Frustrating day... made another great purchase from The Tuning Shop (eBay) of a replacement gear lever gaiter, to add a bit more red stitching to the XSR. I’d been thinking about it for a while and having seen Ed’s beautiful Comp on Sunday at Bicester Heritage decided to make the swap.
Removing the gear knob is nigh-on impossible
I found the instructions within a thread on ‘isti which implies that the aluminium knob is thread-locked on. I’ve spent too much time this morning, and surrendered some skin, trying to break the bonds. In the end I gave up (unlike me) and went to ATS. A very big fella with vice-like grip had a go... needless to say the darn knob is still stuck fast. So the new gaiter is thrown into the back seat for now. A trip to Abarth is now required to pass the problem to them.
For info (and I may need to post this somewhere else in the forum) the gear lever gaiter is best emoted from the bottom left side first, teasing up the silver ring. Once the half dozen tabs have been released it will lift up. A small cable tie holds the gaiter at the base of the shaft which is easily snipped to release it. With the knob removed the gaiter will then easily slide off. The gaiter is held between the silver ring and a retaining collar inside it, which needs to be carefully separated as the two parts are held together with the weakest of plastic lugs.
I will let you know how I get on with Abarth, unless anyone else has a better 💡 idea. And no suggestions of metal grips; I want to be able to reassemble with the polished aluminium knob unscathed. For now, I’ve put the thing back together again. Did I mention I’m frustrated? A
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