I was never a fan of the aluminum shift knob that came on my car. It just looks wrong and it was cold, especially on cooler days. I have a Spyder so I have no good option for a top.
I do like the look and feel of wood though, and I love the look of the 917 knob. @Kevin - Bay Area
I had a chunk of mahogany laying around and the right size nuts and a bolt.
I glued the mahogany together and roughly shaped it. I also greased the 10mm x 1.5 bolt well and spun a few nuts onto it.
I drilled a hole in the block that would allow the nuts to fit. I then epoxied them in. The grease on the threads will prevent the epoxy from sticking to them. I know there are ready made inserts for this, but I was doing this ala cheap.
I then cut off the hex part of the bolt and mounted it in my drill press. I guess you could use a regular drill for this if you didn't have a drill press.
Then turn on press and have at it with an angle grinder with a flappy sanding disc on it. I guess one could use a rasp, but the grinder is so much faster and messier. After you get the general shape, sand it with sandpaper until smooth.
I did notice that the bolt I used wanted to bottom out and try to push my nuts out of the knob so I ended up running another nut on and lightly locking it to the last one. This also gave me more room to shape the knob and sand it. Maybe I'll rough up the nuts before epoxying them. It would also help if my impatient self would wait for the epoxy to fully cure.
First of 4 coats of poly.
Now that I know it's possible, I'm going to hit up all my wood working friends for their scraps. I want to make one of the 917 versions and also one that matches my steering wheel with the small dark, and aluminum band.
