Tools needed:

Drill
normal 1/8" drill bit for metal
6" long 1/8" drill bit good for metal
small hook-up wire
power top surface mount LED(same as in the dash)
470 Ohm resistor
Soldering iron
solder
OBX mesh shift ****

Now, how to do it...First, DISCONNECT YOUR BATTERY. I don't want anyone cutting a wrong wire and fry something accidentally. Some of the wires you're working with could be live if you don't leave your car off

Now, take the shift **** off and remove the surrounding piece:


Disconnect the cigarette lighter:


Then remove the cup holder piece(makes wiring it into the cup holder illumination easier. If you don't have this, you can wire it into the cigarette lighter.):



This is pretty easy, just grab under the piece in the front and pull up, SLOWLY. The stock lighting(if you have it) is attached pretty firmly and can get messed up a bit if you yank really hard:



Alright, so now you've got your shifter area bare. What I did was use an old speaker flipped upside down on it to collect metal shavings, there's a lot. I also put paper to cover the other side of the shifter area to keep metal in there to a minimum.

Here's the fun part that takes forever...drill down the center of your shifter as far as the normal bit will go, then get out the long bit and drill it out until you're past the plastic ring that holds the shift boot up:



This took me an entire hour...don't want to break off the bit or you're screwed.

After you've got it drilled out vertically, you'll want to drill one hole horizontally:



Notice the magnet on the right with the huge pile of shavings "Modern Art"

You'll need to drill all the way through so that when you put the wire in you can push it out the other side.

Now, for the hookup wire, I used the wire from an earpiece I bought at Radio Shack, just for the wire. It's about 20' long and the size of 18awg on the outer jacket, but double stranded on the inside. Very nice stuff, super flexible.

Basically, just run the wire down the hole, and push something in one side(I used my solder) and poke the wire out the other side. Solder the LED to the end of the wire sticking out the top and secure it. I did this using some rope caulk as it's non-conductive and allowed me to stick the LED down on top. Here's a pic of the LED just sitting there in it's rope caulk.



Now, with the wires sticking out the bottom, wire the resistor inline with the + wire from your LED...If you didn't pay attention to which wire was which, check the LED using a 3V battery, I just test with my cell phone battery.

Next thing is to cut the wires you're splicing into.

If you have the stock illumination and are splicing in there, white is + and black is -. Just cut both those wires, then connect the two cut - wires with the - wire from the LED, and the two + wires with the resistor.

If you do NOT have the stock illumination and are splicing into the cigarette lighter, white with a black stripe is - and black is +. Just do the same as the steps above but using the correct wires.

After you've got it wired up, test it out. Should look something like this:



You can use a larger resistor to make it less bright, but w/ the 470 it looks just like the stock under dash illumination. Here's a shot w/ the under dash on too for comparison:



It was a lot of work to get everything working, but I think it was worth it. Should also work with the leather **** as it has a mesh backing.

 

Did I scare everyone w/ this walkthrough

 

Personally, I wouldn't drill down the middle of the gear shift, I've heard stories of those things breaking without any additional weakening.

Is there no way to get this done without the hole.

I'll have a look later, but I'd probably run it up the boot and then on the dash side of teh **** drill and hole and feed the wire in from there, that way you'd have maybe 1/2" of wire on the outsidebut facing the dash so no one would ever see it.

Nice work by the way, really really nice.

I've always wanted a mod that had holes for each number and whatever gear you were an LED would light that number.

 

OOOooo...the lighting up #'s would be pretty sweet.

And unfortunately, the only way to do it w/o exposed wires is inside the rod. I slammed it around for quite a while and didn't snap anything...I figure, Oh well...If I do, short shifter time

 

......... that's kinda cool! :D

 

just so everyone knows.... mandos is a girl!!! LOL. j/k hahaha, now mandos has a blue ball... okay, im bored and ill shut up now. I'm handing out FREE bumps to anyones thread today, toss me a PM and get your FREE bump! LOL. Uh yeah, bye.

 

The drilling down the center of the shaft would not do anything to make it weaker, if anything it'll strengthen it. Drilling through the side, however, will create a weak point. Hollow cylinders are stronger than solid ones.

 

Indeed...I tried getting the hole through the side off centered so it wouldn't really be stressed as much, but I couldn't get the drill where I wanted it

 

Hey 'Fired Ron Burgundy' -Very nice DIY!! Maybe if the shavings you picked up with the magnet look like Jesus you can sell it on Ebay! (Just remember who gave you the idea. .) Still waiting for the EU Speaker set-up final pix.

 

Well done! I applaud you sir! This is a great DIY, and would love to do it but the difficulty scale on this project looks high. Great work though. Very ingenious!

 

Dang Mandos...always steppin out of the norm....SWEET

 

This...is....suh-weet! Very impressive! I had wondered how to get a illuminated shift **** w/o buying one of those crappy battery things they're pandering on ebay and what not.

I unfortunately am also hesitant to drill into the shifter too. Not that I Auto-X or anything, and am smalling through gears, but still, makes me weary.

I wonder if anyone could stress-test an old shifter leftover from a Short-shift mod and maybe see just how real, if any, the danger from breakage might be.

 

I'm convinced you could drill a small hole through the chrome ring at the top of the boot so you can pass the power cable through from the inside almost flush with the actual gear stick, and then drill a hole flush with the outside of the gear stick into the **** interior.
I think that would be barely visible.

 

Im surprised more people arent scared mandos, haha. Ive seen this in person and it looks very nice.

 

wonder if it can be done on a auto.

 

I don't see why it couldn't be done in an auto.

I'm currently trying to modify the leather shift **** to do this too...little trickier thanks to that metal plate under the mesh. Had it working, but you could see the LED=not cool.

Trying to figure out how to diffuse it before I release any pics

 

This is a freakin' sweet modification. My hat's off to you.

 

Golden idea?: What about taking a dremmel(sp) and cutting a small line in the surfaace of the shifter, this would allow for a mostly hidden wire and minimal structural breech to the shifter...

Just an idea.