Is there something wrong with my shift lever boot/gaiter?

[Sea Ranch]

Greetings.

Poking away at various issues on my car. Finally discovered that the interior gaiter/boot for the shift lever is supposed to fit under a nice flair on the shift lever. My problem, though, is that the boot/gaiter/bellows appears to sit too high, so that it won't stay put tucked under the lip around the shift lever. Fit is okay when in neutral, but in any of the gear positions (1 thru 4), the boot soon pops up over the flair of the shift lever and I'm back to having a loose (and not attractive) fit.

The tunnel console appears to be fully seated down on the tunnel, as it fits nicely up under the lower dash trim on each side (see pic #? below). It's like either the transmission/shift lever rides too low or the gaiter has one too many articulation sections to it, or the console rides too high.

Any thoughts? Are most cars like this? Solutions?

Thanks!!

Randy

In neutral: gaiter bellows is compressed, but works . . .


Here's the shifter in third gear; boot is about to pop over the lip on the shift lever . . .


You can see the nice fit between the console's forward edge and the lower dash trim pad, so the console appears to be in the correct position . . . (and yes, I'm looking for the trim panel for the left side of the tunnel, to cover that mess of wiring!!!! Any offers? )

[elanman999]

Randy,
Mine is just the same. I use a drop of super glue to keep it in place.
Cheers
John

[Sea Ranch]

So it's me and you, John! In this together

I do agree with your drop of glue idea and I appreciate the response! Thanks.

You might have spied the corrosion of the chrome on the shift lever. Thought I might put a short length of black heat-shrink tubing on the lever just above the flair/lip, to cover that bit of rust. Then I got to thinking that if I added a simple build-up of tape or whatever, to the right diameter, THEN put the black heat-shrink tubing over it, I could effectively increase the diameter of the shift lever and allow the gaitor/boot opening to slide up the shift lever and ride wherever it naturally wanted to, but still have a nice snug seal.

Maybe . . . ?

[Chrispy]

I've been having a similar problem with my +2. Anyone else had any solutions over the last 7 years from when this was originally posted?

I've also found some reference to a secondary seal which seals the tunnel to the shifter. Any workarounds for this? I'm trying my best to seal up all the holes into the cabin from under the car and the firewall. It can get a bit fumey sometimes!

[Sea Ranch]

Chris, my car (February 1970 Plus 2S) has an inner gear lever boot. It fits inverted over the gear lever retaining cap and makes a nice seal. I will be augmenting this with silicone sealant to make it complete.

Don't know where you find this sort of thing, but I would make an improvised one if I didn't have the original; seems very important protection against noise and fume infiltration.

Regards,

Randy

[Bud English]

If nobody is making/supplying that seal it would be fairly easy to make with a simple mold and some two part silicone or urethane. Make the mold and brush the liquid on in layers or dip it if the material is thin enough. Use a shore hardness will flex enough. You could add a layer of loose weave fabric to the mounting area that doesn't have to flex for stability.

Even something like Plastidip should work well and it holds up remarkably well when built up thick enough.
https://plastidip.com/our-products/plasti-dip/

[Chrispy]

Thanks Randy! I'll have to see what I can make up.

[Chrispy]

I found this today on another post. Appears to be what you have Randy. I can't find this picture in the parts manuals for either the Elan or the +2 4 speed or 5 speed.



Link to original:
lotus-gearbox-f37/help-understand-the-anti-sizzle-gear-lever-t31260.html

[Sea Ranch]

Yeah, that's the seal I have, Chris. It's black and a shiny flexible plastic: sort of like vinyl.

Anyway, works well. It now has a generous bead of silicone around where it fits to the white nylon cap, and the rectangular perimeter of the seal is urethane sealed to the CCF underlay that is over the transmission tunnel. Et cetera.

Regards,

Randy