So I finally got around to putting on a nice aftermarket shift boot. I got one done by Redline Goods. After discount and shipping it ended up being $55.00. Not too bad for a quality piece of leather and shipping. It looks good, fits pretty good, and is much better looking than stock.

If you do this yourself I do have some tips.......


(1) This project is kinda a pain in the a**. I thought this was gonna be a quick little 1 hour thing, and it ended up taking me 4 hours. There's some things that make it tricky

(2) Removing the original shift boot takes some time and effort, because it has been superglued to the boot frame. You will need to run a hair dryer over it for 5 - 10 minutes to loosen the glue. Then use a strong prying knife (like a letter opener) to carefully peel away the leather inch by inch. prepare to strengthen your fingers, lol.

(3) Once you get the new shift boot on, you may have to cut a little here and there on the tab holes to get it to fit just right.

(4) This is the tough part: You need to VERY CAREFULLY glue the new boot on. It is VERY EASY to spill a little glue onto the visible part of the leather. Then you are f***ed. Getting glue off of leather is a special kind of hell I don't wish on anyone. So take your time here. I would recommend doing the underside of the frame first (where the tabs are and the corners), THEN do the part where the leather meets the top of the frame. I used a little tube of Gorilla Glue with the funnel tip. Use your dominant hand to put in drops of glue, and your non dominant hand to pinch the leather tight around the frame.

(5) Let everything sit for a good hour before doing the shifter ****.

(6) Press all of the leather downward so it is facing inside-out. Then slip the shifter **** down into the hole. Get rid of the rubber ring that comes with the ****, it's useless. Instead use a zip-tie to close the leather around the ****. Position the clasp part of the zip tie at 12 o'clock (i.e. closest to the engine, when you get this whole thing right side up). That way the clasp piece doesn't create a bulge inside the leather later.

(7) here's where it gets tricky again. RedlineGoods makes their boots kinda big. I ended up pulling away about 1 extra inch of material where the shifter **** is, in order to make the whole boot tighter. As I pulled up that extra inch I had to make the 4 cuts deeper into the material so it would split and pull around the shifter **** junction.



***** Sorry this is kind of confusing, if you haven't seen this before! I intend to post pics tomorrow. Mainly I will just tell you guys be really careful when you do the superglue part cause if you get a drop on the leather u are f***ed. also I might suggest ordering your boot 1inch shorter if you go with redline, that way you don't have to adjust like I did.

pics tomorrow!!!

 

Anybody know how to get superglue off leather?

 

No. That piece looks good, though.

 

FWIW, I installed a Redline shift boot awhile back. It's better than stock but I just wish they had a gray color that matched Ford's dove gray interior. I just picked whatever gray was the closest but you can still tell it's not a perfect match.

 

Looks good!

 

Thanks for posting...i still need to get matching boots for the ebrake and shifter...

 

Looks really good.

Maybe stop by a fabric store and ask someone what they would recommend using to get glue off of leather.

 

Yeah, so I used a piece of ice to harden the glue, and then a pencil eraser to rub it off.

but now there is a small spot where the leather has been worn off that I need to repair, lol. I tried shoe polish and that worked okay, but still not great. I'm going to use olive oil on it to try and get the shine and texture back.

Thanks for the compliments everyone. Bezel goes over it this week.

 

Did the sponsor help? I think they are active on here.