[IanMc]

Hi All,

I hope that everyone is managing to cope with lockdown? I know its tough in many different ways for different people, hang in there - we will get through this rubbish!

Last weekend I started thinking about covering my center console. With my car being an automatic, I suppose it does have a little bit more to break up the bland blank slab of plastic, but that probably clutching at straws a little.

Here is a photo of the layout and colours I am starting with:

Now, you can certainly argue that the console does match in well with the Black of the bottom of the dash and that it looks 'OK' - but that my problem I guess, it's just OK...

So after removing it earlier, here are a few ideas using some of cuts of materials used on the car so far.

1) Wrap the whole thing in the same Burgundy Leatherette I used to remake the top door caps and the seat covers:

2) Wrap it in the same Black stretch carpet I used in the boot project (see a few pages above...):

3) A combination of the two:

I think that I am erring towards using the Black stretch carpet. That will maintain the original look/colour scheme, but just 'soften' the look and feel considerably.

What do you, the experts, think?

 

[Dorchester]

I admire very much your work with Burgundy Leatherette but covering the center console with it looks a bit too much for me.
Better to stick with the black IMHO. But I'm not at all an expert... then...

 

[Roverlike]

Black colour is dividing and fulfilling the interior look as it should be. So if you want to put something, I would suggest black theme in order to preserve line braking.

 

[IanMc]

I have decided to simply wrap the console in the same Black stretch carpet as I used in the boot. That way, I or anyone else, can simply rip it off and remove any glue residue with thinners and its back to stock again.

Typically, the carpet I had left over was about four inches too short to comfortably cover the console, so I have just ordered little bit more.

To make this tie in a little better with the lower half of the dash etc, I decided to use what I did have left to recover the foot well panels. I had previously used Burgundy Leatherette for these, but that came off pretty easily - here is the first one done (the Passenger side).

I will probably do the Drivers side tomorrow - its too damn cold in the garage at the moment!

 

[IanMc]

When I found that the water had entered the boot and caused some mold etc, it also affected the workshop manual that I had behind the spare wheel. Even though I have a near perfect one indoors, I like to also keep one in the car for obvious reasons.

So when I discovered the soggy one in the boot, I decided to order a new 'spare'. That turned up yesterday and whilst thumbing through it earlier to see its general condition a couple of folded pages fell out. It turned out to be an old Car Mechanics brake article from 1984.

There is nothing in it that any of us probably dont already know, but I thought that you might be interested to hear the story and see the article anyway. So here it is:

 

[Roverlike]

Thank you!

 

[dert]

Interesting article, especially the picture showing how the pins are drifted out of the front pads…..many years ago I had a Mk2 1.8 Astra GTE, I used to go through front pads around every three month, when changing the first time it took me around 2 hours as I didn't realise the pins holding the pads had to be removed by using a drift from the inner side...(if I recall correctly) rather than just being able to drift out by hitting from the front of the callipers...after learning the correct way to remove the pins the job became easier to the stage where I could jack up the car and change passenger and driver side front pads in 5 minutes from having both wheels on the ground to start to putting the wheels back on after changing the pads 😊

 

[IanMc]

If you do a Google search on the author (Joss Joselyne) of the article, it seems as if he has written a lot of car maintenance books and guides etc

 

[IanMc]

As the weather is pretty dire outside at the moment, I decided to try to occupy some time by making a start on the covering of the center console with the same Black stretch carpet used in the boot.

The new piece ordered arrived a couple of days back, so off we went:

First job is to cut a piece big enough (obviously!) and put the excess to one side. I chose to leave loads of overlap to take around the back to make adhesion easier - well that was my thinking, so hopefully it works out that way...

Next get yourself to a well ventilated area and clean all of the surfaces with thinners, or something similar:

As well as getting rid of any dashboard cleaners etc (that might affect adhesion), you will be amazed at how much muck comes off of something that you had previously thought was clean!

Its very easy to overlook the smaller items, in my case the infill panel in front of the handbrake (is that perculiar to the autos?) and the screw covers. So give those a clean too:

As I was getting cold in the garage (remember I'm a Southern Softie

), I decided to start with the small bits first, so I could go back in for a warm up.
Using your upholstery adhesive, spray the top surface of the part and the back face of the carpet - you have to think about this a little bit, otherwise you end up with a sticky mes to remove with your thinners - dont ask me how I know this

After leaving everything for a few minutes place the parts on the carpet and press them together, 'contouring' as required. Then run indoors like a little girl because its cold and leave everything to dry.

To be continued, as/when I feel brave enough.

Enjoy your weekend everyone - stay safe!

 

[IanMc]

Feeling brave again, off I went to the garage to do a bit more on the center console.

Firstly, assemble the things that you will need (as well as the stretch carpet of course!) = a rag and thinners for adhesive over spray and sticky fingers, some plastic trim tools to put the carpet into the corners and some sharp scissors to remove excess material.

I thought it would probably be easier to start at one end and work my way down. With that in mind I applied adhesive to the top surface of the first few inches of the console, and the underside of the carpet:

Then off you go with the pressing, forming stretching and swearing

Have a plan in your head, but be prepared to adapt if you need to. I started with the middle section of the widest end and went from there:

Then slowly worked backwards, a bit like pulling a sock on:

Dont forget to apply adhesive to the return/underside of the console too to get a really good bond:

Eventually you should end up with something that looks like this:

As its still very cold out there, I am going to let everything dry overnight, then cut the slots and holes etc tomorrow.

So far, so good - I really like it!

I hope that might give somebody else some ideas or inspiration?

 

[Dorchester]

Nice & neat result!
Waiting now the assembly to see the general effect before / after.

 

[Roverlike]

Very nice result. I love it! Excellent work!

 

[IanMc]

With everything drying nicely overnight, it was time to do the final trimming.

I bought myself a really sharp set of dress making scissors before I started the seat covers (approx £10) and they are as sharp today as when I got them - highly recommended. Use these for this part of the job as they are sharp/cut right to the tip - perfect for those awkward places

I chose the start with the auto box gear selector cut out. As always with these things: think, plan, check, cut.

Then I moved on to the handbrake cut out. Remember to make sure that any locations for plastic 'tangs' are kept clear, otherwise you will have great problems when you refit.

You will notice the White residue of adhesive left when parts of the carpet are cut away. This is very easily removed from the plastic parts and also the face of the carpet too if you are as clumsy as me with sticky fingers etc

Please dont forget to expose the locating screw holes to hold it in the car either, I nearly did!

Simply feel them with your fingers, then put a small screwdriver through the carpet to make a hole. I then cut slits in the carpet around the hole, then pushed the carpet down into the recess with my fingers to form the hollow for the screw and its cover.

Now all you need to do is go and fit it to your car... (photo to follow later).

 

[IanMc]

And with it now back in the car.

You will notice the four screw covers are not fitted and that's because they dont!

Basically the thickness build up of the carpet around the holes, means that they are far to tight to fit without smacking them in. I will either trim away the excess carpet from the hole itself or sand the caps down a little to make them very slightly smaller. Almost certainly I will do the former with my sharp scissors.

Overall, I'm very happy with the result though, I think it does improve the car.

Have a nice day everyone.

 

[Dorchester]

What a luxury car now ! Whaoo ! 😜

 

[IanMc]

What a luxury car now ! Whaoo ! 😜

Thanks mate, much appreciated

 

[Roverlike]

Excellent result! You can be proud!

 

[barkingdog]

Nice to see the project updates. They look great.

 

[doug 600]

nice to see you back and glad your sons better great job on the consul mate