bigrob

Does the auto shift gate plate & boot assembly just pull up out of the conslole, or do I need to remove the whole thing & get underneath to some fasteners?

Thanks!

ZEUS+

There are tabs that you have to move. Comes out easy from the top. WSM pages 37-101 and 37-102.

bigrob

Cool! Thanks Zeus!

Nicole

Remove the panel on the left of the console and reach underneath the console to access the little "arms" on the shifter plate. Once you have them in the "unlock" position, push the plate up and a bit to the left from underneath.

Are you replacing the stock shifter plate and slider with a leather boot?

bigrob

I was thinking about it Nicole, but right now I just want to clean it up some. I see you guys sell the kits for the leather boot & new cover. I would be doing Mahagony wood if I decide to do it.

Nicole

Apart from collecting all the dust and dirt, the slider rarely moves smoothly, and makes the shifter movement rather jerky. One of the biggest advantages of the leather boots is that they eliminate that jerkiness and make shifting much more fun. Since I've done the conversion on my car, I'm shifting even more than before. You can see what it looks like by clicking on the link in my signature.

Let me know when you're ready!

linderpat

I just had to repair my shifter plate, it does come out fairly easy, but you need to be careful when prying it out, even tho you can push from underneath with the side carpet piece removed (my lock tabs were already broken off and laying in the well below, so I didn't have to unlock them). The reason I had to remove the plate in the first place was because it had broken underneath the rubber boot at the flange around the hole where the shift lever extends thru. The flange had completely broken off the slider plate, so there was nothing connecting the plate to the shift lever any longer. I "welded" the plastic flange back to the plate with a wood burner tool and used some black plastic sprue material from a model car as the weld "filler" material - this process works well in a pinch to put things back together temporarily. I now need to permanently fix - I was thinking replacing the plate, but Nicole's leather boot looks real good too. Nicole - do you have different colors for the leather boot? I'd like to have a dark blue to match my existing interior leather.

bigrob

How is the side carpet removed?

linderpat

You first need to remove the three screws from the rubber piece to the left of the gas pedal. Then, put the driver's seat all the way down and all the way back, and look for one screw in the carpet area there, revove it; then look for a second screw about 2/3 towards the front of the side panel, near the bottom, and remove that. Then slide the panel back towards the seat and down, and carefully work out of the consol lip and away from the shelf. Not a hard job, just a bit tricky first time.

bigrob

I appreciate the info Ed. Thanks so much!

StratfordShark

Hi Rob,

Just did this the other day so was hoping someone would ask while it's fresh!

I was removing console to change vac actuator but this isn't necessary if you just want to lift plate. You almost certainly have 2 locking bars under the plate whic need to be operated before removal. I remember procedure is to select 2 (on a 4 speed, it's position 1 on a 3 speed auto), then you can just see the rear locking bar through the gate. It has a hole at end letting you put small screwdriver or pointed tool through then swing forwards to its stop. Then you move to R and prise the plastic lugs from side of stick and slide the ribbed piece of plastic as far forward as it goes (before this you will have taken off t-bar handle - 2 small screws - and the rubber boot). This exposes forward locking bar which you slide to forward position.

To move stick when the handle/detent button is off you press down slightly on the **** on top of stick. You soon get feel for correct pressure.

Then move to P (I know this sounds ridiculous - like a safe lock combination!) and prise out bottom left corner of gate first before carefully lifting the whole cover. You think it will crack but it doesn't though it's a tight fit. Move stick to upright (N) to lift cover off entirely.

All this is in WSM section 37-10 in Transmission Vol with procedure to re-install.

At one point I 'lost' sight of a locking bar by moving in wrong direction. Don't worry as by taking off one of the side tunnel covers ou can feel underneath the gate and slide it back to where it should be.

The key point is there are 2 locking bars, and to remove the cover both need to be perpendicular to the gate.

There's more info if you search for my threads on console removal where I got some great tips from people here about lifting the AT cover.

Good luck Mr Phelps!

Nicole

Yes, we can do black, blue, linen, light grey, burgundy, or cotton cancy pink.