1964 Barracuda 4spd Shifter Boot

grimreaper said

He had found a NOS so was seliing the Laysons. When I got it I compared the shape to my torn and deteriorated original and it was different. I put it in my car and it ripped in the folds in a few months. It's a shame something as simple as a shift boot can be so difficult.

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I had a similar experience when I bought a new bell housing clutch fork bellows. I put it in my 1964 /6 and within 100 miles it slipped inside and got chewed up. I ended up replacing it with the torn original and it's still in there. The repro was very thin compared to the original and never really "snapped" into the BH opening.

Since then I've been collecting parts for a 4 Speed swap and bought a BH from Brewer's in Columbus. I came across the Detroit Muscle Technologies booth and he actually let me borrow one of his bellows (without paying for it yet) and check it in my "new" BH. Wow, huge difference. It is heavy-walled and fits well.

Shout out to DMT, one of our vendors on here and one of the best. If he decides to make a shift boot you can count on good parts. Still over $100 for sure though.

And for what it's worth, a custom bellows is NOT a simple part to make. The mold is 2 piece and a good size. The cost is not in the finished part but in the tooling.