jpestrada115
03-02-2009, 10:41 AM
Disclaimer: The following is provided as a GUIDE ONLY, and neither myself nor Ozhonda take any responsibility for the outcomes of someone else doing the following. You follow these steps at your own risk!
Aim: carbon fiber look EK A/T shifter base
Required:
(1) Self adhesive carbon fiber look vinyl
(2) Scissors
(3) Sharp cutter
(4) Hair blower
(5) MF towel
(6) Tweezers
(7) Ruler & pen
(8) Isopropyl alcohol
Steps:
With heaps of CF-look vinyl left from the instrument bezel DIY (http://www.ozhonda.com/forum/showthread.php?t=106542), I decided to give a fresh look to the A/T shifter base and make it CF-loo as well. As you would have noticed, this black plastic part accumulates dust all the time and looks very plain. Time to spice it up a bit.
Anyway, here goes the DIY:
(1) Disassemble the shifter base. You will need to first take out the shift knob - 2 "+" screws on each side then it should be off. Next would be removing the center armrest and center consoles - take out 4 screws on each side and it should lift-off easily. Be careful in lifting out the center console as the wire to the shifter indicator light is connected to it. Disconnect this before lifting out the center console. The shifter base is secured by 4 "+" screws under the center console - take these out and you should be able to get the shifter base. Good opportunity to clean the inside of these parts as well before you put them back on. I washed everything with mild dishwashing detergent solution and it gave it the OEM matt look (sorry no pics for the disassembly part).
(2) Once the shifter base is clean and dry, wipe all surfaces with isopropyl alcohol where the CF-look vinyl will adhere to. This will ensure good grip of the adhesive. Once the surfaces are dry, stick the CF vinyl onto the shifter base. Then slit the hole along the middle of the opening of the base where the shifter slides using the cutter balde and scissors.
http://img.techpowerup.org/071029/A_T shift base.jpg
(3) Here's the tricky part - the rounded ends of the shifter opening. A small piece of CF sticker is needed before the slitted sticker from the top of the shift base can be stuck down so that the inner edges of the opening will be CF look too. Very important to use the blower in these parts so that the CF vinyl will stick nicely onto the rounded edges.
http://img.techpowerup.org/071029/tricky part.jpg
(4) The shifter opening done! The blower will help to give the CF vinyl some flex to get it to stick nicely around the 3 small protruding things at the edge of the opening (lined up with R, N and D4). Not using the blower on this part may cause holes on the CF vinyl or crappy fitment.
http://img.techpowerup.org/071029/shifter opening done.jpg
(5) Next would be fitting the vinyl around the edges of the illuminated shift indicator. You will ntoice that it has a groove around its inner edge. I used the plastic toothpick of a swiss army knife to fit the sticker along this groove. Once fitted, cut the vinyl with the sharp cutter along the groove and peel out the cut-out. The finished product! CF look A/T shift base! :)
http://img.techpowerup.org/071029/cf AT shift base.jpg
(6) Do step 1 in reverse to assemble everything back into place. Before re-assembly, you might want to repalce the rice bulb for the illuminated shifter indicator.
Photo installed on the car... :)
http://img.techpowerup.org/071029/cf AT shift base-installed in car.jpg
30 minutes all up including disassembly and re-assembly. Note that the CF-look vinyl that was used here is from the excess vinyl from the bezel DIY. After this, you would probably still have half of the roll of the vinyl left. Can't think of another part to give a CF look yet...
Enjoy. :)
Aim: carbon fiber look EK A/T shifter base
Required:
(1) Self adhesive carbon fiber look vinyl
(2) Scissors
(3) Sharp cutter
(4) Hair blower
(5) MF towel
(6) Tweezers
(7) Ruler & pen
(8) Isopropyl alcohol
Steps:
With heaps of CF-look vinyl left from the instrument bezel DIY (http://www.ozhonda.com/forum/showthread.php?t=106542), I decided to give a fresh look to the A/T shifter base and make it CF-loo as well. As you would have noticed, this black plastic part accumulates dust all the time and looks very plain. Time to spice it up a bit.
Anyway, here goes the DIY:
(1) Disassemble the shifter base. You will need to first take out the shift knob - 2 "+" screws on each side then it should be off. Next would be removing the center armrest and center consoles - take out 4 screws on each side and it should lift-off easily. Be careful in lifting out the center console as the wire to the shifter indicator light is connected to it. Disconnect this before lifting out the center console. The shifter base is secured by 4 "+" screws under the center console - take these out and you should be able to get the shifter base. Good opportunity to clean the inside of these parts as well before you put them back on. I washed everything with mild dishwashing detergent solution and it gave it the OEM matt look (sorry no pics for the disassembly part).
(2) Once the shifter base is clean and dry, wipe all surfaces with isopropyl alcohol where the CF-look vinyl will adhere to. This will ensure good grip of the adhesive. Once the surfaces are dry, stick the CF vinyl onto the shifter base. Then slit the hole along the middle of the opening of the base where the shifter slides using the cutter balde and scissors.
http://img.techpowerup.org/071029/A_T shift base.jpg
(3) Here's the tricky part - the rounded ends of the shifter opening. A small piece of CF sticker is needed before the slitted sticker from the top of the shift base can be stuck down so that the inner edges of the opening will be CF look too. Very important to use the blower in these parts so that the CF vinyl will stick nicely onto the rounded edges.
http://img.techpowerup.org/071029/tricky part.jpg
(4) The shifter opening done! The blower will help to give the CF vinyl some flex to get it to stick nicely around the 3 small protruding things at the edge of the opening (lined up with R, N and D4). Not using the blower on this part may cause holes on the CF vinyl or crappy fitment.
http://img.techpowerup.org/071029/shifter opening done.jpg
(5) Next would be fitting the vinyl around the edges of the illuminated shift indicator. You will ntoice that it has a groove around its inner edge. I used the plastic toothpick of a swiss army knife to fit the sticker along this groove. Once fitted, cut the vinyl with the sharp cutter along the groove and peel out the cut-out. The finished product! CF look A/T shift base! :)
http://img.techpowerup.org/071029/cf AT shift base.jpg
(6) Do step 1 in reverse to assemble everything back into place. Before re-assembly, you might want to repalce the rice bulb for the illuminated shifter indicator.
Photo installed on the car... :)
http://img.techpowerup.org/071029/cf AT shift base-installed in car.jpg
30 minutes all up including disassembly and re-assembly. Note that the CF-look vinyl that was used here is from the excess vinyl from the bezel DIY. After this, you would probably still have half of the roll of the vinyl left. Can't think of another part to give a CF look yet...
Enjoy. :)