E-Brake boot upgrade

[JayTA98]

So recently I put a boot on my A4 shifter. So i went back to the junk yard to look for a new shifter boot. I found one from a 98 grand am but I noticed the E brake boot. It's matching color and it looks big enough to fit on our cars. Since I have plenty of time to mess around i pulled out and headed home.

After removing the whole center console I noticed that the OEM rubber piece is held by plastic tabs from the console itself. Some of the tabs you can just pull the rubber piece off but the others have a metal strip on them. I used a hair dryer (thanks wife!) to warm the plastic tab. Using pyers I started to squeeze the plastic to make as thin as possible to clear the metal piece.



I slowly started to pull the aluminum piece out. I used a small screw driver to open the metal openings more. The objective is to not break the plastic tabs.

I broke one.

Next I removed the plastic trimming that comes with the boot. I pulled the staples out.



This was the most difficult part. I grabbed the boot and put it the rubber piece at the bottom so I can wrap the boot on it. I made sure the boot orientation is correct in reference to the rubber piece. I started at one end and using a knife i made a cut thru the vinyl and the rubber piece. I put a flat screwdriver and rechecked the position of the boot and made my next cut. I made sure that I get as minimal of the boot overlapping, that way the cuts will be covered.

I put the boot in the console and used the cuts to secure it thru the plastic tabs. After I got that i put the rubber piece back thru the tabs also. I then used the hair dryer to soften the plastic. Using the end of the screwdriver I flaten the tabs that had the metal piece. I didn't saw the need to put the metal piece back but it can be added.


I checked and made sure that I was satisfied with the way it looked. I put dish washing soap on the E-brake handle to make slide back easily and to not pull on the rubber piece. Once it was in I adjusted the boot so the Ebrake can go all the way down. I put the rest of the console back and I was done.

Before:


After:

[Spikito]

damn son....gettin both done

[JayTA98]

damn son....gettin both done

lol I know i'm in a boot roll! I guess I'm done with boots for now. How do you like it?

[024mula]

I like it!

In fact, Pontiac should of have done that to all the e-brakes when they made the cars.

[Fatfu]

They look killer. I wanna do both.

[35th-ANV-SS]

Nice job OP. Looks 10X better.

[Young11b]

Looks great! I want to get mine done now

[Spikito]

i think itd go well in a TA, but i just dont think itd look right in a camaro.....just me

[fbodyNATION]

im doing both of these mods also thanks for sharing

[Sas]

Very nice!

[Inscore SS]

Looks great!

[StuntmanMike]

Nice! That's a great looking interior you have, I saw your pics in the other thread. It's unique, but still classy.

[JayTA98]

Nice! That's a great looking interior you have, I saw your pics in the other thread. It's unique, but still classy.

Thank you.

[cancam99ss]

Subscribed

[transamtom]

Cool, next time I am at the wreckers I am scamming some shift boots