Cleopatra Jones Posted December 28, 2013 Report Share Posted December 28, 2013 So here is my first ever "how to" write up. Wish I could say I'm the one that did this but I received the most incredible gift for Christmas from my boyfriend and I had to share. I've been saying for a long time how nice it would be to just have all the plastic out of my 210 and how cool a wooden shift knob would be since the original cracked badly long ago. It has since been replaced with a new one but a wooden one would still be amazing. So here we go. I pulled this shift knob from a 210 several months ago. My sneaky boyfriend :ninja: went through my stash of spare parts and took this shift knob and cut the rubber off. Now the original shift knob on a 210 is very different from this particular shift knob. Under this one is all metal. Under the original the only part that is metal is the ring that screws into the arm. The knob itself is all plastic. He felt is was better to use the one that was all metal underneath because it was easier and faster to wrap the wood around the metal than try to create the knob out of solid wood. This way all the stress from mechanical movement is on the metal, not the wood, and the wood is strictly a cosmetic feature not a functional one. So after he destroyed my spare knob (haha :rofl: ) he cut two blocks of wood (zebra wood in this case) with the intention of sandwiching the metal between them. The blocks were cut at the rough finished dimensions of the height, length and width of the shift knob. The blocks were sandwiched together and using the seam of the two blocks as a center point, holes were pre-drilled with forstner bits for the shaft of the handle and the mounting points for the screws. Then each side of the block setup was carved out using a laminate trim router and a dremel tool to accommodate the metal insert. The blocks were then glued together using tightbond wood glue and silicone caulking. The glue was to hold wood to wood. The silicone was to hold the wood to the metal. The other reason for the silicone was to fill any voids that the metal didn't fill that were left from the carving process. Because the final shaping of the piece was going to only leave a thin layer of wood (approximately 3/16"). He didn't want to take a chance on the wood cracking when the handle was squeezed. During the gluing process he marked on the outside of the block where the metal was going to be once everything was glued together. Using those marks the initial shape of the handle was cut out using a band saw. Then using great care he shaped the handle using a dremel tool with a sanding drum attachment to take off excess wood and then hand sanded the handle for the final clean up using 80 and 220 grit sandpaper The original plastic button was cut off from the rest of the moulded plastic mechanism with a bandsaw. A new one was shaped to match the original using a dremel with sanding drum attachment. The underside of the original plastic mechanism was hollow so the wood button was made long enough to notch out to insert into the hollow end of the plastic button. It was then permanently attached using a cyanoacrylate (CA) glue. The handle and the button were then both treated with several coats of Varathane brand Spar Urethane with sanding between coats for a final smooth glossy finish. The Varathane is oil based and may take a long time to dry between coats. The finished product. It will be slightly bigger than the original handle because the wood needs to be thicker for strength. I haven't installed this on my 210 yet. I'll be trying it out on Monday as there is still a couple more coats of Varathane he wants to put on the handle (the car's in the shop as I'm having it wired for a clock I found and had fixed). I'm working on convincing him to make me a steering wheel :thumbup: Once I get the knob on the car I'll post the finding here. If you have questions feel free to ask and I'll get an answer for you. 7 Quote Link to comment
kevins750 Posted December 28, 2013 Report Share Posted December 28, 2013 that is awesome Quote Link to comment
mklotz70 Posted December 28, 2013 Report Share Posted December 28, 2013 Very impressive!! :) Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted December 28, 2013 Report Share Posted December 28, 2013 Great write-up Kimberly. Looks good. Quote Link to comment
Cleopatra Jones Posted December 28, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2013 Thanks! I think it looks amazing! I can't wait to try it out. I'm also anxious to get that OEM clock in there. Quote Link to comment
Hooligan Posted December 28, 2013 Report Share Posted December 28, 2013 Definitely one of the nicest auto handles I have seen.... awesome Quote Link to comment
Jester Posted December 28, 2013 Report Share Posted December 28, 2013 Beautiful work! What a great gift. I'm thinking you probably forgave him for breaking your other shifter? :console: Quote Link to comment
Cleopatra Jones Posted December 28, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2013 When he was showing me how he made it and which one he used as a template my first exclamation was "Oh shit! That was the good handle!" (I have a couple other cracked ones to use for such a purpose). He was simply mortified. I didn't care. I had to explain to him I meant it more like "Oh shit! I got paint on my jeans!" It was ok. There's a brand new knob in the car now if this one needs a little finessing but I'm sure it will be fine. Hell if they had given me wood working when I was school like I wanted instead of basic electronics I probably would've attempted it myself. While I loved learning to weld and use a drill press I really wanted to learn wood working. Quote Link to comment
Ranman72 Posted December 28, 2013 Report Share Posted December 28, 2013 that is fantastic WOW nice write up with pics and it is going to be amazing in your car Quote Link to comment
Cleopatra Jones Posted December 31, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2013 I updated the photos of the button and finished knob in the photos above so you could see them better. We tried the knob today and it fits and functions just fine but the button seems to get stuck so he compared the original button and the button from this particular knob and there is a difference between to the two. He's going to try grinding down the circled area in the photo below as it should help the shifter button on the arm pop back up once the shift knob has compressed it. On the original button the area that is circled is not on the original so this should work. Once I get the car back from the shop we'll mess around with it by grinding off little by little til we get it to a point that it works. Meanwhile, I'm going to do some research to try and figure out which car this shift knob actually belongs to. Although I pulled it from a 210 I don't believe it was meant for one. Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted December 31, 2013 Report Share Posted December 31, 2013 I think you are going to have to give your new knob a name. Quote Link to comment
Cleopatra Jones Posted December 31, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2013 Well it's zebra wood but I like to call it tiger wood. I'll have to think of something feisty :) Quote Link to comment
Ranman72 Posted December 31, 2013 Report Share Posted December 31, 2013 youve got wood just call it woody imagine being at a swap meet and saying to someone would you like to see my woody :devil: :devil: :devil: :devil: :devil: :devil: 1 Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted December 31, 2013 Report Share Posted December 31, 2013 Or Richard!!! :lol: :lol: Want to see Stanley's .... ? Quote Link to comment
Ranman72 Posted December 31, 2013 Report Share Posted December 31, 2013 maybe stanley's knob or Stanley's hardwood or stanley's woody :fu: :fu: :fu: :fu: :fu: :fu: :fu: :fu: :fu: :fu: :fu: :fu: Quote Link to comment
Cleopatra Jones Posted December 31, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2013 youve got wood just call it woody imagine being at a swap meet and saying to someone would you like to see my woody :devil: :devil: :devil: :devil: :devil: :devil: Or Richard!!! :lol: :lol: Want to see Stanley's .... ? maybe stanley's knob or Stanley's hardwood or stanley's woody :fu: :fu: :fu: :fu: :fu: :fu: :fu: :fu: :fu: :fu: :fu: :fu: Bwahahaha!!! You guys are nutty! Take a look at Stanley's wood! Ha! Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted December 31, 2013 Report Share Posted December 31, 2013 You could tell everyone you gave Stanley wood. :lol: :lol: :lol: 2 Quote Link to comment
Cleopatra Jones Posted January 2, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2014 You could tell everyone you gave Stanley wood. :lol: :lol: :lol: Bwahahahahahahaha!!! That's sick yet funny! Quote Link to comment
Cleopatra Jones Posted January 2, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2014 Ok, got a little info on the shift knob my bf used to make this. Some cat is selling the same exact knob on ebay (for $80 good luck with that) and I asked him exactly which car he pulled it from. He said they were common to the 280ZX turbo, 80s Maximas and some other models. He's got it listed working on a 720, 510, 620 and B210. I know for a fact the 720 and 210 share an auto shift knob so it won't work well on the 720. This one is probably more common to the Z and 510. The buttons have a different shape. This one has a more tapered look to it whereas the 210 is more rectangle. We pulled another knob today from a car in the boneyard so my bf could pick that one apart and examine it. He says if he can't get it to work he'll make one completely from wood. I hope to get my 210 back soon. As soon as I do we'll start messing with the button to see if we can get it to work. More news later..... Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted January 2, 2014 Report Share Posted January 2, 2014 The 280zx and Maxima are different but most all other 3N71B knobs are the same till '80 (510,610,710,B210, 620, 240/260/280z. The 720 is close to the early ones. I have a Maxima one and it is more 'textured' than the smooth original one in my 710 but it bolted right in. It also has a shiny plastic strip inlay. Quote Link to comment
Cleopatra Jones Posted January 2, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2014 Oh yeah it bolts in and fits just fine. It's the button that is different and is causing the problem. I'll get a pic for you to see the difference. Quote Link to comment
Cleopatra Jones Posted January 2, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2014 The one on the left is from a 210. You can see the overall shape difference and the cut out area in the center is different. In a previous photo I circled in red the problem spot. It's keeping the button on the shift arm from popping back up like it's supposed to. Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted January 2, 2014 Report Share Posted January 2, 2014 Yup, big difference. I thought they all looked the same and just color was the difference. Looks like there are least three different styles. Bet the complete knob can be swapped, just not the individual parts. Quote Link to comment
Cleopatra Jones Posted January 2, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2014 Yeah I think you'd have to swap the entire knob. It would be really easy if you could swap buttons but I dare say the inner part of the knob the button goes into is more narrow than the 210 one. We're hoping modifying the button works. If not he's going to start from scratch. Darn! Quote Link to comment
bananahamuck Posted January 2, 2014 Report Share Posted January 2, 2014 Well it's zebra wood but I like to call it tiger wood. I'll have to think of something feisty :) I don't think i would want Tigers wood anywhere near my wifes rig. Let alone holding on to it in traffic,, the dude is borderline deviant. Quote Link to comment
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