Center console recover? How?

m5bb

m5bb

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I searched a number of differents way but no answer.

I think the key part of this is how much does a recover need to look like the original with the stitch along the vertical edge? My car is certainly not concours quality now.

It would not be hard to recover with matching black vinyl or leather?

Anyone have any special tricks for suppliers for this? :roll:

Saw the nice glove box recover earlier.

Gary
 
Hi Gary, that was my glove box, One of my next projects is the center console as well, I have thought long and hard about how to tackle this and have a plan formed.

Basically, I plan to cut two pieces of thin black vinyl to the shape of the curve + about 1/4- 1/2 inch, turn them face to face, saw around this curve keeping as close as possible to the edge, turn right side out, and hopefully it should fit over the timber inner, the trick is to get the saw'n seam into the grove on the edge of the board, once this has all been achieved, contact glue and a staple gun to hold in place.
It may take a couple of goes to get the shape just right, but I cant see any other way of doing this with fabric/vinyl

Good luck


Steve
 
kasbatts said:
Hi Gary, that was my glove box, One of my next projects is the center console as well, I have thought long and hard about how to tackle this and have a plan formed.

Basically, I plan to cut two pieces of thin black vinyl to the shape of the curve + about 1/4- 1/2 inch, turn them face to face, saw around this curve keeping as close as possible to the edge, turn right side out, and hopefully it should fit over the timber inner, the trick is to get the saw'n seam into the grove on the edge of the board, once this has all been achieved, contact glue and a staple gun to hold in place.
It may take a couple of goes to get the shape just right, but I cant see any other way of doing this with fabric/vinyl

Good luck


Steve
Click to expand...

Hey Steve,

I have the side console panels out because I did the AC a while back.
I hate putting crappy looking ones back in.

What I haven't done is take the covering off the panels. I did not know about the grove you are talking about. I will look at that tomorrow.
I had a similar idea with vinyl where to mate and sew the two pieces together and then turn them inside out which would make a stitched seam similar looking to the original.
The original vinyl must have been heat set on there and something was run along the seam to make that dimple stitched look.
Back to you after I take the covering off the wooden forms.
Thanks for the input as well.
Gary
 
I recently saw a restored car at CoupeKing which had the sides redone as close to OEM as I have yet to see. I should have taken a photo. I was quoted $250 to $300. That's a lot of money, but I understand that JustDashes charges about $500 and takes weeks.
 
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Yes your right, the original covering is a thermo formed (shrunk) heat set type of vinyl, so very hard to replicate exactly, even the guy that did my glove box couldn't do it without a huge amount of set up cost due to the double sided nature of the panels, he said it is very much an upholstery job.

Steve
 
as i remember, SFDon spoke about somebody that he has used ... and was going to take a pic of one. Don, any pics?
 
For my restoration we actually cheated a little and did them in black leather.

Only have a pic of the part around the stick so far. Still waiting for pics of the sides :(

Looks very nice and should last longer too.
 

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johanaxelson said:
For my restoration we actually cheated a little and did them in black leather.

Only have a pic of the part around the stick so far. Still waiting for pics of the sides :(

Looks very nice and should last longer too.
Click to expand...

I am still considering this as it is simple and would look very nice. I saw a car at Legends of the Autobahn that had them leather covered.
 
I will ask for pics of the console sides. I just think they are stored away waiting for them to get to installing them. OK sure, it is not 100% original but I think it will actually look better.

I am sure the guy can make some for you and ship, he has my A/C ones to use as a master.
 
I'm having my dash and AC consoles recovered and still have the original non-ac in very good shape. I went with a black vinyl which looks almost identical but I have not seen the finished results. You would think 2 months at the trim shop would be enough time, but you cannot rush greatness. I'll take pictures of everything once I finally get it back.
 
m5bb said:
I searched a number of differents way but no answer.

I think the key part of this is how much does a recover need to look like the original with the stitch along the vertical edge? My car is certainly not concours quality now.

It would not be hard to recover with matching black vinyl or leather?

Anyone have any special tricks for suppliers for this? :roll:

Saw the nice glove box recover earlier.

Gary
Click to expand...

For the console sides, I got some material, made it face-to-face, then did a reverse baseball stitch by hand after using the console sides as a template. Looks pretty good. I also put in some padding, since my knee is usually resting against the driver's panel during long drives.
 
Center Console Side Washers

I just had mine redone, and they didnt come out right. Ill try to post some photos. In the mean time, Im looking for the washers circled in the W&N photo below. Doesn't look like W&N sells them. These washers are conical and help offset the head of the screw from the padding on the center console sides. Anybody know where I can find them in the US ? TrueValue and Kragen didnt have them.


CenterConsoleWashers.jpg
 
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another option is to look at a sailboat hardware shop - i had a bunch of them on my old sailboat to attach wood rails to the fiberglass. the good news is that they will be in stainless steel
 
What I just used last week was chrome plated screws from a good hardware store that I found in the pullout bins and were labeled upholsterers screws.
They have a washer attached to them and look similar to the originals they just don't sink in as far. The washer is not as indented.
There is a similar washer like the original but here again not as deep, at good woodworking store but probably only in brass.
Sailboat is a good idea and stainless and sort of a matt type finish but here again washer will not be deep like original.
HTH
 
Thanks. But I don't think that's it. That type of screw and washer is generally available, but the part I once had has more of a conical shaped washer that's about 1/8" long. The part you show will compress the covering and padding around the mounting hole, but the OEM part keeps the head of the screw flush with the cover.
 
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