Does anybody know if you can remove the soft padding that covers the center console (both the piece that the stereo mounts into and the piece that the arm rest is mounted to)? I'm wanting a hard shell version of both to do some mods to and I think I can just remove the soft skins from them to get what I need. Can anybody verify my theory? I'd test my theory myself if I had the spare parts but I don't have spares.
center console upholstery
- Thread starter honestabe
- Start date
doesn't retrospec sell a CF version? might be able to get a fiberglass one, it would be alot easier to work with than a stock one.
Did some thinking yesterday, I should be able to rough up the stock parts with 40 grit then apply a fleece cloth and soak it in polyester resin and reinforce that with fiberglass matting where the holes are then bondo and sand the whole thing before sending it off to paint.
Yeah, but shipping would cost an arm and a leg. And I will be covering it in cloth so the CF isn't really needed. I'll get 2 center console pieces and use them to test on, see how well the materials bond and take to my mods.
You might consider spraying it in Line-x, you can even have it sprayed in different colors. Once it is done in Line-x it is all but impossible to destroy, a buddy of mine used to own his own line-x franchise, and he sprayed all kinds of crap with it to demonstrate its durability to customers, even the doughnuts that he sprayed were impossible to damage.
If you aren't familiar with Line-X, it might be worth it to swing by a shop and take a look at it. It isn't a thick rubber coating, but a thin hard plastic like coating with a fairly smooth finish. It wouldn't be any thicker(about an 1/8") than a few layers of fiberglass that you will likely end up using to make the hardshell you are after. Also since you are planning on covering it all in cloth once finished, the finish of the Line-X wouldn't even be noticeable.
I removed the leather and padding on my old 89 just just used a rag and soap and water and it got all the glue off came out shiny black plastic it didnt look bad at all.
edit oops thought you were asking about the actual armrest.
edit oops thought you were asking about the actual armrest.
the centre console piece has a rubber on it that can be removed, but it has a lot of holes in the abs plastic that the rubber was keyed to. if you do remove the rubber, you will have to fibreglass/carbon fibre cover it. the rubber was about 2mm thick if i remember correctly
I think for now I'm just going to hold off on re-covering the center console and work on other projects. Atleast now I have an idea of what to expect in the future when I do get around to doing it atleast.