Perhaps this will help the next poor novice who replaces the shift knob on his auto trans 940 ...

Knew knob in hand, I read the FAQ and thought "I think I can".

Removing the OD cutout switch was easy, though there was NO slack in the wires & I barely had room to get the wire cutter on them. Cut the wires, NOT the switch tabs. Note that the switch itself sits inside a housing which fits into the knob. Remove the housing, with the switch inside.

Feeling good ....
Unfortunately, the existing shift knob did not pull easily off its steel tube. Even pump pliers whacked with a heavy hammer wouldn't budge it.

Being from the "bull in a china shop" school of auto repair, I went for the "take the existing knob to pieces" approach. So I started cutting the knob "head" off at the switch hole with my wire cutter pliers.
Without thinking things through, I snapped the head off after cutting part way around each side - and managed to break the plastic rod that runs up inside the shift arm. Much cussing ....

At least the break was clean & flat & accessible.

I finally got the knob off with a LARGE screwdriver. I placed a hammer handle cross-wise across the console, to spread the forces, then put the screwdriver blade under the shift knob (screwdriver facing fore-and-aft) and levered against the hammer handle. The screwdriver blade cracked the bottom of the knob enough to free the latches inside the knob.

How to repair the plastic rod, my way -
I drilled a small diameter hole lengthwise into each piece to accept a metal pin (for mechanical strength) and used super-glue gel. I also shrunk some heat-shrink tubing around the joint, but later had to remove it.

Now for the switch wires -
I soldered a 1" piece of wire to each, insulating the solder joints with shrink tubing (easy with a heat gun, harder with a cigarette lighter). Tin the free ends with solder.

Putting the new knob on was easy -
Ran a piece of string through the new knob to pull the switch wires up.
Push the shift knob down on the steel tube until it snaps into place (check the selector release button action), solder the OD switch to the wires, push the switch into place. As I pushed the switch back in, I pulled gently on the wires beneath the P-N-D-1 housing, reaching through the "brush" trim that runs along each side of the shift lever path.

Now I need to find a 1" (25mm) socket to remove the oil drain plug ...