DIY ZHP knob illumination
Hello folks,
Recently I had broken my OEM gear knob (the sealing compound that held it in place cracked, presumably due to the heat). So i wanted to replace it with something aftermarket and that still retained the //M illumination. The only knob that offered this was the Bimmian Illuminated gear knob. It is weighted, has a solid feel, but however, it was quite uncomfortable for me to use because of the heat. The metal would be steaming hot by the time i returned from a meeting and blah blah....
Bimmian knob pic below and a crappy night shot of the illumination:
Ordered a standard E46 ZHP weighted knob from turnermotorsports. I wanted to get the illuminated one from leatherZ but the unfortunately for the 6MT, i would have had to shell out an extra $115 on top of the $175 they charged on the knob and ofcourse the extra $66 for shipping. That's $356 for a damn knob. Hence, i wanted to do some DIY for the first time, if it didnt work, well, i had the bimmian for comfort and chuck the ZHP.
Received by ZHP in 3days, paid $65 for the product and $31 for shipping.
Started out with a blade/cutter to pop the //M 6MT emblems on both the OEM and the ZHP. No need for any special care while doing this. It can be removed fairly quickly. Once you pop the emblems on the OEM, remove the light diffuser card (white) and the plastic transclusent mould that hold the LED's and circuitry in place. Pull out everything along with the wires and this is what you will have to transplant into the ZHP. As i have been mislead on another forum, YOU CANNOT USE THE ZHP EMBLEM TO SHINE LIGHT THROUGH IT . It has to be the OEM emblem.
Pics below of the emblem removal & all the extracted items:
Next you will have to start chipping away at the rubbery hard material that sits just below the //M emblem on the ZHP. When it was getting real slow, i called my electrician, and we went to a workshop that does Laith works etc to start griding out that bit. Took about 20 mins. Itis a good idea to wrap the leather in some sort of tape to avoid scratching the surface while doing all this nonsense....
Pics below:
While the knob was getting a beating, i decided to swap the LED's from the orange to a white color in a normal electical shop in rolla, sharjah.
The finished knob alongside the OEM and ZHP 6MT emblems. This is when you can start doing the assembly. The circuitry along with the plastic mould will slip right in through a hole that you will have to drill through the centre/slightly off center. I got mine done at the same workshop. Once you are happy with the fitment sitting flush and all that, start applying the black silicon/silica glue that you would find in any car workshop. This is important and do not use superglue as the light will shine throught the edges if you do that!
My hands got very dirty while applying this glue and i could think of no other way to apply it.
Once everything is in place, tape the whole thing to hold the glue and pieces in place. I gave it about one hour before i went ahead to fix it in my car.
Now i dont know if this is a common problem with OEM BMW gear knobs, but while fixing the knob back onto the stick, you eventually chew the wires along the sides of the shaft. It happened on my OEM and the same happened to me on the ZHP and it was worse. I had to buy some sort of Teflon sheaths to cover the exposed wires to avoid a short. In the end, because of the width of this sheath, my ZHP would not slide in fully. IMO, it looks better than stock, better weighted and best of all, illuminated :woot:
Pic of the sheath
End Result :danceclub:
I could have made the ZHP to sit in the normal height but that would mean i will have to either change the wiring on the circuitry or abandon it altogether. Also i would need to file grooves along the sides of the knob for the wires. I may do all this later, but at the moment i am happy I did this by myself!!! :bmwflag:
I will put up one pic of the white illumination later at night as there is no point in clicking one now!! :D
Recently I had broken my OEM gear knob (the sealing compound that held it in place cracked, presumably due to the heat). So i wanted to replace it with something aftermarket and that still retained the //M illumination. The only knob that offered this was the Bimmian Illuminated gear knob. It is weighted, has a solid feel, but however, it was quite uncomfortable for me to use because of the heat. The metal would be steaming hot by the time i returned from a meeting and blah blah....
Bimmian knob pic below and a crappy night shot of the illumination:
Ordered a standard E46 ZHP weighted knob from turnermotorsports. I wanted to get the illuminated one from leatherZ but the unfortunately for the 6MT, i would have had to shell out an extra $115 on top of the $175 they charged on the knob and ofcourse the extra $66 for shipping. That's $356 for a damn knob. Hence, i wanted to do some DIY for the first time, if it didnt work, well, i had the bimmian for comfort and chuck the ZHP.
Received by ZHP in 3days, paid $65 for the product and $31 for shipping.
Started out with a blade/cutter to pop the //M 6MT emblems on both the OEM and the ZHP. No need for any special care while doing this. It can be removed fairly quickly. Once you pop the emblems on the OEM, remove the light diffuser card (white) and the plastic transclusent mould that hold the LED's and circuitry in place. Pull out everything along with the wires and this is what you will have to transplant into the ZHP. As i have been mislead on another forum, YOU CANNOT USE THE ZHP EMBLEM TO SHINE LIGHT THROUGH IT . It has to be the OEM emblem.
Pics below of the emblem removal & all the extracted items:
Next you will have to start chipping away at the rubbery hard material that sits just below the //M emblem on the ZHP. When it was getting real slow, i called my electrician, and we went to a workshop that does Laith works etc to start griding out that bit. Took about 20 mins. Itis a good idea to wrap the leather in some sort of tape to avoid scratching the surface while doing all this nonsense....
Pics below:
While the knob was getting a beating, i decided to swap the LED's from the orange to a white color in a normal electical shop in rolla, sharjah.
The finished knob alongside the OEM and ZHP 6MT emblems. This is when you can start doing the assembly. The circuitry along with the plastic mould will slip right in through a hole that you will have to drill through the centre/slightly off center. I got mine done at the same workshop. Once you are happy with the fitment sitting flush and all that, start applying the black silicon/silica glue that you would find in any car workshop. This is important and do not use superglue as the light will shine throught the edges if you do that!
My hands got very dirty while applying this glue and i could think of no other way to apply it.
Once everything is in place, tape the whole thing to hold the glue and pieces in place. I gave it about one hour before i went ahead to fix it in my car.
Now i dont know if this is a common problem with OEM BMW gear knobs, but while fixing the knob back onto the stick, you eventually chew the wires along the sides of the shaft. It happened on my OEM and the same happened to me on the ZHP and it was worse. I had to buy some sort of Teflon sheaths to cover the exposed wires to avoid a short. In the end, because of the width of this sheath, my ZHP would not slide in fully. IMO, it looks better than stock, better weighted and best of all, illuminated :woot:
Pic of the sheath
End Result :danceclub:
I could have made the ZHP to sit in the normal height but that would mean i will have to either change the wiring on the circuitry or abandon it altogether. Also i would need to file grooves along the sides of the knob for the wires. I may do all this later, but at the moment i am happy I did this by myself!!! :bmwflag:
I will put up one pic of the white illumination later at night as there is no point in clicking one now!! :D
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