Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Aero 8, 2012< Plus 8, SuperSports, Coupe & Aeromax Short shift - Gear Knob options

For the Librands short shift kit I have been offered a few options of gear knob to fit it:

1. Momo ball type in Chrome (with no insert or text just plain)
2. A Speed Top ball in Ally finish with a 1-6 insert
3/ A Speed Top ball in "Leather" finish with a 1-6 insert

I have attached the pictures of them for reference, question is are there any other options that people know of?

I would quite like the black leather one but its not real leather, which to me seems at odds with the car...hence I guess my uncertainty. No idea on size or fitment, but owing to the lack of options I guess they are machining it to fit? Maybe someone with a Librands short shift can shed some light.

Regards,
Nick

NickCW,

They look very much like the ones fitted to the recent and current Plus 4's and probably the 4/4's too.

Nick,

I had the middle one first and didn't like it. I replaced it with the top one which was really nice. Much better to my mind, but just my view.

Regards
Andrew

I quite liked the shiny ally ball in the Lotus, but in your position and for your sort of car I think I would try find some woodworker to make a true trad style wooden ball gear knob. I remember having a nice one of those on my spitfire back in the 60s. Would go well with a MotoLita wood rimmed steering wheel

I have the top on on the S2 and it's great.
It does get warm if you don't have the A/C on.

Do you have any pictures Alistair?

I have done a bit more digging and found the Speed Top Gear Knobs are Richbrook, the "Leather" one Librands offered is actually Black Aluminium.. however a turn to Ebay and I managed to find an actual Leather one (see attached picture).

It is also cheaper by £10 than buying it from Librands direct.

My S3 came with these. The polished alloy one is lovely to use. the other one - which was the original fitting - feels very light and cheap.

Try this. It is a link to a High-Res in photobucket which can be downloaded for a better view.

Thanks for the pics guys, I will take a look at my interior later and try to decide what best fits in with it!

I had the same BMW sourced "handle" as Rob before the change. I has the following done.

Remove old handle.
Cut the shaft of the gearlever shorter.
Push leather gaiter lower on the shortened shaft
Secure new ball with three grub screws to shaft
Screw cover over top of grub screws to hide them and make it pretty.

The leather gaiter needed no changes.

Be careful how much you take off the length of the shaft.
On the S2 the ZF 6 speed has a strong spring to protect reverse.
When you shorten the shaft you reduce the leverage so you have to push hard to pass the detent. Its okay for me but my wife was almost unable to select reverse.
Between handling the pedals, gearbox and the fly off handbrake it made selecting reverse on a slope risky and uncomfortable for her.