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 79-86 Center Console Restoration 

Please excuse the low quality of some of the pictures.  I had to try to use fairly high compression to keep the size of this site under control. Please be helpful and send comments here.

Go to part: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11

Part 5:  The Incredible Hull vs Wonder Putty!

 The console hull was pretty solid.  Checking it over throughly there were some common problems. 

The front metal wiring harness bracket was ripped off.  The connectors on the console's wiring harness go there and make it a total PITA to disconnect them from the dash wiring harness.  So people get mad and just yank at it and tear the bracket out of the console.  In this case the passenger side mount needed rebuilding.

There was a tab where the clock mounts that was broken off.  Dunno how the previous owner managed that one.

Then when the pad was removed and the plate that hides the rear ash tray, the tabs holding the speed clips in place were simply destroyed.

We can rebuild them...we have the technology.

We need WONDER PUTTY!



Wonder Putty is a 2 part epoxy putty that is mouldable with water as it sets.  It gets really sticky and latches on strong to watever you've applied it too.  It dries fairly hard so it's PERFECT for rebuilding the rigid tabs on the console.  And what's great is if you SCREW IT UP, you just pry it off, sand and DO IT AGAIN!

Wonder Putty is good for rigid plastic mounts.  Other flexible mounts need something else.

Check out the picture below.  The top arrow shows the creative use of a washer to work around the busted clock mount.  The red arrow at the bottom points to the location where the wiring harness bracket should mount.  It's totally MIA.  This is the first one we will tackle.

 

Console Harness Bracket Mount

Get a bowl of water.  Take two good sized gobs of the Wonder Putty epoxy (Part A and Part B).  Squish them together with your fingers, then squish it into the location you need it.  Dip your fingers in the water and form the shape you need.  Dip the end of the bracket that will mount to this repaired ares in the water (this keeps it from sticking to the putty).  Put the bracket where it will need to be, make it squish the putty somewhat.  A little bump should come through the hole.  This is where you drill when the putty has hardened. 



Below you can see it painted and drilled.  Use a drill one size smaller than needed.  The bracket will mount PERFECTLY.



Information Center Broken Tab

The right side mount for the clock was busted off.



Get some WONDER PUTTY!  Mix it together!  Form a new mounting point!

I placed the black information cover in place and pushed the putty up to it so that the final mount is going to be in the right spot for the clock.

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Drill a hole.  DONE!  (Okay, not done...I did need to dremel it a little bit more when I put the clock in.)



Console Pad Bracket Mounts

Back in the day, the console pads made for a great "third seat" up front.  This is some of the damage that happens.  The mounting points for the speed nuts are just detroyed.



Fill it with WONDER PUTTY!  Smooth with water and your fingers.



Dremel and drill.  Those mounts are SOLID.  They will work very well.  In this location, it is critical you don't get the repair too thick.  The repair should be a bit shallow compared to the top edge of the console.

When done, the speed clips MUST be able to snap in place.  So the holes need to be large enough and the front end of the tab needs to be dremelled enough to let the speed clip push far enought to the rear of the console.  One trick is to take the speed clip that goes there and a LARGE screw driver and wedge the clip open a bit.  That way the repair can be a bit thicker.  The original material was very thin.  As thin as the rest of the console.

It takes some finaggling.  Testing and retesting.  Go slow and it'll come out fine.  Remember.  You can always break it and redo it.



And the final result. Painted with the speed clips in place:



After all of the rebuilding of the tabs, etc we did the old Duplicolor Adhesion Promoter and Charcoal Paint.  For the hull I used an old can of Metro Finishes paint I had to compare it to the SEM Charcoal I used on the pad.



Looks GREAT!




In Conclusion:

Wonder Putty is DA BOMB!

(also, I rule)

'nuff said.

 Part 6: Brackets and Bezels!  Oh my!