Thank you to Raymond Lee for my 8 month belated birthday present.
I installed the new shift knob today with the old boot. I am not a fan of the leather boot plus it does not really go well with the rest of the alcantara set up in the car. Overall I am really satisfied with the way things turned out.
So let's begin with the write up.
The first step I tried was using a heat gun and heating up the middle ring while pushing down the leather inside out. Causing the glue to melt a little and giving me more room to work with. Then I press on the tab on the left and it release the ring from that side. The other two tabs are larger and I just ended up breaking them off. Pretty much the ring is used to keep the cloth from dropping too low from the shift knob itself. I did not reattach the ring to the knob. I will see how it works over the next week or two before I add a cable tie or something to hold it in place.
I made two snips into the leather boot to remove the wiring from the shift boot.
Followed by snipping the plastic on the right from the ash tray holder wires.
Reinstalled everything
I will have some photos once it gets dark. Along with my feeling/opinions towards this knob and lighting.
All photos are here - http://imgur.com/a/mjGTR#0