Manual MT Shifter Boot Swap Onto Automatic AT Shifter Assembly?
 

Right now, I'm currently leaning towards an automatic transmission for a number of practical reasons.

One of the things I don't particularly like on the automatic is the ugly PRND on the left of the AT shifter boot.

Now the AT and MT shifters both sit on a round base. I was wondering if it was possible to just outright cover over the PRND by using the MT boot as a cover spanning the whole area. I'm assuming there's something on the instrument panel that would indicate what gear you're in so this shouldn't be a big deal from a practicality standpoint. I know there is also a button near the top which I'm not sure what it's for but if that needs to be accessible I'm sure something can be figured out.

Anyone try this?

Not sure about boot swap over but the button is a manual override if the auto shifter locks up for some reason (i.e. fault) and should only be used in the event of an emergency. Can't see why you couldn't cover it with the boot, it wouldn't be hard to locate through the material should you need to use ut.

Just wanted to resurface this question since I now have a car enroute to me(ended up getting a BRZ).

Would love to see anyone who has pictures of this and how they handled the overdrive button.

If no one has done this then I might be the first to try it if I can figure out where to get the OEM boot cover.

I just did this swap, and it is not just a direct swap as there are a few issues.

1) The opening on the MT boot is too large for the AT. (My GF sewed a snap button in front of it to tighten it up closed)

2) The boot and the PRND piece cannot fit together on the underside of the ring where the boot screws in. This is an issue as the PRND is a controller of some sort, at least for the manual shifts from the AT lever. (I fixed this by velcroing the PRND piece under the center console in front of the cup holder section.

I can take better pictures tomorrow of all these individual things as it is too dark and my car is put back together, but I still am working on swapping the pins in the shifter to fix the manual patern. Here is an overall pic for right now

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g9...ps35fb85ab.jpg

I did it as I am "fixing" the manual shift mode to the correct pattern. That would make the PRND piece incorrectly labeled and this seemed like the cleanest solution. I don't give a rats ass if people think i drive at or mt. It my own ocd that didnt want something labeled incorrectly.

This is a very cool idea, and I for one LOVE my auto.

Exactly. I'm flipping the pattern as well so appreciate you sharing pics of what you're doing. The PRND is hideous in this car so covering up with the boot is the best option. Look forward to seeing your new pics.

What is the part number for the boot? I can't seem to fined it.

Sorry. Cant help with a P/N. I bought it of a local guy who gutted his interior. Though JPM Coachworks makes nice pieces that Im sure are the same if not cheaper than OEM. They are a vendor here so just check the interior classifieds.

Leave the MT>AT BS elsewhere. I like this idea, as I did it on my AUTO Acura RSX a few years ago. I never acted like it was a 5sp or implied that it wasn't an auto. It did, however, make the interior a lot more aesthetically pleasing. Props to the auto guys who do this mod.

Any update pics on what you did with the prnd?

I got stuck messing with swapping the wiring and haven't gone back since I didn't have a tool small enough it seems. Gonna buy some screw drivers this week and take another go at it. I'll snap pics prob Wednesday or Thursday

Ok, well I went to work on this Thursday and the velcro melted off due to the heat here (I should have known better.) I may end up just like wrapping the piece in foam for protection and leaving it in the cavity loose. My real worry was rattling/damage so just being loose shouldnt be too big of an issue I think.

I'm getting a manual boot sent to me in the next couple of days. I'll try this out one of these weekends and post what I end up doing if I figure something clever out. Hard to say until I get under there and see what's going on.

Yeah. I've been looking at it trying to figure something out. I may try timming the leather and dremeling the hole in the PRND piece a bit bigger to see if it can't fit somehow. I'll post updates when and can and check back. One of us should be able to figure out a clean solution.

So I finally got this all straightened out last week in time for 86Expo. The main issue was the PRND piece not being able to line up with the two screws on the MT shifter trim. At first I tried to velcro it under the center console, but heat lead to that failing. So I took a shot and was able to mount it to the shifter trim, with a little bit of work.
I do not take any liability for the actions you take with your car. This is merely me sharing my experience with the community.

I don't own a dremel, so I started by grabbing a hack saw. Lol

I then made my cuts. My goal was to allow the PRND piece to have the trim screws hold it in by pressure, not necessarily in a complete hole.

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g9...psae8d3f13.jpg
(Ignore the upper cut. My first alignment didn't work out like I thought. You will be cutting the smaller of the two holes, which is the hole for the peg, not the screw originally.)

I then made my second cut.

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g9...ps3f98de14.jpg

In the end, this was my result. It is a bit of a tight fit once installed, so be careful when you are snapping it into place as there is not much clearance under the shift boot itself.

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g9...psce7246d1.jpg
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g9...ps943dadd8.jpg

This is my first attempt at a write up so if you have any more questions please feel free to ask here or PM me. I may take better pics and post this in the DIY eventually if there is enough interest. Thanks for reading and I hope this helps.

Y'all just want people to think its MT

:D

This probably wouldn't be the case if you MT drivers weren't so judgmental :P

I plan on doing this, for this exact reason!

Why? YOLO.

Ya I don't get that. To each their own is what I say!

TRUE BLUE

Thanks for the pics. I haven't had a free weekend to take things apart but hopefully I'll be able to take my own pass at this too.

1.) does the AT plastic piece #17 in the diagram need to be removed to do this mod?
2. do you need the #16 piece or is that just a MT Shifter boot, can't tell if it's just the pleather or plastic
3.) do you have a link to the DIY that you can recommend that shows how to get the center console apart?
4.) So in broad strokes you're just offsetting the PRND so that the manual boot has sufficient room to clear, correct?

Do you have a pic of this as well?

If you guys do this, get the JPM coachworks shifter boot :)

So you can do it one of two ways. The leather seperates from the plastic but they are labeled as one unit in your diagram. I just swapped my whole piece. #16 and #17 are the different mt and at pieces, so in the end it will only be one of those that is used.

Ill post a link later when Im not on my phone to an article on the center console diy. And yes, in broad terms this is to get the prnd piece to fit with the manual trim. When you take it apart and compare the mt and at it will make a lot more sense.

Ill also snap a pic of the boot when i get off work.

Crap, that means I need to find the manual plastic piece somewhere. I thought I only needed the shifter boot. Where did you get yours?

The silver plastic piece is the same. Did your boot come with a plastic ring attached to the bottom? That is what actually screws into the silver trim piece. I can take a pic tonight for you

I'm not talking about the silver piece. I bought just the boot from another forum member who replaced their boot with an aftermarket one. At the time I didn't realize i'd need the plastic ring as well. Did you just order the whole boot assembly(shift boot + plastic ring) from a Subaru parts seller?

you can def get it separate. check out parts.com

Just checked on parts.com. It doesn't have it separate. The diagrams never separate them so i'm assuming even though they are two parts they are never sold separately.

This isn't it?

http://www.parts.com/parts/2013/SUBA...=Shift%20panel

nevermind i think u guys are talking about something else

#14 in the diagram

Yeah. you need either 16 or 17. I wasnt looking close enough. Sorry. Looks like the ring and boot are one item. I got mine off a local guy what gutted his car for track (bought the whole trim #14 and 17 together).

The ring is what mounts the boot and prnd piece to the silver trim.

May I confirm if below is what you meant?
currently you have AUTO, which should already has part 14,17 and 18
you want to change to MT assembly, so you need part 16 to replace (17 and 18). you can still use the same part 14.

any reason why you need to keep PRND(part 18) inside the new MT boot (Part 16)?
what if you just leave out the PRND, would that screw up anything in the car?

You need to keep part 18 in there so it can keep the boot in its circle form...with out part 18, it will cause the boot to not be mounted/stable...and it will look aweful...


also, can anybody please post pictures with it installed

I though we are replacing the half circles with the full circle boot (16).

I still haven't done this mod yet due to time but I have a pretty good idea of what's going on so let me chime in here.

This mod is for people who have an Automatic transmission and think the PRND that abruptly visually cuts across the shifter area is ugly. I personally don't have issues with seeing that on some vehicles, on the twins the aesthetic handling of this is atrocious.

16 (full circle) is from a manual transmission car, even though the diagram shows it as one piece, it is technically two pieces comprised of a shift boot cover and a black plastic retainer ring for said cover.

You need to purchase 16 to replace 17 (ugly 3/4 circle).

14 (silver cover) is same on both cars AFAIK

I do not think you can simply just get rid of 18, I remember reading somewhere that the car needs it to operate correctly which is why @finch1750 did his workaround to offset the placement slightly so that the black plastic retainer ring and boot would have mounting points and space to be used.

Note: The manual boot opening at top is wider that the automatic boot opening. @finch1750 used a button clasp to close this down, I'm looking into some kind of ring to fill the span.

This is incorrect, the black retaining ring from part 16 is what helps you have the round shape. If you leave 18 in there unmodified it doesn't give enough space for the ring and the boot to be placed which is why you need to work out a solution to offset it from the edge slightly.

Any pictures of final install?

Sorry for the upside down pics. Lol they are taken in between the center console and the shifter so it was hard to get a good angle. That is the snap button put in place since the collar is much larger on the my compared to the at.

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g9...pse22c6379.jpg

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g9...ps0c6c1adb.jpg

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g9...psce21ff63.jpg