I haven't checked back here for awhile, and I see Mark hasn't posted any pics so I'll share some of mine. I used the plastic vacuum formed console cover from Dean too. The fit was generally good but my method of clamping & gluing was a bit shaky as you'll see. I decided to do the console first before tackling the dash and glove box, and am I ever glad I did!
My console was in pretty rough shape and very brittle:
I started with the armrest lid
My plan was to pre-shape the cover by bending the edges over the lids edges
I first cut away the flaky edges of the cracks and applied body filler for an even surface
Then using the silicone adhesive supplied with the cover I glued the cover on and clamped it every which way I could, using wax paper to avoid gluing the wood strips to the new cover.
Then I tried gluing the sides and the front edge overlap which is most visible. I found using metal strips a better method as the silicone didn't stick to it but any squeeze out was left very flat and smooth.
The angles on the lid made it impossible to glue everything at once. After a trial fit with the console cover in place but not yet glued, I realized that there was no way I could overlap the sides and the back edge needed to be trimmed.
After notching out the rear edge I realized that the original was not square but the cover was.
More clamping required.
Then I carefully trimmed the edges flush to the lid bottom with my angle grinder. Then another trial fit with hinges and latch after slotting the bolt holes in both.
Then I went to work on the console cutting away flaky plastic and applying body filler.
On one side the original base foam had lifted away from the metal and had to be re-glued.
This created a concave area which had to be filled.
After several trial fittings I realized that the front areas around the ashtray and shifter needed to be built up to fill the spaces under the cover.
Time to glue on the cover. I didn't think I could clamp everywhere at once so I used some lengths of thin bungee cord and wrapped it up .
This wasn't as successful as I'd hoped. I should have used strips of wood or something along the bottom edges since I got some bulging between where the cords were. And there wasn't an even distribution of adhesive so these edges had to be redone and clamped anyway.
The area around the shifter was difficult to hold in place and had to be re-glued as well.
Once finished I cleaned thoroughly with ammonia and even resorted to acetone to get rid of the silicone mess I made through all this. This dulled the cover but I planned on spraying all the new parts and any vinyl or black pieces not being replaced with a black SEM interior semi-gloss product anyway. Here it is painted.
In the end I was pleased with the results.
Regards,
Bruce