Mazda5 Shifter Upgrades

"LongbowMkII" (longbowmkii)
12/09/2016 at 12:41 • Filed to: Mazda5

When I first bought the Mazda5 the pleather shift boot was beginning to flake and, as seen, the knob label had gone out to pasture. Being ever the optimist, this was an excuse to upgrade.

First I went to a local fabric store and obtained a couple square feet of the mythical Alacantara. Or, as it’s more generally known microsuede. I found a nice medium blue that stands out a bit and is an homage to other Mazda special editions. Also breaks up the sea of silver and black. Having a MiL who enjoys crafting was very helpful and soon I had this:

Behold!

Also note the toolbox liner for the phone slot. Perfect for preventing your phone flying about when eurobeat spontaneously erupts as it is wont to do.

Next would be replacing the knob. A $25 dollar credit from Amazon I received God-knows-when and a plethora of choices awaited me. I went conservative and got a plain black ball, as no one offered a silver with navy shiftmap one.

Not quite

It left a bit to be desired, in fact, about an inch. In keeping with my theme of spending little to no money, I remembered a solution.

Perhaps a stack of washers is an inelegant solution, but the ease and price are hard to beat.

Other interior mods I hope to tackle soon are adding heated mirrors and a auto dim rear mirror. The car is prewired for them and should help through the icy, dark winter.

DISCUSSION (9)

Takuro Spirit > LongbowMkII
12/09/2016 at 12:47

I love heated mirrors. I wish I had them on every car I owned. Instead I carry the broken off blade of a combo scraper/squeegee in my car that fits the mirror glass perfectly for a quick wipe on cold or wet mornings.

Chariotoflove > LongbowMkII
12/09/2016 at 12:49

I like it! Only, I think you should have used a Magic 8 Ball. That way, your shifter could question your choices every time you change gears.

LongbowMkII > Takuro Spirit
12/09/2016 at 12:49

It’s one of those things you can overlook, especially getting three little ones in.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > LongbowMkII
12/09/2016 at 13:04

You could replace that stack of washers with a Urethane space you should be able to find one at you local hardware store and cut it to size

That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms > LongbowMkII
12/09/2016 at 13:09

Did anybody have a silver one with an engraved shift pattern? I’ve done a lot of acrylic paint fills on putters, and I’d imagine filling the shift pattern would have been pretty easy.

CalzoneGolem > LongbowMkII
12/09/2016 at 13:12

It looks so comfy.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > LongbowMkII
12/09/2016 at 15:28

MiL did a nice job sewing that. For the knob, and I’m not talking about Jeremy Clarkson, I’d have epoxied on a silver coin, maybe a fifty-cent piece; whatever had the closest diameter.

FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com > LongbowMkII
12/30/2016 at 09:21

Regarding the toolbox liner - one of the first things that I noticed when I test drove a VW GSW last year was that the door bins were lined with felt on the bottom. It was very thin, but it was still something better than the typical unlined plastic on the vast majority of mainstream cars. That’s the type of thing that doesn’t show up on spec sheets that separates slightly-more-expensive German cars from the sea of yawn-box American/Japanese/Korean models that are just fine if you don’t know any better. Speaking of which, I’m gonna go cut up some toolbox liner for the door pockets on my Subaru’s!

LongbowMkII > FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com
12/30/2016 at 09:41

I was thinking something thinner and more elegant initially, but you can’t argue with free. well, been sitting in the garage for God knows how many years.