Art & Inspiration White shift boot for my Impala

Nice detail!

 

Very cool. Details like this separate good cars from great cars.

 

Looks like it was meant to be. Top marks for ingenuity!

Chris

 

Can't wait to see that installed. Very nice! Lippy

 

This it? MG Chemicals 408C Rubber Renue, Rejuvenate and Restore Rubber Belts, Platens and Rollers: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

 

So on your first attempt to glue the boot you had to eat 5 Dilly bars to get the required sticks for the clamps!

 

I love it. I hope it fits well because it really matches your interior.
I like your style!

 

Wintergreen oil is what you want to make old rubber pliable again. Do a Google search to find tons of info and vids about it. The formula is 1 part wintergreen oil to 3 parts alcohol. It's a week-long soak so no worries about damaging an irreplaceable part. You can check it daily.
I've used it with great results. I've got some hardened rubber taillight seals that I'm going to treat one of these days. You can buy the oil on Amazbay. I believe the "natural" oil may be better than the synthetic but I haven't tested that belief.

 

Mark I like the if I can't find it I'll make it mentality and that came out nice!

 

Neat!

 

Mark,,,you lucky dog ! ,,,,,That looks great !

It never hurts that you were a toolmaker by trade .
I’ve been in stamping for over 30 years,,,,,,and I learned a lot from my toolmaker friends .
I also learned to look through the scrap bins,,,,a lot of good, usable stuff was in there sometimes .
Some good pieces of plastic,,,or poly .
Some good steel and aluminum pieces,,,even tool steel sometimes .

I even picked up old tools sometimes ,,,,,they were worn out for those guys,,,,but for my use,,,,,they last forever.
Old files,,,,old bolts,,,,Allen wrenches.
The files almost looked new,,,,the wrenches were new sometimes .
The bolts were usually new,,,or one run,,,,,,,by the hand fulls .
If they needed to replace several bolts in a die section,,,,,they didn’t hesitate to replace all of them ,,,,to be safe .
At my company,,,,you were allowed to get anything you wanted if it was in a scarp hopper .
I guess they wanted to help us all they could ,,,,lol .

Good tool makers can do magic,,,,,,I’ve seen some literally save our company after die crashes and failures.
I always had respect for the good ones,,,,,as nice as all your hot rods are Mark,,,,I’m willing to bet you were an excellent toolmaker as well .

Tommy

 

Are you running out of things to do this winter since you retired.

 

That "too good to throw away" stuff can wind up occupying an awful lot of space. Still hasn't stopped me from continuing to collect it.

 

Both sound familiar, thanks guys.

 

Ok sure that's cool and looks great and all but did you ever stop to consider the poor sap trying desperately to restore his coveted 2004 Pontiac? I bet you didn't even give him a second thought.

GM makes "Silicon Emulsion' paste # 10953014
It's meant for dried out weatherstripping, could be worth a shot on your boot.

 

If you weren't absolutely dead right I might be offended!

 

This song has been stuck in my head all day
“A white shift boot, and a chrome shifter”

 

Yep.
Sung that in my head all day.

 

Be happy it wasn't "Freebird", the long version.

 

A white shift boot and a pink carnation...

 

Nice! I always appreciate peoples' clever solutions to unusual problems. That's gonna look like it belongs in that '61.

 

RIP Marty Robbins

 

Well that explains a lot.....

 

Anyone interested in softening their rubber parts will find this video helpful.

 

Yep. Silicone dielectric grease. Used to be recommended for treating w/stripping right in the GM service manuals.

 

That boot is over the top awesome!

 

And you just justified all of us that do that as well.

I'll use it...someday!

 

When you said you wanted a white shifter boot I wasn't sure about it. Then I looked at the picture of your interior, That should look ok I thought, Then I saw your finished product and it will really look good!!! I like it. Great job as always. Can't wait to see it installed.