My center console lid was horrible...the plastic frame inside broke and all the foam was rotted out. I could never seem to find a decent one in the junkyards either...I always had the idea of making my own, but I just never got around to it until today, took me about 2 hours to make. I just got a piece of wood and measured the dimensions on the conole. I had a 1" high piece...and I rounded off the corners with a Dremel made a nice rounded shape. Then I cut some vinyl with about 2.5" overlap. I put a light coat of upholstery glue on the vinyl and stretched it over the wood. I placed the vinyl in front of a heater for a couple minutes to get it really pliable and easy to stretch. I smoothed the top down then I foled the corners in and I stapled them down. I then foled the sides in and trimmed some excess vinyl off (the glue here helped also, because it was not quite dry, but it allowed me to stretch and place the fabric where I needed it). I placed a little more glue on the sides and gave it a final nice stretch and smoothed it out and then I stapled the sides down as well. Then I just put it in the car...oh yeah you have to drill the holes for the hinge too =) To give it a more finished look I plan on buying some felt or something and covering the wood and staples that show up on the bottom. Overall I think I did a decent job its a whole lot better than what was in there. I think I may have been able to do the corners better, the front driver's side corner is a bit too bulky, I managed to make the other ones look better...too bad they're the ones that you hardly see =/ I don't care that it doesn't have the little locking mechanism either, the wood is heavy enough to keep the lid down. In the end I'm happy with it and I only spent like $8.

 

looks good, thanks for the idea!

 

Good Idea... Turned out nice.

 

This is worse then the wooden t-top holders. But, i guess if your on a very tight budget it looks better then a busted console lid.

 

looks fine to me, sure beats paying for a new one since most yard finds are ruined, maybe just smooth those corners out, no one will notice unless they gotta pick the car apart peice by peice

 

Always good to see folks making stuff for their rides!

If you ever make another, I might suggest spray glueing about an inch of thick foam on the wood before you cover it with the vinyl, would be more comfy and would help with the rounding of the corners a bit. Also, it would look cool to glue a strip of welting around the outside edge, that would hide the corner folds and you could put the seam in the back. By welting I mean something like the vinyl detail strip, about 3/4 inch wide that's sewn onto most 3rd gen door panels.

Kudos for your creativity!

 

Ouch! That hurt...and it should be than not then =P I never thought my lid would be compared to a fur covered 2X4. I think in the car its hard to tell its not stock, the corner folds show, but they're really not that big a deal, its a lot better than what I had in there. Its not so much that I'm on a budget, but its hard to find a good 82-84 Firebird lid, I believe they may still be available from the dealer, but at something like over $100. I'd rather spend my $8 and save the $92 for a better mod.

Yeah I thought about getting some batting or foam, but I think it's fine without it, its not uncomfortable sat all, the vinyl has some cush to it. I think the edges are round enough, I spent a good amount of time with the dremel rounding out the edges and the corners. The place I went to is specifically an auto upholstery shop and they only sell stuff by the yard, so I wasn't about to get a yard of foam. I lucked out on the vinyl though. I wanted less than a yard, but said what the heck, I'll find some use for the extra material somewhere...well when they got the roll of vinyl there hardly was any left, less than a yard, so he sold me the left over material for cheap. I guess I could of gone to a different place for the foam where I know they sell less material, but it was kind of out of my way from where I was. I'll see if I can get some of that welting you're talking about though, or perhaps I can have my aunt make it on her sewing maching since I have a bunch of material left, thanks for the idea.

I'll take a picture of the old lid tomorrow...you can already see it in one of the pics, but I'll show the underside where its all nasty.

 

Well here is how I completed the restoration of my center console after making my own lid.

Some of the pieces in my console were cracked and the little screw ears were broken or badly cracked. I found some that were in better condition than the ones in my car, but they still needed a little attention. They were faded and could use some refreshing. I took my console apart and cleaned it very very well with some purple power. I let it soak in pure concentrated purple power and brusehd the little crevices with a tootbrush and got all the grime and gunk off. After I rinsed them well and let them dry I cleaned them with a serface prep cleaner that is suppose to remove oils and other contaminates off and allows paint to stick on better, I found at Home Depot. I cleaned it as per the container's instructions and I put on some rubber gloves to not get any of the oils from my hands on the pieces. I then sprayed on a couple coats of Bull Dog paint adhesion promotor and let that dry. I followed by painting with Plasti Kote bumper paint in black semi gloss. On the can it said it was for flexible and hard plastics such as trim pieces and bumpers so I figured it would work well with my console. I sprayed on about 3 coats and these are the results. Once they were dry I tried to scratch the paint off and it wouldn't that paint it stuck on there good.


Here is the before picture again to see how it looked followed by some after pictures

 

Nice job with the console bro How does the paint compare to the dash and stuff? My console is a little faded and I was thinking of doing something like you.

 

I think the paint matches pretty well. Since its semi-gloss its pretty much right on and doesn't clash with anything else. I plan on redoing a few other interior pieces the same way. If the paint ever does chip or anything at least those pieces are black to begin with and will not show. Overall I'm very satisfied with the way it came out.

 

Very nice job, I'd be quite proud of your work!

 

Dude wtf.

SC, I think it looks damn good, and props on caring about the appearance of your interior

btw, you could always make a magnetic latch, like in home entertainment centers, push down to get enough to put fingers under the lid to pull off the magnet.....just an idea

 

You don't push it so you can pull the other door open, it's supposed to pop the door out. Push in and release.

And that interior looks TONS better all cleaned up.

 

Nice to see we have such friendly people here

I think it looks great. Much better than the ripped up ones I am used to seeing in Camaros. Did you put down any foam underneath? I know I like to lean sometimes on my console so I like it soft It was nice meeting you by the way at Sonics

 

My only comment would be to try doing the vinyl wrap again. If you can learn how to do the corners better, and maybe radius the edges of the wood a bit more consistantly, I think it will look great.

I suspect that people's comments are due to the amaturish appearance of the finished product. With a little practice, your vinyl work can be good enough that it'll look just as good as stock.

The important thing to remember for good vinyl work is to buy the good quality stuff (like, NOT the stuff from Jo-Ann Fabrics), and use a heat gun to help get extra stretch and flexability in corners. Use spray adhesive on both surfaces and let it tack up before you start. Between the spray adhesive and the heat from the heat gun, you'll be able to work the vinyl into the shape you need and it'll stick there instead of requiring staples on the underside. With some practice you'll be able to stretch the vinyl with no folds or wrinkles.

 

looks good..

to carry on from what he said.... id also lay a thin layer of foam under teh vinyl so that its a little softer.

but good job... atleast now they'll be one thirdgen that doesnt have a cracked console lid... most do.

 

Yeah the foam thing was mentioned earlier. I agree...but I explained why I didn't do it and I think its fine actually I don't mind it, its not uncomfortable at all. As for the corner appearance if you look at the last set of pictures of the before and after. If you notice I re-did the corner and it looks a lot better.

 

Everyone over reacted to what i said. While the lid does show good craftsmanship (i know I couldn't make it heh). To me wood just dosn't belong in a car especialy not to replace a stock part. Also, i didn't realize that the lid was different than what was in the camaro so i thought it looked different then what it's supposed to. Sorry to everyone that took it so harshly. I'm normaly not an a**hole, i must have been in a bad mood or somethin.

However, i think you did a great job on refinishing the plastic .

 

wood is widely used by stereo shops in custom applications (subwoofer cabinets, mounts for monitors, etc). its easy to work with and form in any fashion, and works just as well as metal or oem plastic or foam provided it doesn't get wet.

 

i did something similar a while back, and posted a pick or two. dont have my computer here, though, so no pics....you would have to search for my post about console or interior. i used foam under the vinyl, and i stitched the sides, so the corners are tidy.

good job though, i hated my old one too, and the bone yard ones all suck too. boo gm. boo.

 

After seeing the console, I seriously would have a hard time stopping myself from saying "Now what bitch!" ... That console is clean, great job man. I challenge you to make the better dash pad.

 

I was able to test his new wooden console lid with my elbow... quite comfortable. I hardly noticed it wasn't stock, especially my elbow. Too bad you don't have a woodgrain interior to go with your wooden console lid.

 

 

It does look better, and that was just your 2nd attempt. By the time you do it a few more times, it'll look like a pro did it.

Don't ever settle for medocrity, or that's the best you'll ever have.

 

It looks so much better, especially with the refinished plastic, great job.

 

i dont mean to be mean , but this is the reason thirdgens get a bad rep with some people. I mean thats all cob. Spend the 100 bucks and buy a new console lid and buy a new console. You can still see that one dent or whatever it is in the console. I mean its painted so it cant look too good. I mean keep it stock , buy new parts, and if you cant afford to do it right dont do it at all. Their is a lot of cob work like this going on , on this board and everyone sees it and is like, ooh thats great it look awesome. I look at it and say , omg, it looks like crap. I mean maybe its me. I go to car shows with my car and thats why maybe i have this attitude, and maybe its also becasue i only drive my trans am to car shows, drag races , on dates and special occasions. I mean less than 3000 miles a year and no winters. 56xxx miles on it. But still i dont like to see cob work like this. Everyone just sees it and is like o thats great , well the console isnt , its a piece of wood and then it looks like crap . Im sorry to rant but i mean its true and i know im not the only one who thinks like this.

 

people like you are why people in the show car business dont show you how they put the car together.

i could elaborate, but im wasting my breath.

 

what do you mean by that , do you mean that i probably wouldnt want to see the way things are built. like the way boyd coddington builds his hot rods with a bunch bungholes workin for him .If i do something i do it right the first time, so i dotn have to do it again.

 

eeh, not what i had in mind, but yea.. similar to that.


your problem is what is "right"

frankly, the stock console lid is a piece of ****. a flat out cheap, crappy weak piece of **** that cannot take the weight of someone elbow on it. from the 3rdgen, S10 and other consoles of the 80s/early 90s, GM finally learned and actually started putting some bracing in there... but overall, its crap.


his console lid looks stock, feels fine, and is actually strong enough to lean on. i think you're still hung up on the building material.
high end cars STILL have wooden parts in them today. parts of CF/fiberglass tubbed cars have wood embedded in them.. C5s have balsa WOOD floors..

but ignorance is bliss. enjoy your "superior" stock console lid and i hope you can find another good one when that one cracks from normal usage.

 

mine must be superior , it hasnat cracked in what 19years of use. SO i guess it is. As a matter of fact the whole interior is stock except for the floor mats, and the radio and speakers. And nothing was wrong with the radio except it didnt have a cd. So i mean if you take care of it, the **** will last.

The problem isnt the wood console , its that it looks like crap. If it was covered and looked nice i wouldnt have a problem.

 

first of all :yourock: for attempting it at all i have been wanting to do it but can't seem to get around to it, as for your critics and most importantly but that looks damn good for a simple DIY matter of fact wish i could do the same thing

 

Well just so everyone can see how my old lid was here it is.




It was basically just the old rubber shell, the plastic frame inside was in pieces and the foam was dry and just made a mess. Do you really think my console lid is that bad to call it crap?

nolanr0413
I'm not necessarily offended by your comments, but I believe you have some misconception. I do imagine that the showcar circuit has tainted your views somewhat.

My car was not in the best condition when I first bought it, it was pretty much a mess...its also an 82 the oldest third gen possible. I thought I would save the car, because it definitely was not taken well care of by its previous owner. I'm sorry my car isn't as impeccable and perfect as your stocked rimmed show car. My car is unfortunately my daily driver (working on getting a second car), and I don't intend to enter my car in shows either. Regardless, I like to take care of my car and I would like to improve on the flaws that it has. Unfortunately from my knowledge GM no longer makes a console nor a lid actuallly from an 82-84 Firebird (if I'm wrong, well they don't have any where I've inquired). So I'm sorry I cannot go and buy a new one. I would not be against it...granted I imagine they aren't cheap, but I would save up eventually, right now I'm definitely more concerned with the mechanicals of my car and buying a daily driver than on cosmetics. Most my money goes towards that in fact, however it does not mean I neglect the apperance of my car and can spare a few dollars to do what I believe is an improvement of what I had before.

I did not go into this blindly I had a game plan in mind and did a little research to make sure I had the proper supplies and materials. I did not just grab a can of black spray paint and sprayed away....nor did I choose to paint it silver or some other obviously non stock color. Had I not posted this and you were in my car I can be almost be certain you could not tell my pieces had been painted. There aren't any runs in the paint and the color matches very welll, that is why I went with a semi-gloss. The process I used has made the paint stick on there damn good and will not come off. Unfortunately my pieces were not perfect and I could not fix all their flaws. That "dent" you see seemed to be some sort of bubble in the plastic, I do not know how it got there, it was there when I got the car. I tried to sand it down a bit to make it less noticable, but I did not want to lose the texture of the plastic, so yes it is still visible, but much less so. I tried to recondition my plastic pieces beforehand, but ultimately those are only temporary solutions and wanted a more permanent answer to the problem. The results are inconspicuous, which is what I intended. So yes the pieces are painted, but no you cannot tell.

As for my console lid, I too believe that you're hung up on the materials I used...the way it is now I doubt you can tell its made of wood. I bought my vinyl at an auto upohlstery supply store, so its no cheap Jo-Ann's fabric vinyl. I may not be a master vinyl worker, but I tried and I think it came out good. I'll take Jim85IROC advice and keep practicing, I like to improve in everything that I can. As for the wood, it'is farily cheap and easy to work with. Like it was mentioned before, many custom cars have consoles and sub boxes and etcetera made from wodd and or MDF, so I don't see the problem there, it will certainly outlast the stock lid.

I put my work on here for all to see, so I expect the good and the bad. Although perhaps not perfect or "right" in your eyes, I do believe it is better than what was there before and you'd be hard press to even know it was modified....especially the painted pieces. Ultimately like so many say, its my car and I'm happy with it, heaven forbid it be yours. You'd probably slap on a poor fitting, ugly Ram Air II hood on there that doesn't match with the lines of a third gen at all

 

So Your telling me if he just posted a pic of the finished product and then said something like "Cleaned up my console with black magic" or something like that, you would be able to tell, VIA A PICTURE that its a peice of wood covered in vinyl? if your saying yes, your full of ****.

Even if its not about money, blowing 100 + on a peice of plastic is insane. For what he did, i think its amazing. If i sat in the car i would never know its wood, unless it felt slightly hard or i opened it up

Good job man, keep up the good work!

and btw third gens dont get a bad rep because someone took some time crafted a peice of material, to look like a stock console lid, using wood doesnt give them a bad rap either. He just knows how to use his resources. Its not like hes screwing 2x4s to his cars underside and calling them sub frame connectors or something. thirdgens get bad names because theres some that just look like crap i guess..but hell all cars can loook like crap..not just thirdgens..

just my 02

 

:werd: Mostly everyones car on this site is a daily driver. Not a "show car" that they only drive on special occasions, dont see the winter, get garaged and such. How is he giving 3rd gens a bad rep? Its not like people know its actually made of wood. And like other people have said, wood is used in some car applications. His finished product on the console and lid is 100% better than what he had. It might not be show quality but what is he supposed to do? Wait around and have it look like sh*t till he decides to blow a couple hundred on a new lid and console Excuse him for making his car look better

Dont worry about the haters SC82TA, you did a great job

 

I mean this... and I mean that, put together your message and ultimately it didn't "mean" a damn thing. You like to call it "cob" work, but those of us in the know call it "custom fabrication". I give the guy big ups for his innovation, he found himself in a situation, adapted to it, and overcame the problem. It understandable that you might hate on it because he took the road less travelled, because he thought outside the box rather than just conforming. Its not my intent to flame here as your negative statements are your prerogative, and they are also necessary. They are necessary as it makes the achievement more profound when the logic behind such an idea overwhelms the naysayers criticism.

Take it as you will, no disrespect intended.

 

You know what I think? If the guy would have come on here and said I made a new console lid without saying anything about it being wood, he would be praised. If you saw it up close you would still be "Wow nice console lid". Once you put your hand on it and knock on wood, then it would be cob work.... Had you never known, it would be a "Great Job"....So who gives a damn. Hell i'd do it. Least I wouldn't have to worry about foam all over my back carpet anymore.

 

Again, kudo's to you for your idea. When all of the naysayers come around, play this for them (warning, NWS) That will let them know where you stand.

 

I think Nolan would be surprised to see how many show cars have interiors consisting of a whole lot of wood (and Bondo and Fiberglass and etc......)

 

I say good job. It looks fine, but as some have said, with practice, it would look better than stock. You may even be able to market that if you could get it to stay down with a latch of sorts. I know that I would love to have one that looks stock, but is MUCH stronger.

I replaced mine because I use my elbow to slide into my car and broke the stocker. I just got lucky and found a new one at a junk yard for $25!

 

I redid my console lid a long time ago. I even added extra padding so it is at a comfortable height now.

 

Regardless of what the stock ***** think, that lid looks a million times better than the stock one. I should make one, then I wont have to worry about putting my elbow through it next time I lean into the back to grab something!! Big deal if the edges arent perfect, the bottom line is it looks way better than what you had and didnt cost you a fortune. Not everyone can afford to completely replace every part on their car with original gm parts, and by looking at how some of them wear, why the hell would you bother unless your cars a trailer queen.

 

Thanks to everyone that appreciates what I did and I also appreciate the criticism. When I get more time I have more material to try and make the lid better, I'll certainly give it a shot. Thanks agian and no hard feelings towards anyone, everyone is entitled to their opinion I suppose =)

 

:yourock: :lala: :rockon:

 

woah woah woah , im not "hating " b/c he used wood. that wasnt the big deal, It was that the edges were crappy and you could see where they were folded over. The sad thing is that i cant put my put words in without getting flamed. Yeah it does look better than it did b4, but it isnt up to my quality and then everyone jumps all over what i said, o well , its all in good fun and no harm no foul.

well it isnt stock rimmed anymore . Boyd coddington smoothies.

 

Yeah I read your post about your new rims the other day I was just teasing =) I think criticism is fine, but to say something looks like crap is whole other thing. I agree that perhaps my craftsmanship can improve....and I intend to improve it, but I certainly don't think it looks like crap. You still mentioned my console looked bad also, but you have to remember what I had to work with and I too think had I said..."hey check it out I used Back to Black on my console" you wouldn't even have noticed it was painted. All in all like I said no hard feelings

 

same here, im glad this can be worked out. Hey did u ever think about changin your interior to a newer style like 85-whatever or going with a 4th gen dash ?

 

[quote]When I get more time I have more material to try and make the lid better, I'll certainly give it a shot. [/img]
That's the kind of attitude that more people need. Too many people are cotent to do a half-assed job, and that's where a lot of the criticism in this thread comes from. We've all seen a million times where somebody will glue up a **** headliner, or pile the bondo on with a spackle knife, and be all happy with their results instead of attempting to actually make it look good.

You obviously want it to look good, and you're willing to keep practicing. You're in good shape right now. You've got a decent looking cover that'll suffice until you can make one that's even better.

I do have a little bit of advice to offer you though, since you seem open minded enough to consider it.

When you start with your new piece, get ahold of a router and use a large (1/2" or larger) roundover bit. This will give you a much more precise contour than you'll ever get by hand. This will give you a perfect surface to adhere your vinyl to.

Now... when you start with the vinyl, spray the adhesive on the back of the vinyl and on the wood. Let them both get tacky. Press the vinyl down in the center of the wood, and pull slightly as you're working your way to the edge. Once you start to get to the radiused edge, use a heat gun and pull it right over the corner first. Once you have all 4 corners, you can stretch it inbetween, and you'll be able to get it all the way around without any wrinkles or bumps. This takes practice, but it's easy enough to find a bunch of scrap wood to work with.

Once you get it right, it'll look a lot better than stock. When you can work vinyl well, you can make some really great looking stuff.

 

Dude, your wooden lid looks 100x better than your stock one and no one would even know it was wood unless you told them, good job!

As far as the paint on your center console chipping, you could always use that new Kraylon paint made specificly for plastic. It supposedly will not chip. Has anyone tried this stuff?

 

Well the paint I used said it was specifically for plastics as well....and I did the extra step of adding and adhesion promoter, so I'm really not worried. I tried scratching the paint off with my fingernail pretty hard in an inconspicous area and it would not come off. I tried looking for the Krylon Fusion paint but for some reason I could only find gloss black wherever I went and I didn't want gloss black.

 

:rockon:

Good job. Better than what you had, and on casual inspection I doubt anyone is going to notice or care about the corners.

Also gives me an idea what I can do with the console in my 'bird... Also trashed, also hard to replace. And I don't want to spend $100+ on a new console. Would rather spend that kind of money on a new exhaust. I got my 'Bird in trade, and it's a daily driver and looks like it was someone elses play toy. It looks ok from 20 feet, but it aint perfect, and I don't plan on making it perfect. I'll get around to the body and interior after I have the mechanicals done. For now, a custom made, custom upolstered console lid would be just the ticket.

Wood doesn't belong in a car???

You obviously don't know much about the history of cars...





Wonder what all those cabinets for the uber-sound systems are made off???