ReDesign by FEATHER

I got the clamps off the the console where I repaired and doubled the mounting tabs and drilled some of the holes through the new material. Then I put the NAV unit tray in and determined just what thickness I need for the remaining space that I am filling up under it. It needs about a sixteenth, so I cut some and glued it in with ABS glue.

Then I test fited the two new insert bodies I have started with the heavier slot material and find that it is probably a hair thicker than needed, but it really locks the inserts in much more firmly than I have had them before. I am real pleased with that, but have to wonder just how difficult it is going to be to install and remove them in the future for service or such. Not only are they pretty tight from a horizontal standpoint with the thicker material, but they are just about exactly correct from a verticle standpoint at the width that I have more carefully determined. I did rasp the top and botton edges of the doublers to a slightly rounded shape more or less to match the slots, and they are nice.

Then I cut the top and bottom openings in the new upper insert and did it very much more carefully so that I didn't get any chatter, and they turned out very well. Then I put in the inside doublers that are the better design that I have actually gone back to that I had forgotten about.

I am letting that ABS Glue cure now overnight and will recut the top opening and then open up the middle one tomorrow.

I also put a strip of ABS that is 3/32 thick together with a strip of leather in between the two blank inserts to see if I can tell if there is enough space there to glue that thick a piece of ABS to the foreward surface of the bottom insert. I think there is enough space and that will tighten them up nicely.

I have to take the evening off away from this project because we are having the neighbors over for dinner and cards and I am preparing a London Broil for dinner. I am using a brisket which might turn out pretty tuff, but I have been marinading it since last night in a concoction I found in one of our cook books.

Here are a few pictures.

Dadddio

Where's the brisket?

ReDesign by FEATHER

The literal answer is, of course, that we ate it. The actual answer, I think, is that when I finished my next previous post and started working to finish up the dinner, my mind when completely into a different mode and it did not even occur to me to take a picture of the Briskit. It was delicious, but it was tuff. I think next time I'll cook it quite a while longer which I think will make it more tender.

Speedtoys

Is the console itself hefty enough to support a doubledin unit with no rear support?

ReDesign by FEATHER

Now I am back to where I was before and a little farther along. I cut the bottom strip out of the upper insert. I have worked up some blocking for the bottom inside of the isert where I will be mounting the AC panels. I have glued on a spacer to the under side of the upper AC panel so that the bottom one will articulate with it a bit to match the curvature of the face of the insert.

I have test fit the Nav tray and it seems to fit ok still allowing the upper insert to lock into the slots.

I also cut out the center opening in the Insert, but I found that spacing it like I did the previous one did not work the same for some reason. I discovered that when the router was cutting into the cross strip and the edgways doubler, so I had to glue a patch into the divot.
That will rrim out ok before I cover it with leather.
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The picture that is out of fucus is the one showing the ABS block I have glued down inside behing the Air Vent. The other one, with my pocket knife in it, is the other side and my knife is holding the block against the insert inside so the glue can set.

Then I also remounted the Air Vent into the top of this insert. I found that it broke out of the other one too easily, maybe because the glue I was using is kind of old. I used a new vial this time, then I also glued in a heavy piece of ABS behind the mounting flange on each side that will hold this one in pretty permanently. To the extent that the glue may not be holding the cross strip very well, if it isn't, I think the leather that will be wraping around that will hold it together for the long term.

You can see from these pictures that there really isn't too much left of the upper insert as formed, but that is just the nature of it. I think it will be stout enough with the doublers and blocking glues to it and with the leather covering it.

I am going to do a little to the lower insert and then I have to make some tooling that will be needed to cover the lower insert with leather. I guess now I will have to search for the light gray leather that will be going on these items and maybe go to Doug's place and cover them.

I also have gound the top gap-filler so it fits nearly perfectly. Here it is just clkamped in place. I'm going out again shortly and will make some final fitting of it and then glue it in. Except for some filing on the patch and on the corners of the middle opening this insert is just about ready for leather.

ReDesign by FEATHER

Now it seems more like I am making some progress. I am having second thoughts about putting the extra layer of plastic on the foreward surface of the loweer insert, so I have put some on the next previous one that I have superceded. I'll give that a try and see if it is going to fit and if I can still put the thing together with it that thick. If so, I'll do the latest one. You can see that I have gobbed quite a bit of ABS glue in the joint because it will have to ber filled up anyway so it doesn't show through when covered with leather. I thought I might as well put quite a bit in there now so it can cure with the rest of it and then I can trim it out tomorrow and fill in any voids that might still need it.

I worked up a wooden leather forming die and clamping mechanism that I'll be using the form the leather into the recess in the shifter recess in the lower insert. I am showing the tan leather shifter boot that I had made before with these pictures mainly to show that I had previously increased the size of the shjifter recess for the Auto cars, and to show how it is made with the frame glued inside, if you can tell from the pictures.

I am also showing the strips of plastic that I had glued to the bottom of the top AC panel so that the bottom one will rest with it at an angle. Then I am showing the angle, although it is a little out of focus. My camera doesn't like to take close ups very much.

I also have the top gap filler piece finished and fully glue in.

I think I will go back to the checklist and see if I can still edit it to show what is completed.

Ninespub

Wow.....all I can say is.....wow! Jerry, My hat is off to you. The amount of handwork and little-detail piecework to make it all come together in this design exercise is amazing. If you start making these for the marketplace (and I would be one of the first to go there) how would you be able to produce them in any quantity? Would one of those new-fangled 3-D printers be a worthwhile investment (or even if you jobbed certain parts out to some one that has one)? Regardless, I'm truly impressed with your effort to make this work. Thank you.

ReDesign by FEATHER

Thanks, Paul. Just what "These for the marketplace" is is the mystery that we are going to try to figure out toward the end of this demonstration, I think. So far, and I was at this point over a year ago, this endeavor involves something old and something new, and just how they are combined to come together does not lend itself very well to simply making something up and shipping it out for installation. We are going to try to determine toward the end if something can be produced for others to start with that can in fact be produced and shipped, but that is going to lend itself, if at all, to a very narrow segment of our 928 community.

Although I am taking a lot more time with this effort, which amounts to some final development on my part, I think at some point, probably about when I have done this conversion to at least two but more like three or four of my cars, I will have it down to something that is duplicatable by me without all the backing up I have been doing with this effort as shown in this thread.

At this point I think that there is still the likelyhood of putting together a starter kit considtion of the two plasting insert formings with some level of trimming and sending that out for further development to someone elses taste and desire.

Then I think there might end up being a different level of this project that would entail me doing what I am doing here, but only up to the point of requiring the Air Vent to be cut out of the owner's console and then put into the upper insert by them. Then would follow all the work on their console by them and covering the inserts with leather. That could include the tray or rack for their Double
DIN and the base for their auto or 5-speed shift boot, and sufficient strips of ABS plastic to do the repairs and modification to their console, and probably the vent duct connector.

Beyond that, if anything, it will involve someone sending me their console and Nav Unit and AC panels and vent grill and maybe some leather, if it is going to be something besides black, and have me do the conversion up to the point of final installation and wiring and such. I actually did that once and I am pretty sure that it never got put in the car and finished. However, as Alan points out, I may not actually be very interested in that business model. That is really going to be akin to doing something like a new interior in someone's 928. Not as extensive, of course, but akin.

No one wants to send me their console; and that is probably going to set a limit to my involvement, limiting it to the first two suggested levels above.

Anyway, thanks for your encouragement.

BC

I have plenty of consoles to send. And any parts of the HVAC system needed as well. The unknown is cost.

AirtekHVAC

I have been watching this from the beginning, and my jaw just drops....I have a double din (actually 2) unit, and was planing on doing this when I got to the interior, but mine will never be this nice......this is certainly on my dream list.....(if I had the money to do it, I got no problem sending my console to you!) eventually I need to come up with some cash, as your cowl cover, and spare tire cover are also on my wish list.

Thanks Jerry, for not only making the items we are all (ok , most of us) thinking about, but documenting it, for us to see, and drool over!

ReDesign by FEATHER

That's kind of interesting, BC. I was wondering about all the negative input about shipping one's console to me for this conversion since I know that it is pretty common for various people to strip their whole interior and ship it to someone to be redone. Of course there are those who wouldn't; but at least you kind of keep the door open for that approach to the final level of this project--having me do it here.

As to the cost, the question always comes up, usually much earlier in one of these kinds of project threads. I had thought about this before and have given this some more recent consideration and given what I find is involved, not including the aspect of what I am actually doing here, with the changes and corrections and such--development, as it were--I think the cost is going to be about $250 for some kind of basic starter kit with the formed inserts trimmed but with no openings or maybe one or two, and with some material to help finish; and at the other end, with me finishing one's console here with this conversion, will be in the $1200 to $1500 range. The cost for some intermediate level of kit is too difficult to approximate now since we don't know what the kit might actually involve.

Such things as covering the customer' console with new leather, if that can even be done, and adding instruments or gauges, and adding the auto shifter indicator lites, if I can ever get that feature finished, will be extra on a sort of time and materials basis.

I recall before that someone suggested that they were having their console covered by Paul, I think, and then they wanted to do this conversion. I think I suggested that that is clearly not going to work, mainly because of the thickness of the leather but more inportantly because of the extra thickness of the leather at the seams along the top edge of the recess.

The reason I suggest that covering one's own console with leather or even recovering it, or for that matter, trying to put this conversion into a console that has already been covered, (which I am pretty sure is not going to work) is that I have only allowed about .060 of tolerance between these inserts and an original vinyl console, so the leather that might be used cannot be more than about .035 thick. That is kind of rare, and will be very much more rare if we are going to have to have a particular color besides black. Even with black there is going to be some concerns because there are so very many versions of black.

Doug and I covered the black console shown in the picture on the first page of this thread with leather and also the inserts, and it was very tight with leather that is .035 or so thick. I still have the rest of that hide, but getting another one will be a shot in the dark; and I don't really know how well the result matches Jimmy's interior. We were able to cover that entire console with one piece of leather with no seams, by the way, and that was also because of how thin the leather was and because it is pretty soft.

ReDesign by FEATHER

Thanks you, Ron, for your thoughts and encouragement. I can see by the times this thread has been viewed that there are a lot of people watching, or at least a few people watching frequently. I hope it will work out for you to have this conversion in your 928.

Alan

Jerry - I wouldn't read too much into this... Brendan is a bit of an anomaly since basically all his 928's are permanently disassembled (...well eventually ).

Shipping a console from a car that really only 'sort of virtually exists' is rather easier to do - purely logistically of course but also emotionally - since there is only a vague memory of what it looks like in the car.

Alan

Brendan - just pulling your chain

RKD in OKC

Seeing the amount of work and attention to detail gong into forming the ABS, etc. I would happily pay $1500 and ship my console and all the associated equipment for a custom fitted console. Especially if the end result looks like this...



Got rear air, clock would be optional as most stereo head units provide a clock. Maybe a Valentine 1 remote display between the A/C ***** instead.

j.kenzie@sbcglobal.net

Hi Jerry,
I may be wrong, but I believe it is standard technique to be able to shave backside of the edges of leather to make it thinner if needed. I think it's call skiving and you use a skiving knife to do it. I think a pro would have this trick in his bag.
Dave