temporary permanent - shifter boot - part 1

warning - I took way too many pictures for hardly any work!

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I've been trying to figure out a shifter cover for many moons now.
The idea is to integrate the overdrive switch and the overdrive lever,
so it needs to be relatively stiff.

roller

After cutting some cardboard templates up,
I decided to forego any thinking and just start building.

My sharp angled box idea
gave way to a simple rolled piece of 6061 aluminum scrap.
This limited a ton of hammering, fitting, welding and grinding.

test fit

Here you can see all the paper ideas I had!
Where do you start,
from the bottom up or the top down -
fit the cover to a flange or fit the flange to the cover.

cover to flange

After some trimming and a light hammer edge,
the flange was welded on.
I really need to practice more aluminum tigging.
Actually I can weld ok,
its that I end up rushing through it as I was already late for kid duty.

It sat like this for a couple days...

reverse bolted

Nope,
this doesn't match any other part of the car.
Nothing is curved aluminum,
and what is aluminum isn't virgin its road signs.
Oh well form follows function for now.

After way to much thinking about how to attach it -
(Wanted the floorboard(s) removable without taking the cover off,
as there will be switches and wires on it)

Decided to thread the 1/4-20 machine screws through the floorboards
from the bottom up,
than use nuts on top to fasten the cover.
Not as clean looking,
but threads in road signs don't last very long.

cock pit

Wow there's alot going on in this picture.
The best part is the cover blends in with the floor.
After some trimming,
 the floorboards are removable independent of the cover.

I had contemplated how many toggle switches to put in,
started with 4 + horn button,  ended up with only 2,
one for the overdrive solenoid and an extra for who knows what.

This is the "Temporary Permanent" part.
I'd love to finish the side gaps and integrate it into the tranny cover,
but now that it's attached and the switches are hooked up,
it will stay like this unfinished for a while.

Baby steps!



Adios... Scumbag...

TP