Espresso Tamper Becomes Shift Knob

[KonaBlue11]

I combined my greatest hobby and passion (coffee) with my love and passion for my Mustang. This was a project that's been banging around in the back of my mind for a long time. I took an Ironwood burl espresso tamper that I haven't been using for at least a year, and repurposed it to replace the EPCO Rally Shift Knob in my GT.

It started out looking like this



After re-shaping, sanding down to 1500 grit, then wet sanding between 9 coats of automotive lacquer using MX-90 Micro-Mesh pads until it looked like glass, it ended up looking like this.



Finished and installed on the car a few hours ago, it feels 100X better than the spherical EPCO shift knob, and gives a much, much better ergonomic feel with all shifts. I really love it and it really looks nice in my opinion. It's just the right amount of balance to cut thru the blue LED and tech-y looking components of the car. I don't think it looks too out of place. Sorry for the crap cellphone shot on the last one. The first shot I took myself using my studio gear to really show the grain and texture of the wood. There's not a lot of burl in it, but it still nice looking and hard as a rock.

 

[skwerl]

That's classy! Nice job on the finish.

 

[KonaBlue11]

Thank you. And I might dig thru the MGW box in my little storage garage and see if I have a shorter "stem". I can't recall perfectly well off the top of my head, but I do remember something about being able to choose and change the height of the shifter column. I don't know if I need to, or if I just need to adapt to the new setup. It's about 3/4" higher and the fulcrum of the shift feels ever so slightly different.

I think I'll give it a few weeks before I make any major changes. I only drove it a short 5 minute trip on the way home after installing it. I was just thrilled that I wasn't going to need a strap wrench to get the EPCO off. I used Blue Locktight thread locker and only a small dab. Yesterday was a nice warm day, so I know it had a good chance to cure well before I tried it out.

 

[2005 white s197]

Very nice looks great!!!!

 

[Kenaizer]

That's pretty bad ass. Great work!

 

[GreenTerror]

Nice work!

 

[Kidd]

Thats is awesome! I have been tossing different ideas around in my head for a long time on how to encompass wood grain into my interior so that it harkens back to the 60's Shelby's. I think you have nailed it my friend, good job.

 

[cdynaco]

From a career coffee man, Nice!

 

[Dread53]

From a dedicated woodworker, VERY nice!

Without trying to hijack the thread - GTKidd, I've always had similar notions about putting some woodgrain in my vehicles. This is something I put together for my '85 Ranger some time ago.

 

[Kidd]

@Dread53 That looks great! I had played with the idea of trying to make a console like that for my car (I'm not a wood worker) but I wasn't sure how to do it or how it would look with the rest of the interior.
Any pics of it in the truck?

 

[Scott_0]

looks well done, but lol better suited to an old MB or Rolls Royce or something

sent from HTC M8 using tapatalk

 

[Captainstr8edge]

i think Gabe will really appreciate this! As far as the MGW adjustment on the 05-09 you can pull the boot up and use an allen on the clamp and adjust the height a little. Just make sure you go through the gears with the car off to make sure it doesnt hit anything. not too sure on the 5.0s though.

 

[KonaBlue11]

looks well done, but lol better suited to an old MB or Rolls Royce or something

sent from HTC M8 using tapatalk

It's going to be the only accent in the entire car that isn't black leather or the faux carbon fiber sort of panelling on the GT Premium. I think it's just the right amount of contrast.

My next tweak will be to figure out how to pull out the center AC ring above the nav screen and get rid of that damn chrome that distracts my any time I'm in the car between 11:30 and 1:30, the 45º angle puts a nasty bright reflection right into my eyes. So the chrome (likely plastic) will need to come out, get scuffed up and painted something. Same goes for the ring around the shifter boot, for the same reason. I don't know if it's because I'm taller or not. But I know I have sensitive eyes and can't find sunglasses dark enough.

 

[Dread53]

GTKidd, it looked like this. You can just see the console at the top of the photo.



For those wondering why I would expend this kind of effort on a Ranger, the engine looked like this.

 

[travelers]

Very nice

 

[Sky Render]

Mmmm, coffee. I'm a coffee snob myself.

 

[2005Redfire6]

Very unique, good work!

 

[TGR96]

looks well done, but lol better suited to an old MB or Rolls Royce or something

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I kinda agree with Scott, but I will say that it's defintely unique and it looks like you did a great job on the craftmanship.

Plus, thanks to this thread, I learned what an espresso tamper is! I think...LOL

 

[RedMosesSC]

Damn! That looks good.

 

[luckychance]

thats a sweet setup