Gear Shift Gaiter Renewal

Not really in the "Tech" category, but still a useful action to document.

Any one owning a 14 year old Mk1 has to have a scruffy gaiter. A replacement item from Toyota is about £30.00, quite ridiculous as usual so how about a home made option.

Step one is to get the old one out. Pretty easy apart from the large number of screws to remove. First take off the cassette box under the rear window. Four screws hold this , two inside the top box and two at the side of the assembly.

Next unscrew the gear stick top. Take off the ashtray and start the search for the eight screws that secure the centre escutcheon assembly. The only two that are hidden are those under the hand brake and the driver's seat needs to be shuffled about to get these out.

Having removed the centre section, you will find that the gaiter just clips in from underneath the unit and taking care not to break the plastic lugs, remove the old unit.

At this point you could pass the whole operation over to anyone in the family who fancies themselves as a needle person, the object being to remove the nasty cheap leatherette from the wire frame.

A craft knife is ideal but even better is one of those un-picking knives found in some needle work baskets.

The original is basically a one piece section with some seams sewn in for effect. The idea is to get the original off in one piece to use as a pattern for the new leather. Yes leather, none of these cheapo solutions for my car!

Having given the sourcing of some nice soft leather some thought, I eventually found exactly what I wanted in a charity shop. A well worn ladies leather jacket was purchased for £3.99, and from the back that was virtually mint, a section was cut out, using the old material as a template.

Using a thimble, black button twine and a reasonable sized needle, the leather was sewn back on the frame. In order of events, first sew the turnover at the top of the gaiter. Then join the edges of the gaiter to make a dunce's hat shape (sew the edges together with the piece turned inside out), and then overlap the leather around the wire frame and use a blanket type stitch to secure it. 

Re- assembly presents no problems, and the result should be as pleasing as the pic above. A few punctured fingers and an outlay of a few pounds is fair exchange for a better than original result.