This is not much of a DIY, but just wanted to see if it was possible. I bought a new manual shift boot panel from the dealer for my future manual conversion and decided to test fit it. If anything, this is an excellent upgrade(if it is possible) to those who have the pre-1998 auto shifter because they....are...just hideous looking IMO.
There are however negative effects to doing this conversion, if you have a gated shifter, you will not be able to shift to #1 since the bezel gets in the way. The positioning looks funny when in Drive. You will need to relocate or hide the ECT switch.

1st picture: Conversion while in Park
2nd picture: Conversion while in Drive
3rd picture: What needs to be removed to do this
4th picture: Before conversion

Looks good

I've been dying to do this saw someone do it on YouTube. You just removed the auto bezel and replaced it with the manual one?

Thanks, I've always liked how the manual bezel looks with the Lexus logo.

Yes, it's pretty straight forward, just remove the auto bezel and the stuff underneath and the manual one snaps right into place.

Would be cool if they made a wood grain manual bezel. I think it looks sick, I'm so tired of the 96 shifter. Your gated look wasn't bad at all though.

Definitely would do this, if I didn't have to relocate the ECT/SNOW switch & could shift to #1.

My gated shifter looks decent enough. Great work btw. Cool idea I'm sure many will follow.

Yea where would I put the TRAC(traction control) switch? Or ECT/PWR switch? I found a manual bezel with the heated seat options so that's cool I can keep those there, but what about the other two? I really want a clean looking ride, I probably won't mess with it. But I'm interested in any ideas on where to relocate the TRAC, and ECT/PWR buttons. Perhaps in the center console under the armrest somewhere...

Also comparing the bezels, the one with the heated seat switches doesn't have the Lexus logo....argh

Yo u can do this by hiding those buttons in the console and they will operate as long as you leave them plugged in.
That's so funny, the boot was one of my first buys for the 5speed swap.
Looks great op!!!!