The other weekend when I had the Emperor’s center console off working on relocating the cigarette lighter 12V Power Outlet I noticed that the internal rubber shifter boot (#13) was all torn. This is what separates the outside from the inside and when it is torn it lets in a lot of heat from the transmission. You would think I would have noticed sooner, but the inside of a Miata can be warm to begin with, I live where it is kinda hot and it has probably been torn for awhile so I was used to it.
When the top rubber piece is ripped, more than likely the rubber part of the lower boot (#14) is shot as well. The lower one covers the opening on the top of the transmission keeping junk out of and gear oil in the turret where the shift lever enters. I ordered up some replacements.
Sunday afternoon I put them in. It took about an hour and most of that was trying to get the old hardened rubber bits off the the shift lever. The upper boot had sort of melded around the fatter part of the shifter (about D-cell diameter) so there was a lot of prying and tugging involved. The lower boot was rock solid and I could barely cut it with a razor knife from the smaller diameter (index finger sized) part below the fat part. Here is a photo of a shifter with the lower boot still on:
It’s after cutting off the lower boot that you realize to get the new one on, that little hole in the rubber part will have to do a big stretch to get over the fat part of the lever. Well, a little personal lubricant made short work of that job and it was actually harder sliding on the upper boot and it had a nice big hole.
Now that everything is all back together the shifts have a different feel. They still have that short precise throw, but putting it into 1st or 3rd gear you get a little push back from the now complete rubber boot. I wonder if I’ll notice when the rubber fails and rips?