The fifteenth modification, 8 Ball Gear Knob

The OEM gear knob on the PT Cruiser is a love it or hate it kinda thing and personally, I hate it!

It looks like a cross between a ping-pong ball and a cue ball from a billiards table, it just had to go:





(Yeah, yeah, I know, the car needs hoovering and the mats need washing and if ever it stops bloody raining, I'll do it!)

A firm called The PT Company (based in the UK) sell a range of replacement gear knobs for the Cruiser and for my Birthday last week, some people I work with kindly had a whip round and bought me the 8 Ball gear knob (thanks again guys and gals!) from The PT Company.

Fitting was quite straight forward, the old gear knob is attached by some sort of internal spring clip arrangement (no glue!) and to remove it simply place an open-ended spanner underneath the old gear knob and give it a quick sharp tap upwards with a hammer. Watch your head though as the old gear knob will fly straight upwards at about 100mph!

Side by side, the new gear knob is a lot bigger than the old one. Partly due to it being a real pool ball and partly due to the adapter attached to the bottom of it to make it fit the PT Cruiser gear lever:





With the old gear knob removed, you can see the tapered edge of the gear lever and a little recess when the internal spring clip of the old gear knob attaches itself:



Onto this tapered edge attaches the new adapter which converts the gear lever tapered fitting into a screw thread. The adapter itself is tapered internally so will only fit on one way, with the allen bolt on the rear of the adapter positioned so you can't see it when fitted (bloody awkward photo to take!):



With the adapter in place, the 8 Ball gear knob then simply screws onto the thread. When fully tightened, it was about an 8th of a turn off center and this bugged me a bit so I undid it again, put a few drops of SuperGlue over the threads, refitted the 8 Ball, lined it up straight and then just left it over night to set.

The end result, a perfect fit and perfectly straight:





Modifications to date: Parrot CK3100 Bluetooth Hands Free Phone Kit, Debadged Tailgate, 'Semi-Stealth TomTom' Satellite Navigation, Chrome Wheels, Chrome Belt Line, Chrome Indicator Bulbs (Front), Chrome Fuel Door, Clear Side Repeaters, Chrome Indicator Bulbs (Sides), Altezza Rear Lights, Chrome Indicator Bulbs (Rear), Chrome Door Handle Recess Trims, Stealth iPod FM Transmitter, Mopar Front Fog Lights.