ones.

The boot looks great, now if i can just get my crazy glued shift knob off.

use some heat on the knob, if you have a hair blow dryer use it to warm it up and it will lossen the glue a little

kn13 · 02-19-2009, 09:44 PM

my bro did somehting similar, and even did some stitching, looks pretty decent. but winter came and man it was STIFF! you can shift it still but the vinyl was stiff. haha. next time he's looking for a softer vinyl.