How to fit a genuine fake walnut auto gear knob

[MissMoppet]

I've lusted after a wooden auto gear knob for a while till I came across this one here. I'd never heard of Rover doing one but I suspected that a BMW one would do. The Forum said an E36 knob would fit so I duly ordered this one, which I thought was good value - and it arrived in 12 days.

Well it would fit, but only if you have Andy (Trikey) to hand - other R75 experts no doubt would also assist. He dropped in to tidy up a 160 remap en route to Gaydon, so he obliged by fitting it.






This Forum is full of dramatic tales of people wrenching it off and smashing their teeth, but Andy's method was to put it in neutral, hold in the button and rest your arm on your left knee (while sitting in the driver's seat). Heave up keeping your arm pressed on your knee and it came free.

It then became apparent that the Chinese rod was about three inches too short - the one pictured above - so Andy had to swap the rods over. This he did by gently poking a small screwdriver into the base of the button and leavering it out. To replace the correct rod he had to line up the hole at the top of the rod with the sprung projecting hook in the button. Once engaged the easy part was to push it back through the gaiter and knock back. All done.