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MG ZR ZS ZT Technical - a new gearknob?

First of all, I must apologise to anyone familiar with my postings on the F board, and reassure them that I really am NOT obsessed with gearknobs!

Anyway, I am currently looking into jazzing up the interior of our blue ZS. We got nice blue-trimmed mats and a brushed blue alloy tax disk holder. Now, I'd quite like a Richbrook blue brushed-metal gearknob. However, when I removed the ZS knob, instead of a threaded steel gearstick, there is some sort of bizarre white plastic connector thing that holds the gearstick gaiter up.

Does anyone know if this can be removed somehow, and if there's a thread on the steel stick underneath? The Richbrook website says the gearknob is 'universal fit', but this bizarre Rover 45 hangover may be pushing the word 'universal' too far.

And yes, I do have a rather sad life!!
David Bainbridge

bump!
David Bainbridge

bump
zzzzzzz

Hey, that wasn't me. Look, I never claimed this was an interesting one!
David Bainbridge

I can only tell you from my experience of fitting an aftermarket gearknob (not a richbrook model) that the fitting for it was three grubscrews that centralised the gearknob on the shaft. I'm think the whole gearlever shaft is plastic, but I can't remember as I wasn't looking into this possibility when I changed mine. As the richbrook gearknob is likely to be a one-size-fits-all unit, it probably won't be threaded, but I don't know, probably best to see if you can find this information from Richbrook.
Richard

thanks - I think I will
David Bainbridge

Specific plastic clips to retain the gaiter to the base of the knob assembly is nothing new and certainly dates back to Austin Rover days in the mid 1980's.

Rog
Roger Parker

David...same prob on my ZR. Changed original knob and gaiter for Momo blue ones (good Trophy Blue match up) but had to come up with some cunning method of holding the gaiter up. Involved padding cotton wool to create an adhesive force around gaiter neck and gear shaft. Not ideal but it works. (lost the original grub screw!)

F
F

Ok. New gearknob fitted. For what it's worth, if anyone else wants to do this, the ZS stick is a metal shaft surrounded by plastic covers - a white one at the tip, with a flange to hold up the gaiter, and a long black one lower down.

The top inch-and-a-bit of the white cover has to come off, as it's too thick to fit in most gearknobs. It is glued onto the metal gearstick underneath. The easiest way to remove the cover is to saw slices into it with a little hacksaw and then pick off the pieces with pliers or something like that. This procedure is a pain in the ar*e. Once picked off, the metal shaft should fit into the new gearknob - et voila!

I popped the gaiter and plastic surround out of the fascia before doing this, just in case I slipped with the hacksaw and sliced through the gaiter!

And a blue gearknob looks bloody cool in a blue ZS, I can tell you. The procedure also lowers the gearknob, giving it a shorter, neater, more 'sporty' throw.
David Bainbridge

This thread was discussed between 27/08/2002 and 22/09/2002

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