my lower centre concole is falling apart, and i'm not sure if a fancy a cover for the price you can get them here in Europe. I saw long time ago someone stripped the assembly down to the metal frame and had it re-covered. I've decided to have a go rather than making a bespoke version.
I left it for the weekend into the acid tank and here's the result:




As i'm doing a strip down version of my spider i quite like the look of the console. Needs a bit of finishing to remove sharp edges and gaps, but i'll have a go and get it powder coated and then decide if it's the way to go.

I'm looking forward to seeing the results! Very interesting idea!
The car is looking great!

I shortened mine by cutting out the coin cup behind the emergency brake assembly. Refastened the back to the main piece and had it recovered. I had not removed the foam/vinyl, I patched it with a body filler so it was smooth before the recovering. Then I fabricated a mount for a VW arm rest that mounts behind the shortened console on the drive shaft tunnel. The arm rest swings up and has a storage compartment in it. I think the arm rest is from a Passat. I paid $25 at junk yard. When in the normal position the arm rest covers some of the emergency brake handle but the brake still has about 5 clicks of travel. I don have a photo but could take some later if you are interested. I also removed the ash tray and fabricated a new one piece panel to cover that entire top area. The area where the ash tray was now has the cruise control switch panel. I replaced all the wood grain panels in my car with real custom carbon fiber pieces.

SoFlaFiat wrote:I'm looking forward to seeing the results! Very interesting idea!
The car is looking great!

thank you.

yes that sound like a plan, although the ash-tray area is the one hard to sort out. Got it sorted now. and taking it for coating, same color as the seat belt bar, and see if it looks ok. I've discovered that the Fiat radio console is almost identical in size to the Audi unit. Hmm i've got an idea!

spider2081 wrote:I shortened mine by cutting out the coin cup behind the emergency brake assembly. Refastened the back to the main piece and had it recovered. I had not removed the foam/vinyl, I patched it with a body filler so it was smooth before the recovering. Then I fabricated a mount for a VW arm rest that mounts behind the shortened console on the drive shaft tunnel. The arm rest swings up and has a storage compartment in it. I think the arm rest is from a Passat. I paid $25 at junk yard. When in the normal position the arm rest covers some of the emergency brake handle but the brake still has about 5 clicks of travel. I don have a photo but could take some later if you are interested. I also removed the ash tray and fabricated a new one piece panel to cover that entire top area. The area where the ash tray was now has the cruise control switch panel. I replaced all the wood grain panels in my car with real custom carbon fiber pieces.

love to see a photo!
done the same with the ashtray. Thanks for the suggestion.

Wow!! Great idea on the cross bar for the belts!! Can't wait to see the interior progress.

email sent. Here are a couple I have more I will email you.

ahh, i can see what you've done. Like the carbon inserts. So you had it re-covered?

Yes the same company the fabricated the carbon fiber inserts recovered the console. The carbon fiber is not the vinyl but real carbon fiber. The dash,tranny cover and glove box are carbon fiber over a wood but very close to the original thickness.

console back from powder coating, i did it the same color as the rear seat belt bar, and i like the finish. The basic look with all the holes, adds to the basic look i was after. I made some some aluminium plates to add to cover some of the big openings and to create the holes for switches etc.



temp fitting in the car. cig lighter moved to the back as my new radio console is going through a complete re-work! More photos soon.

Looking good.

On a hot day there is a fair amount of unwanted heat that comes out of my heater controls. I think it comes through the transmission opening. maybe the rubber boot things have deteriorated. You might want to check yours while assembling.

yes, good point. my original one had fallen apart, so now a new one is fitted, and i have blocked every hole possible using rubber grommets. Living in the UK a bit of heat would not be an issue though.....

IMHO it looks magnificent ...great job, and I am filing it in my memory bank as we are looking at possibly going with some combination of anodized or powdercoated aluminum and leather interior, door panels, dash and the like for our resto-mod

keep us posted! and lots of photos pls!