Console success
As seems to be my wont these days, I’ve been working in the cramped confines of the Davrian’s footwell. Why? Well, as I alluded to last month, I’ve been planning to give the centre console a makeover. I’ve also got to get to grips with installing a replacement throttle pedal/linkage. These two jobs are closely related because, on my Davrian, the outer throttle cable (all three metres of it) terminates at a rather Heath Robinson-esque retaining bracket that’s riveted at the base of the console. The inner cable continues onwards, passing through the console and on to a lever arm. Or at least it used to. At some time in its past, this poor old lever arm had been butchered, bent and generally messed around with, to the point where metal fatigue caused it to shear. I’m trying to engineer a replacement linkage.
That said, before I could tackle this, the inner and outer throttle
When the paint was dry, I carefully positioned the new Dymo labels
cables had to be detached… which meant removing the retaining bracket, a task that involved me drilling out five rivets. Although straightforward, I knew I’d have to give the console a bit of a tidy up afterwards, hence the makeover. But, upon removing the bracket, I discovered, in addition to performing its cable retaining duties, the bracket had also been covering up a number of holes… holes that had been drilled in a none-too-expert manner. I know the Davrian’s a component car, and was never meant to be finished to a showroom standard, but I’m keen to ensure it looks good aesthetically, inside and out.
One thing led to another and the makeover rapidly became rather more involved than anticipated. I removed all of the switches and warning lights from the console, which was bit of a fiddle as there’s very little space to work in. I then set to and attempted to cover the console with black vinyl. In theory, the vinyl was a good idea as it would be a perfect cover-all. Sadly, in practice, my trimming skills were found to be wanting. Fortunately, I had a brainstorm. I put down the vinyl, picked up a tin of body filler, mixed up a small quantity, and plugged the errant holes. Once fully hardened, I sanded the filler to a smooth finish, lightly sanded the console to provide a key, and gave the whole lot a coat of satin black. Then, when the paint was fully dry, I carefully positioned the Dymo labels, and small decals, which I’d lovingly crafted some weeks back.
My final task was to fit the new 25A fuel pump switch I’d bought, then sort out the associated wiring. This job was made all the easier because I’d invested in a quality wire stripper, crimping tool, and pliers. I also bought a pack of assorted heat shrink tube. Belt and braces. However, as David had wandered off somewhere with my heatgun, I had to resort to using a soldering iron and shrunk the tube onto the wires/ terminals using the heat from the iron’s tip (not direct contact as it would burn the tubing). With a little bit of practice I got quite adept at doing this. I didn’t even burn my fingers! Joking aside, please exercise caution when doing it this way. The revamped console looks good and it’s so nice being able to operate the fuel pump from inside the car. I’m really chuffed with my handiwork.