Don't butcher up a relic like that- - - - -there are plenty of replica pieces available on Ebay and elsewhere to modify for a shift knob. Most of them are cast aluminum, so they don't weigh neasrly as much as the real thing. I had one mounted on a wooden base with a big red tag with the number 1 on the pin ring and a label that said "Complaint Department- - - - -Take a Nunber!"
Jerry

"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln
Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt!
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway
Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!