Well I know this has been posted before but there is more than one way to skin a cat and thought it might be helpfull to some. Here is my way. First, I really had trouble deciding if I wanted to keep the stock shifter/boot intact. So I installed a ZHP knob(unlit) and drove around for a week. I quickly realized that I would never want the stock knob in that car again. It was so much better. Less rubbery, shorter and of course weighted. Quite franlkly, I would rather drive with the ZHP unlit but I wanted it to look as close to stock as possible.
I then cut the boot off and proceeded to butcher the stock shift knob in order to extract the LED wiring/housing. (Pic1 & 2) For the ZHP knob, it is really useful to have a drill press and a vise to be able to remove the plastic (Pic3) without damaging the leather (I learned the hard way) and to free up enough space to house the LED board (which is wafer thin and has 6 tiny but bright LED's).
To avoide light leaks, I used the black stock LED housing and cut with my Dremel, just the top "ring" off so that the shift pattern emblem would sit flat and level. (Pic4)
A smaller hole is drilled the legnth of the shift knob to allow the wiring to pass through from the LED board. To feed the wire through you need to remove the plug with a small flat srewdriver (NO CUTTING is neccesarry). After you feed the wires through, you just push the wires back into the plug.
The last step is to glue everything in place, starting with the LED board, then the "ring", and finally the original lighted emblem, using the glue sparingly. (Pic5) I used Loctite cunstruction glue, very strong and instant grab. Just like everyone else who has done this, I ziptide the boot into place from the inside and plugged the knob in. This setup is stock setup clean, plug and play and the new shift knob is awsome! I include a few finished pics. Enjoy.
