Restoring Origional Shift Knob

[Arne]

The wood one on the left is the stock one, Will.

It's hard to see the difference here, but the one that is almost hidden by the steering wheel is the original, and the other is the new replacement from Nissan. The replacement is noticeably fatter and less graceful shaped. I'll take better comparison pictures of he two knobs later.

[hls30.com]

Thanks!

Will

[Arne]

Oops! Duplicate post! See the pictures above.

[Go240Zags]

The wood one on the left is the stock one, Will.

It's hard to see the difference here, but the one that is almost hidden by the steering wheel is the original, and the other is the new replacement from Nissan. The replacement is noticeably fatter and less graceful shaped. I'll take better comparison pictures of he two knobs later.

Will, The gear shift pattern in the upper right is from a 280Z knob I believe which had the leather-like covering (not sure if it was leather or vinyl, probably vinyl). I have seen lots of these with red and green shift disks. I have a green one I got at JY (can't remember, but the color might have depended on whether it was 4 or 5 speed). I have several original wood knobs in various shape. I refurbished my best OEM wood one and thanks to Alan I have an original 240Z 5 speed shift disk he sent me from Jolly Ol' England. Thanks again, Alan. There is an eBay seller from Spokane I believe, who lists both OEM wood 4 and 5 speed knobs. The 4 speeds are like $49 and the 5 speed are $99. Funny that little fifth gear on the disk adds $50 to the price.

Arne, so the knobs available from Nissan are fatter and less gracefully shaped. Do they otherwise look the same as the originals, especially the shift pattern disk and the finish? I'd be curious to know. I have large hands and have often thought a larger knob might be a good thing -- but I do like the looks of the original over some of the more modern replacements. Gary D.

[hls30.com]

Now that I know what is what, I'll have a go at takeing the Plastic 4spd emblem off to see aour rstoration.

Will

[Arne]

Arne, so the knobs available from Nissan are fatter and less gracefully shaped. Do they otherwise look the same as the originals, especially the shift pattern disk and the finish? I'd be curious to know. I have large hands and have often thought a larger knob might be a good thing -- but I do like the looks of the original over some of the more modern replacements. Gary D.

Yes, the replacement knobs are just a bit chunkier, both in the wood and even the chrome base is slightly different. The pattern disk is very close, there seems to be a very slight difference to the type-face or font used, but it is very close.

My guess is that the original manufacturer of these knobs is out of business, and that Nissan found a new supplier, but they tooled up from scratch. Hence the slight differences.

Later this week - perhaps this evening - I'll go remove the knobs from the cars and take some good comparison pictures of the original and replacement.

[Go240Zags]

Just thought I'd show some photos (1 kind of fuzzy) of my refurbed knob. I sanded the old nearly black finish off then sprayed with some polyurethane. Went with a gloss at first, but didn't like it so sanded that off and sprayed with a semi-gloss/mat that looked much better to me - sort of a satin. Then I sanded a little bit and sprayed on several more coats. I like the way it looks. The only problem is that the knob does not seat up, the bushing spins around when it is screwed on to the lever. I don't know if I can repair that. I haven't glued the disk on yet though, so if I decided to try and refurb a different candidate that doesn't spin around I'll use that one. The 5 speed "disk" has a tiny flaw, but that just adds to the charm. Beats spending $99 and I have the satisfaction of using OEM parts from a left hand U.S. & a right hand UK 240Z. Sorry, no before photos.

[Arne]

I haven't glued the disk on yet though...

Gary, how did you remove the disk without damaging it?

[Go240Zags]

Gary, how did you remove the disk without damaging it?

If I remember right the 4 speed disk was badly cracked so I just dug it out with out worrying too much about what that disk looked like when I was done. I asked the members here (especially in UK, Japan, Australia and New Zealand) if anyone had an original 5 speed knob they would sell me or preferably just the disk (to keep shipping low). Alan T answered back that he had one he'd just stick in an envelope and send me from London. I had to exercise some patients as he had to get to where he had some parts stored and find it first, but he came through for me.

[Arne]

Now that the site is back (), I can post the pictures.

In all cases, the original is on the left, the replacement on the right. You can see the increased size, the type-face/font difference, and even the different angles on the chrome base. Both bases appear to be metal, not plastic as suggested in an earlier post to this thread.

[hls30.com]

The base on my original knob is chrome plated plastic(the chrome is peeling). It look just like yours(the one on the left). If it weren't peeling , I would have sworn it was metal.

Will

[Arne]

You're right, Will. I tested them both with a magnet, and both new and old bases must be plastic.