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Fri Jan 30, 2009 9:05 pm

Plan on installing carpet and Mats tomorrow! Could use some suggestions on cutting out Rubber mats for Shifter and emergency brake!! Not sure how to make it look neat and round.

Search came up with little!!
Thanks in advance!
Gordon

Fri Jan 30, 2009 10:01 pm

Which shifter are you installing? If you use a stock shifter you will have an easier time since the stock shifter is like 5/16" diameter and the base is much bigger. I pinched the mat in the approx. area that I needed to trim and cut a small (1/2-3/4") slit where the crease or folded area was (to start the hole). I used typical household scissors with no problem. Same with the e-brake handle...Just make sure you position the mat where you want it before you slice that nice mat up. I followed the molded lines in the mat to trim my e-brake and it was actually fairly well positioned.

Here is the Wolfsburg mat that I installed with my Hurst shifter. I always install the mat over the shifter since it looks a lot cleaner to me and I don't have to cut the hole as big or be as accurate trimming the base. The fitment of the base took some time to trim tight and it is a PITA to remove the mat everytime I need to service the shifter, do anything inside the tunnel, or clean the floor mat. Notice that I haven't installed the heater knob as that would complicate removing the mat. I have since stitched up a leather boot for the shifter that hides the entire base. Oh, and I finally stitched up the rest of the carpet binding and the door panels but I haven't installed them yet :oops: .

Sat Jan 31, 2009 6:26 pm

:) Thanks for the reply, Got closer today with installing carpet, but I was hoping for some sort of tool to punch out a nice circle for standard shifter. The emergency brake maybe alittle tricky. thinking about making a template and trace on rubber, then maybe a good pair of sissors will do the trick.

Still open for ideas?

Sun Feb 01, 2009 8:50 pm

dgrnga wrote: :) Thanks for the reply, Got closer today with installing carpet, but I was hoping for some sort of tool to punch out a nice circle for standard shifter. The emergency brake maybe alittle tricky. thinking about making a template and trace on rubber, then maybe a good pair of sissors will do the trick.

Still open for ideas?

Looking good I need to do this on my old girl too

You may want to look for someone with a cork gasket punch kit , a leather working type punch or you can maybe find a thin copper pipe the right size and use that as a punch ..
Ive used all of these for this type of stuff

Sun Feb 01, 2009 9:19 pm

X-acto Knife Firmly hold the mat around the area you wish to locate with one hand and pearce the rubber with the x-acto and with a up and down motion keeping the blade in hole you should be able to follow the holes shape, this will give you a very clean starting. you'll need a few blades as rubbing along the steel it will dull. but be carefull those things are sharp and they will bite if your not looking.

Sat Feb 07, 2009 4:03 pm

Completed cuts on new rubber mats. I wish I had kept the old ones to use as a template. The indentions were close to get me started.
Ended up using a Utility /Razor knife. With a new blade it made a neat cut.

Thanks for all the input!
Next is Uphostery!

Sat Apr 19, 2014 9:08 pm

re-activating this thread with a question

where do you find the grey e-brake boot and shift boot --- if my mats is supposed to be grey and im getting it from WW -- they do not sell grey boots that i can find---so where do these come from?

Sun Apr 20, 2014 3:52 am

They are often on eBay, at least lately

Sun Apr 20, 2014 8:16 am

Vynal interior spray was recommended in another post...you could use it until you locate the $200 OEM one.............
See post "grey emergency brake handel boot "