Consol Recovering

[bholmes]

It seems that the sun and neglect had gotten the better of my center consol. So today I took a field trip to Jo Ann Fabrics and purchased a synthetic leather (vinyl) material that was a near perfect match to my old brown leather covering. The material cost me $1.25 for a 9" x 3' section which is roughly enough to cover 3 consols (or goof up twice!) Also my hinge had broken, so I purchased the smallest hinge I could from Wal-Mart, it was a 1" hinge for about $1.70. Since my consol hinge was broken the installation of the new material was very easy. I simply had to unscrew the black ring around on the bottom of the arm rest/consol and then remove the old leather and put the new peice on inserting one screw at a time back into the black ring and pulling the vinyl tight as I went. I then used the pair of 1" hinges to reatach the consol lid to the consol base. I was very pleased with the results. $3.00 sure beats the heck out of $100+ ! Just thought I'd post this if anyone else had a similar problem (broken consol and bank account).

[mr. dude]

Brian,
Excellent job! I've been needing to do this myself and your tips will come in handy.

[hpaulb]

I see the plastic intert/hidge on ebay every so often so they can be purchased. Does it look OK with door hinges?

[bholmes]

Yeah it actually turned out pretty good with the small door hinges, I'll try to get a couple pictures of it tonight or tomorrow so you can be the judge. They were silver colored so I blacked them out with a magic marker...kinda cheap I know, but I am poor sooo.... but the black marker makes it till they don't catch your eyes.

[pdx944]

I did the same thing and it turned out great. I went to a car reupholstery place and bought a yard of high quality vinyl for $30.

[DMRK]

Looks good! I might need to try that soon.
I saw an emboidered leather cover on ebay that looks nice with the Porsche crest on it but its $60.

[Dave L]

Took out mine tonight, now to find a fabric store.

[bholmes]

I finally got the pictures of the hinge. It's by no means perfect, but it gets the job done on a very tight budget and doesn't look horrid.

[bholmes]

oh yeah, I wanted to point out the messyness on the under side of the consol, I cut the material extra long so I could pull it really tight. I will get a razor or scalpal and clean it up and it'll look good as new. Just wanted to post that for a tip as to how I did mine.

[Eldorado]

I did something similar with my shift boot..

bought a couple bucks worth of scrap leather at a shoe repair shop... pulled my old boot... cut out a similar pattern and hand stitched a new one... whole project took less than a half hour, and this thing looks brand new again.

[bholmes]

Do you have any pictures of your project? I need a new shifter boot, my car actually doesn't have one or the trim ring that goes around it. It was missing them when I bought it, any pictures, mearuments or directions would be appreciated.

[Eldorado]

I'll try to get some measurements again for you.. i may have the old boot pattern around somewhere...

alright.. found the old boot..
i'll draw up a pattern and take some pics this weekend.

[bholmes]

Good deal, I just ordered the trim ring from the hoast!

[Dave L]

I did my arm rest cover the other night. I peeled off the original cover then traced and cut a copy in the new vinyl leaving a little extra. I then Hot glued one edge at a time, pulling tightly all the way. The corners are a PITA but pulling it tight and using lots of hot glue created a nice smooth look . I then trimmed the excess with an exacto knife and reinstalled the hindge. its not perfect but better than the worn out one.





Brian, you should try and find a piano hinge at home depot, they have a dark brass color one that might look pretty good.

thanks for the tip on the recover, I had an upholstery guy quote me $100

[bholmes]

I'll look into the piano hinge. Dave, yours turned out really well, your corners look really good. I'll have to remeber the hot glue tip if I pull mine apart for a rehinge job. It sure as heck beats $100!

[bholmes]

Hey Eldorado did you get any pics or pattern made up this weekend? If you weren't able to no biggie. I thought I may be able to make a pattern using the equation for a pyramide and some trig in conjunction with the desired height of the boot and the perimeter of the base.

[pdx944]

Just buy a new one for like $30.