Re: Brushed Aluminum Interior Bits

[tnas@euronet.nl (Tom Nas)]

"George S Achorn III" <coolidge@nicom.com> wrote:

>        Have you ever noticed in a Porsche 911 some of the optional aluminum
>interior pieces. I've seen a shiftknob with aluminum gearmap and partial
>aluminum shiftknob as well as partial aluminum handbrake handle. Personally
>I think it looks 100 times better than Carbon Fiber. The only problem with
>the Porsche stuff is that the gearmaps don't match my car and even if they
>did the knob alone (partial aluminum one) costs $600.
>        I've been thinking though. I have a buddy who was in my fraternity
>>whose
>family business is forging and casting metals, among them aluminum. Does
>anyone have any experiences with this? I am thinking about calling him for
>this reason. While I am no engineer or have no talent as far as designing a
>mould, a great way to start would be prying the plastic cap off of the top
>of my shifter knob in my Jetta (anyone know how it is attached) and using
>it as a model for the mould. If I could cast an aluminum piece the same
>size and shape (off the Jetta the gearmap is engraved) and finish it with a
>brushed surface, adding it to the knob would give a great look.
>        What I am looking for here is feasibility before I call my buddy
>and >get
>him to laugh at my request. Does anyone know what kind of problems I may
>run into here?

You might be interested to hear that Kamei sells two types of aluminium
knobs- very good-looking items. One 'Cup style' is smooth in design, with
three narrow black rings around it for grip. The other one is 'DTM style'
with two rubber rings and six bolts around the shift pattern on top of the
knob (hope this makes some sense- slightly hard to describe). Both have
(very cool) illuminated shift patterns in red or green and fit gearsticks
from 8 to 14.5mm diameter. Several shift patterns are included.
If you have a source for Kamei items- part numbers for the 'red' versions are
3 9146 for the Cup version and 3 9148 for the DTM version.
If you're interested, I can scan the pics from the Kamei catalogue and
e-mail JPEGs. If I recall correctly, these are not too expensive.

All disclaimers apply...

HTH,

Tom


 _______________________________________________________________________
 Tom Nas                                          Zeist, The Netherlands
 tnas@euronet.nl

           "The prince wants your daughter for his wife."
              "Well, tell him his wife can't have her."
                                         -- Blackadder III