I’ve had a bunch of people asking me to do a quick write-up on how I did my shift boot, so here goes:

First thing you need to do is remove the staple that holds the shifter **** on. It’s on the front side of the shifter and it can be a pain to get out. I put my shifter into 1st gear and used a tiny flat screwdriver to get the staple started, then needle-nose pliers to pull it out. The **** will just pull off the shifter once the staple is removed. Next thing is removing the top part of the console. It’s held on with plastic clips and two screws under the center console lid. Lift it up from the back and pull it towards the back of the car. It takes some cussing and moving the shifter around to get it off, but it’ll come. Don’t forget to unplug the cigarette lighter and little gear indicator light bulb before you pull too far so you don’t damage them.

Now that you’ve got the top part of the console off, flip it over a have a look at all the crap that built up under there over the years. Gross huh? Clean it up you slob! You’ll see that the gear indicator/plastic sliders are held in place by the white plastic piece that’s attached with four 7mm screws. Remove those screws and pop the white plastic piece off. Lift it straight up so you don’t break the alignment pin. Now you need to remove all the plastic sliders that surround the shifter EXCEPT for the one that has a hole in it (this one operates the gear indicator) and the biggest one to hold it in place.


Now take your shift boot (I used a lokar boot from summit, part # LOK-70HRB….perfect size) and hit it with a hairdryer/heat gun and get all the creases out of it, stretch it a little and make it easier to work with. This may take a little time.

You’re ready to put the boot in. I used hot glue for this and it worked very well. I bought the glue gun & 100 glue sticks at wal-mart for $4. Fold over about 3/4”-1” over the lip of the shifter opening and glue down a little bit at a time. Work your way around the opening until it’s all glued and secure.



Put the white plastic piece back on and snug it up to help hold the boot in place. That’s it, you’re finished. Put the console back in and replace the shifter ****. Don’t forget to hook your cig lighter and gear indicator light back up. Looks better doesn’t it??

 

here is my friends set up with his auto tranny he had a quick silver ratchet shifter and had a 6speed handle to it This is on a 88 IROC with a 6.0 in it

 

That looks like the shift boot around the auto trans 2003 Imala shifter. Could be about the same part.

 

good idea I hate that funkie dust buildup on the shifter area.

Thinking this would be easier to clean.

do'es Lokar make a cover to match my grey console?

Thanks

 

With an updated interior too? Looks like a 98-02 interior

 

ok i love your idea and have already done it on each of my f-bodys

but its ALOT easier than that imo

while pulling everything out the way you said but when pulling out the cheap-o shifter gates that annoy everyone just take out the top slider that snaps in AND the gear shift selector and trash the other gate peices

cut two small slits in the boot and put the top gate peice in those slits and snap them back in

button everything back up and your done

 

he put all 02 dash , interior, with T/A leather in his 88 iroc

 

Hes right...look at the door....thats ****** nuts..

 

looks very nice

 

I realize this writeup was way longer than it needed to be and was more detailed than most will need/want. This mod only took me about 25 mins from start to finish, but I had folks emailing me asking very specific details about how I did it, hence the long writeup. Sounds like your method would work just as well.

 

Nice, I have been thinking about doing this. Does anyone know of a carbon fiber boot that would work? I like the clean fit like the writeup, black would work though.

 

I added a leather shift boot to my auto a fews ago too.

Here is my writeup
www.fadingarrow.com/shiftboot.htm

My write-up isnt as detailed because I wrote it later from memory.

 

I put a shift boot from some 90s Pontiac Sunfire or something along those lines on mine. It actually fit the hole pretty perfectly and it was like $3 from the junkyard.

 

BTW, the stock shifter boot from a 2002 Grand Am with auto works perfectly also!