Reproduction Center Console Replacement

http://www.international-auto.com/

This is a tech tip from International Auto Parts. Today we will be showing you how you can replace your worn out center consoles.

We will be working on a 1975 Fiat 124 Spider. We are installing one of our reproduction center consoles. The first thing you are going to have to do is put the car up on jack stands and loosen up the hand brake cable. To do this you will want to loosen the jam nut towards the passenger side. Back the adjustment nut back till it hits the jam nut again. Don't worry about getting it all the way loose; just free enough so that you can pull the handbrake cable all the way up without tension on it.

Inside the car you are going to pull the shift boot plate out; which you can pry up with a flat head screw driver. Pull out the ashtray and then the one philips head screw in the floor underneath. Remove the screws on each side of the center console that go into the upper console and go into the transmission tunnel. Once you have it loose pull the handbrake lever up and lift the back of the center console up. You will need to finagle with the upper console some unless you remove it all together. Make sure you remove the wiring for the switch and fiber optic lights. Finally to get it all the way out you will need to put the shift lever all the way back in the rear position.

Once you have it out take the time to clean up the car the best you can. Match up your new console to the old. There might be some differences and some holes may have to be cut to match for the light and ashtray. There also is no mounting bracket so you will want to take from your old one and epoxy it into the new one. You will also need to drill the holes for the shift boot plate. A good trick is to take some white out and mark the studs and place it over the new console; which will mark exactly where to drill.

Since you already have the console off it is best to replace the shift boot with a new one. Ours are leather instead of the old vinyl which means you may need a second set of hands.

Next you will want to drill some pilot holes for cutting the ashtray hole out with a jigsaw. Then use a dremel to smooth it out. There is a black metal plate that snaps into the new holes created; once in bend the tabs over to lock it in. The ashtray should slide right in.

Just as we replaced the upper shift boot it is good to go ahead and replace the lower
one if worn out. Once you remove the lower shift boot remove the shifter; which will take some force. The new one goes on just as easy as it was to remove.

Now you are ready to install the new center console. You may need a second set of hands though. Pull the shift lever all the way back. You will want to make sure you line up the upper console on the lower consoles lip. Once you get the lower console in place you can reinstall the upper console; just make sure all the wires get tucked back in. Add the switch back by feeding the wires up through the hole, hooking up to the switch, and snapping back into place. Add back the screws to attach the center console to the upper console and lower console to transmission tunnel. Now you are ready to add the shift lever back followed by the shift boot plate and new shift boot. Once this is installed you can screw the shift knob back onto the shift lever.

Now to install the rear bracket we are going to take the phillips head screw and screw down into the floor of the car into the receiver where it goes. Then we will put the epoxy on the bracket itself. Add some weight onto the back of the console and let sit overnight so you get good adhesion. Once the glue has dried just snap the ashtray back into place. Finally we need to adjust the handbrake lever to the second notch. Put tension on the handbrake and then tighten the jam nut back up and lock it into place.

Lower Console, Reproduction
http://www.international-auto.com/ind...
Leather Shift Boots and rings
http://www.international-auto.com/lea...
Handbrake Boots
http://www.international-auto.com/han...