Hi Coffee,

The owner is a one-man operation. i would give him an e-mail to get an update on your order. For me, i had to wait until he finished a really large group buy order for a Subaru forum, so it took about 4 weeks (he let me know ahead of time that there would be a wait, though).

 

I went ahead and emailed Chris at WC Lathe Werks for an update on my order.

He quickly responded with an updated lead time and explained that he is backed up with orders.

My knob should be made tonight and shipped tomorrow, so definitely looking forward to my new toy!!

For those of you placing an order, I would strongly consider the $5 option to expedite production...I wish I had!!

Anyway, thumbs up to Chris for excellent customer service and the quick reply. I'm sure his product is top notch, based on the backup of orders he has!

 

It's a very, very good product. Ive had mine about a year now and still no scratches or discoloration on my knob.

If you google his company, literally thousands of Subaru owners have and love his products. He does a crazy amount of sales.

I've actually been thinking about getting another knob (piston style w/ leather wrap) for the winter.

 

Great share Tofu. I ordered one as well. Could you summarize how you swapped the knobs? Thanks!

 

My shift knob arrived today!

I have to say I am very happy with the product. Feels so solid and great in hand, and the shifts feel so definite and confident.

Me like!

WagonvanMan,

Installation was fairly straightforward. Technically easy but somewhat physically difficult...emphasis on "somewhat."

Just takes a touch of muslce and you'll be fine.

The stock shift knob simply unswcrews counter clockwise off of the threaded shaft. The silver plastic ring and shift boot will want to follow the knob because of plastic tabs inside the knob that attach it to the silver ring.

So simply twist the ring clockwise a quarter turn and the tabs release. Freeing the knob to unscrew all the way off...

Test fit the new shift knob by screwing it on the threaded shaft. Take note of how centered the engraving is and make adjustments through the set screw inside the knob using the supplied Allen key.

That's it...simple as pie. Easy peasy. Three min job.

I did however come across a little dilemma. I suspect my shift knob wasn't as deeply threaded as Tofu's. Even with the interior set screw set as far in as possible, I had plenty of play between the silver collar and the bottom of the knob.

According to Tofu's review, his knob screwed in low enough to hold the silver ring and shift boot in place.

To solve, I wrapped blue painters tape halfway up the small nub of the shift knob. This gave the nub enough thickness for the silver collar to grab on to. I wrapped it enough that it was a pretty tight fit.

All in all...I'm happy. The engraving is a little shallow. My "R" is missing the top line...but I'm not going to be picky.

I waited 28 days for this knob...I'm gonna live with a half "R" for sure!

It's not like I don't know where reverse is

And thanks to Tofu for your research and discovery and for sharing your find.

 

Glad you like your knob Coffee. But that sounds like a QC issue. I'd send pictures back to WC to show him. He'd probably refund you some money for the imperfections (not sure, just guessing. he's a nice guy)

installation instructions are as Coffee said above

 

After driving with my WC Lathewerks stainless steel shift knob for the past few weeks, I decided take a step backward and test out the feel of the stock knob for comparison.

I must say, I might prefer the feeling of the stock knob. One thing is for sure; there is waaaayyyy more tactile feedback with the stock, making it very clear if throw was successful.

The weighted shift knob feels great for faster throws, but I've noticed moments where tactile feedback is ambiguous and, as a result, I'm not sure I've engaged a gear fully.

Granted, I've got like 6 months of driving with the stock knob and only about a month of using the weighted knob. I think I'll continue to try it out for a little longer.

There's a chance I'll decide to sell the knob at a discount either directly to someone on this forum or perhaps just on eBay. I'll be sure to post an update if this happens.

 

WagonvanMan,

Did your shift knob thread in enough to hold down the plastic collar,
or was there still plenty of play between the knob and the collar?

 

It loosely held the collar in place, but shifting up and down through the gears meant plenty of play. It didn't bother me that much but it is noticeable. I considered using tape or adhesive to prevent this, but got over it rather quickly.

 

Glad I came across this thread. Might have to get myself an early birthday gift. My only concern is it looks like a couple of people had issues with the fit of the collar. Definitely interested in this though.

TofuShop, any chance you still have the measurements to get that perfect fit?

 

Just placed an order for a titanium version. I thought heavier would always be better, but WagovanMan's post makes me think that a knob somewhere in the middle weight-wise would be the perfect balance between faster, better feeling shifts, and good communication through the shifter itself. I'll let you guys know how it goes.

 

Titanium could be the ideal choice depending on your preferences. Now that I've been using my steel knob for several months, it's become one of my favorite modifications. Throws are short and sweet and my concerns about ambiguity have vanished after daily use. Look forward to reading your impressions on the titanium.

 

So I received and installed the knob already! Been driving around for the past day and a half and I'm loving it!

I got the titanium knob with grooves around the bottom half, with the shift pattern engraved on top, in the "blue to bronze" flame surfaced color except I asked for a lot of purple instead of blue because my car is the Passion Berry Purple color, and Chris hooked me up!

The knob is truly a work of art. As others have said, pictures don't really do the thing justice. At first it seemed a little small, but it actually is the perfect size for the palm of my hand (my hands aren't overly large or small for an adult male's hands, basically average size). It looks absolutely great. The purple to bronze color fits very well with the car, even though the bronze should technically clash, it's very subdued and only towards the bottom so it works.

In terms of weight, I think it's perfect. It weighs about 4-4.5 times as much as the stock knob, while the stainless steel version weighs about 8 times as much as stock. I never used an aftermarket knob before, so I didn't really expect it to make THAT much difference in shifting feel, I got it more for cosmetics. However, it really does make a difference, even though it's not the heavier steel one.

Before the shifter would be very smooth and characteristically "Honda light." Now every shift remains very smooth, but feels much crisper, kind of like a Ford ST shifter. Every shift lands the shift stalk in the gate with a much more satisfying "thunk." Not overly heavy, but very satisfying. I never thought a half pound ball of metal (beautiful as it may be) could ever make this much of a difference.

Also, the knob itself sits much lower on the shift stalk. It's not a true short-shifter, but it sits low enough that it feels pretty damn close. On top of the feel of the shifts, the sporty short throw action is like the icing on the cake.

In terms of titanium vs steel, I think it's a personal choice. I am personally happy I went with titanium instead, despite the higher price. I am sure that plenty of people will be happy with the steel, and I can definitely see why people would prefer the heavier steel version to the middleweight titanium. My preference stems from the fact that I thinkt he steel would just be a little too heavy for this particular car. In the Fit, lightweight and snappy is the name of the game. I think the stock shifter was actually much too light. It was smooth and sweet, but wasn't truly sporty because of that lightness. But a heavier knob, to me, is something that would belong in a more hardcore sports car, and it just doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the light, tossable Fit. The titanium knob feels good and solid while remaining precise and communicative. I really think it's a personal preference, but I feel like the steel knob would go well in something like my BMW which is a heavier and more powerful car.

Anyway, that's my impressions, and let me tell you guys I'm REALLY impressed and happy with this purchase. Even though a triple digit priced shift knob seems like an excess, especially on Honda's "cheapest" vehicle, I think it changes the character of the shifter so much that it's something that every manual transmission owner should consider.

Here's some pictures, please excuse the dirtiness it's been a while since a good interior cleaning: