2003-2011 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
[Main 93 Bulletin Board | BBFAQ |
Prev by Date | Next by Date | Post Followup ]
Member Login / Signup - Members see fewer ads. - Latest Member Gallery Photos
Manual shift boot replacement Posted by Gene N [Email] (#1094) [Profile/Gallery] (more from Gene N) on Sun, 16 Aug 2020 19:10:19 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
The manual shift boot on my 2005 9-3SS finally disintegrated completely and I was looking for a replacement. The original boot was PU leather, which is a nice way of saying made out of plastic covered cloth. I wasn't about to spend $140 on another OE-Saab fake leather shift boot, so I checked on eBay to see what other options were available. There were plenty of sellers from China that offered PU leather boots with shift knobs for $20, but I wanted a real leather one this time. I found that J-L Customs in the UK had several varieties on eBay in different shades with different thread colors for an amazing cost of $21, including shipping.
The boot came in and it is made out of nice thick leather and looks sharp with red stitching. The only down side of the installation was that I had to hacksaw off the old shift knob. Someone (me) had epoxied the shift knob on the shaft because the knob kept coming off in my hand. The knob wouldn't budge using the method shown in the shop manual, hence the hacksaw. Fortunately, I had ordered a new knob from China for $16 at the same time so I had all the parts on hand to finish the job. I could have ordered a new OE knob for $125, but it would have been hard to justify.
Overall, I am pretty pleased with the results and wished i could have done this 5 years ago.
No Site Registration is Required to Post - Site Membership is optional (Member Features List), but helps to keep the site online
for all Saabers. If the site helps you, please consider helping the site by becoming a member.