"cueball" shifter...

[tooter]

I've always liked the old time 1960's Hurst "cueball" shift knobs and had put one on my Tacoma, so it was natural to want to put one on the Yaris, too. So I got one off ebay for only $18 including shipping. :smile:

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b90/compost_bin/car/IMG_5919.jpg

The plastic ball has a soft brass liner in it so I carefully drilled it out with sucessively larger bits until it was a tight fit on the threaded shift lever, then simply screwed it on so that the steel threads on the lever bit into the brass "cueball" liner nice and tight.

It looks really cool and feels great! :thumbsup:

[CrankyOldMan]

An interesting approach, indeed. For future reference, the manual shifter threads are M12 x 1.25. I'm curious about how this will hold up over time.

[tooter]

Hurst shift knobs are 3/8"x 16TPI so it wasn't even even remotely close. I used about 7 or 8 1/64th inch incremental bits to get it to fit, and it's screwed on super tight. On my Tacoma I cut the shift lever short, ground it down to a tight fit on the knob and jammed it on with silicone. Been over 4 years and it hasn't come off yet. :wink:

I had been looking at the new shift knobs and many of of them are insanely expensive. This is a way to have a really cool retro '60's American muscle car shift knob at a cheap price. :smile:

[Qmobile]

plus good luck findin ANY that fit metric.....ik I've been wantin a different one from the OBX one i got

[tooter]

If it has a sleeve, it can be drilled to fit. :thumbsup:

You just want to be sure that you don't go too big too fast, and just incrementally increase the drill size by 1/64th of an inch. 29/64ths was just the right size for the outside edges of the steel threads on the shift lever to bite into the soft brass insert of the knob. It really holds on tight and is very difficult to unscrew once it's on.

[TOLMACH]

Sorry for off-topic:

I have TRD style round leather one and totally love it.. my best mod ever )) (not many mods altogether )))

http://www.ebay.com/itm/TOYOTA-COROLLA-MATRIX-TRD-LEATHER-SHIFT-KNOB-OEM-NEW-/261014607793?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr&hash=item3cc5aed7b1

[tooter]

I saw that leather one also and I bet it feels good in use... but it looked too much like a hackey sack ball. :wink: