I,ve tried the seach function and read close to a hour of previous post but still could use some help. I,ve got a 86 silver 2.8 coupe manual trans 5 speed plane janer, no power options, had it for 9 years and the best car I,ve ever owned. In the midst of repairing some major rust in the rear wheel wells and surface rust in the passenger and driver floor boards and every thing in out except the console which i,m thinking of doing to replace the carpets seeing I,ve got this far. My Question is after reading alot of posts and my service manual I do not understand how to remove the forward section of the center console that incorporates the heater knobs and can I just remove the shifter ball knob to allow the console to lift up over the remaining stick. The black ball knob will not unscrew, Is more force required or is there a lock screw somewhere? sorry for the long post Andy

I don't recall the manual shifter knob, I know the autos have either a snap ring or u shaped clip that comes out the front.

You have to take the shifter plate off to get to the bolts underneath. I think you need to remove the plate around the HVAC controls and then the shifter plate. The rest you will see after removing these.

You also need to lift the bottom liner to get to those bolts as well.

are you trying to save the carpet? if not a good ole razor and some brute force took mine out easy enough.and you can get molded carpeting with a console cutout so all you do is tuck new carpet in under the side.

OK thanks, Looks like I,ll have to remove the shifter stick from the tranny as well to get the console off. I was hoping just to remove the knob. Andy

No I am not trying to reuse my old carpet, Your post was excatlty what I was looking for and was just now trying to figure out how write a new post to describe my situation. Your post would help me very much, I,m looking for a moulded carpet, dove grey "I think" going(from classic industries carpet color catalogue). My body tag on the front rad support is missing so I think I nneed a light or dove grey carpet. Could you tell me where I could purchase this carpet without removeing the console, Even better in Canada? Great Info Thanks Andy

http://www.hawksthirdgenparts.com/carpet.aspx expensive as hell though... i like my 20 dollar method hahahaaha.