wmulli

Hey guys, there was a lot of chatter awhile back about finding a wood grain **** that fit. Here's a pic of my setup ...

wmulli

Here's another pic. Sorry they're so grainy. They got that way when I shrunk 'em down

ryanSC300lover

iTrader: (1)

hey did ur car come with the wood grain in the center consol???? mine doesnt have that....

and also what is that handle looking horizontal thing..next to your tape player....can you pull that out? my car has an empty slot there

Legends6spd

ryanSC300lover,

the handle looking thing is a cup holder.

the wood grain in the center console is not stock , its an after market wood kit.


wmulli, I like your wood shift ****. is that for a manual? whats the brand and where can you order/buy it now? thanks.

wmulli

Yes, it's a 5spd. The **** is by Proline. It's available at Crowder's Customizing.
It took a little work to get the **** to fit like that. It's a "universal fit" ****, so it's got threads for 3 sized shift levers. I drilled out the two smaller sized threads and retapped it (12 x 1.25) so that it would sit lower on the lever (it's a TRD short shifter BTW ). While I was at it, I drilled up into the **** itself and added some lead fishing weights (sealed with glue). This was to add a bit more mass to make it more like the stock ****.
The final, and hardest part was cutting the piece that holds the shift boot. This looks like a little "cup" with threads on the bottom. The Lexus boot has some kind of washer or spacer at the top. This was just thick enough to keep the threads from the cup from catching the threads on the ****. I had to cut the top off the cup to allow it to screw on and hold the boot up.
It was a bit of work, but I'm really pleased with the result

ryanSC300lover

iTrader: (1)

thaniks man....i guess mine doesnt have the cup holder....there...

anways..how much is that aftermarket wood kit cost??? and where can i get one?

lawman

Nice set up. Couple questions. Are you using an aftermarket shift boot or is that the stock one. And I could not quite follow what you did to put the shift **** on. I am looking at the new GReddy round counter-weight shift **** but the finish does not match anything in my car. Does your new shift **** screw in like stock or are there screws at the base of the shift **** to keep the **** in place? I see that you have the **** nice and low.
Also the e-brake how, where and what did you do. TRD short shifter - where, how much? Again nice job and sorry for all the questions and thanks in advance.

kylesc400

i too would like to know where you got that wood kit and how much it was. i have one, but the color matching is non-existant. It comes REAL close to matching the stock wood at night, but during the day its gotta be like 10 shades off. yours seems to match up damn well, is it a perfect match under most lighting conditions? also, where did yu get the e-brake handle and how much?

Anthracite SC

I"ve ahd that aftermarket wood kit before and didn't like it, and it didn't match the wood..

but from these pictures they came out nicely.

If I hadn't changed my stock stereo..I may have put on that kit too.

It only looks good if the wood goes all the way down.

ryanSC300lover

iTrader: (1)

ia ctually just purchased the wood kit from a lexus dealer that had it in stock for 1.5 years..and he almost gave it to me for free

i will get it tomororw..and install it friday..and will let you guys know how it looks

ruki400

There is a time for wood and a time when theres too much.IMO
Not flaming, just not a fan of the wood E brake. I think there should be as little attention drawn to it as possible.IMO

wmulli

Seems to be a lot of the same questions being asked. I'll try to answer them here rather than in the PMs I've been getting
1) That's the stock shift boot, with several coats of leather conditioner on it. The boot on the e-brake is from MOMO, as is the e-brake handle.
2) The ProLine **** screws on, and also has set screws in the base to keep it tight. It's a universal ****, meaning it has 3 different sized thread patterns. The largest (and hence the one at the bottom end of the ****) is Lexus sized (12mm x 1.25). The hole goes up further into the **** with the smaller thread sizes. I drilled that part out and tapped it to fit the Lexus thread so that the **** would sit lower. BTW- I paid about $25 for this **** a few months ago but I noticed Crowder's has it now for about $15! What a bargain
3) The tricky part was getting the boot to attach to the ****. There is a little device that looks like a cup with a hole in the bottom. There are threads near the hole so that it can be screwed onto the base of the ****. The idea is that you slide the cup over the shift lever, then tuck the fabric of the shift boot into the cup, and screw it onto the base of the ****, thus holding your shift boot against the bottom of the ****. The problem with the stock shift boot is that there is some kind of washer or spacer that is just big enough to prevent the threads of the cup from reaching the threads on the ****. My solution was to cut the top part of the cup off, leaving just the bottom where the threads are. This allows just enough room to attach the shift boot to the ****. I know it sounds confusing, but if you look at it, it will become obvious
4) Just as a nicety, I also drilled past the threaded part of the **** into the base. I then added a few fishing weights to give the **** a bit more "heft". It wasn't neccessary, but it gives it a nice silky feel to the shifts.
5) I got the TRD short shifter from my Local Toyota dealer who happens to be a TRD supplier as well. The TRD website will tell you where your nearest dealer is, or you could just contact Steve Ganz at Carson Toyota. I'm sure he could set you up. In fact, this might be an idea for a group buy. The TRD shifter is *WAY* nicer than stock! I paid around $268 for it and waited 7 weeks. I plan on selling the TRD shift **** to recoup a bit of the cost.
6) The wood kit is from Alka Plus, but there are several vendors selling essentially the same kit. It's slightly darker than the stock wood, and much glossier. I used some Meguirs paint polish on the stock wood to give it a matching gloss finish so the color difference isn't as noticable, even in daylight. I imagine the companies that make the dash kits could supply the material to redo the stock wood parts as well, but I don't feel it's that much of a difference to warrant the effort.
7) The e-brake was a bit of a pain. The handle is pretty firmly glued onto the metal e-bake. It took about 45 minutes of wheedling it with a small flathead screwdriver to get it off. Of course, you could get it off in about 5 minutes if you don't care about keeping it, but I wasn't sure the Momo handle would work, so I was careful taking it off. Turns out the Momo handle fits great! I got the matching Momo boot for it and it looks OK, except it doesn't go down quite far enough to completely cover the e-brake assembly. It's not noticable unless you look for it so I live with it until I find something better. I do think the black Momo boot looks better than the stock tan one.

Hope that answers the questions. If not. post again and I'll try again! Thanks for all the interest and kind words

wmulli

Different tastes are what make the world an interesting place to be!

wmulli

Please post some pics if you can, I'd love to see it!

ryanSC300lover

iTrader: (1)

i dont have a digi cam...but when the next nor cal meet is going on...soon i hope..i will have some guys take pics of my tint and wood trim for you guys