Son's 81 GL has the leather cover OVER the rubber accordian boot. This particular cover was designed for that and there's no way it will fit without the rubber boot and seal out noise, fumes, heat. So it's a dress-up accessory. And it's aged, color faded, cracked, etc...but still looks cool in a funky way.

Properly installing the rubber shifter boot has got to be one of my highest frustration-to-apparent-simplicity-of-task ratio jobs on the car! The damned little plastic clips/fasteners that go through the boot's base and into the holes in the tranny tunnel are good for one time only. Once pulled, they seem to lose their serrations and don't grip securely. I've pressed them home again and again while praying for a miracle. POP - out comes the boot. (OK,OK, thanks for listening.)

Check any junkyard boot VERY carefully for ripping/cracks, particularly on the front fastener holes. If you can get the eBay one for about $14 go for it. ("Buy it Now" for $19.99)The guy wants $6 to ship so that's $20 all in. Then you have to get new clips from IPD (only place I know of) at $1.50 each and you better get the required 4 plus 2 spares.

If it was me I'd shell out $22 for IPD's boot plus order the fasteners, and with their reasonable shipping charges, overall there won't be that much $ difference and they are really great about taking back anything that you are not happy with.
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Bob (81-244GL B21F, 83-244DL B23F, 94-944 B230FD plus grocery-getter Dodge minivan, MGB, and numerous old motorcycles)