[Spridgets] Rivergate thoughts...

[Dean Hedin]

I thought I would revive this topic, as I have made some progress with it today.

I came up with a solution  for my desire to keep the original look for the shifter boot on my
Bugeye/Datsun trans swap.
  
First,  I re-welded the stick so that the pattern would fit inside the stock sheet metal cover hole.
As it came from Rivergate, the top part of the stick was welded offset to the right of it's base.
My change was to rotate the offset to the right rear at 45 degrees.

Next, I made a plaster mold of a stock shifter boot.  This consisted of two halfs 
that were plaster poured into small sections of 6"dia pvc pipe for the top and bottom.
I cut a formica ring that mimics the sheets metal hole and this sanwiches between
the top and bottom molds.      

I then molded a new shifter boot out of Dow Corning Sylgard 186 silicone rubber.
This is exspensive two part, heat cure stuff.   From time to time they throw it out where my 
brother works because it's shelf life expires.   I used bolwing alley wax for the mold release.

The end result is a now very plyable shifter boot (24 durometer) that can accomodate the large
throw of the datsun shifter.   It's consitency is sort of like the rubber they make fishing lures 
out of.    The only downside is that it has that silicone sticky feel to it.  Other than that it looks
just fine. 

This might sound a little complicated but it's one of those things that turned much easier than
originally anticipated.   In fact it was so easy that I am thinking about molding some other
rubber bits for the car in similiar fashion.  Things like the rubber access covers that are inside 
the cockpit, or even that hard to get seal that goes between the cowling and the bonnet.