In order to mount the AC controls and knobs, I had to spend some time getting the holes deep enough to get the rather short switch poles through the half-inch MDF and also opened up enough to accept the knobs. In the end the knobs will be countersunk into the surface, giving it all a custom-finished look.
The entire assembly went in and came out a few times again. Much of the fitting today was spent cutting the sides to go over the tranny hump that widens up towards the front, as well as getting things out of the way in order to fit everything together.
I also had to spend quite a bit of time re-routing wires so that they could be attached to the switches without putting undo strain on the connections.
I have a lot of reservations about the size of the newest cordless drills. I prefer my Black and Decker in which the battery is no bigger than a normal handle. Here I was having trouble getting at a screw between the steering column and console.
....of course these dilemmas are often bitter sweet - often another tool is required to get the job done, like this angled screw bit holder:
After wiring up the tach, the 12V power source and the power window buttons, as well as attaching the AC knobs to their switches, I screwed it all back together to see what we had:
The space in front of the shifter will be for a pocket - y'know.. for todays essentials. Unfortunately, there's no room for cup holders! Maybe between the seats, but its pretty narrow there. Oh well, its gonna be a fast show-car: NO DRINKS = NO SPILLS!
The console can be covered in a variety of ways, according to the owners wishes. I've see some wrapped in leather with an engine-turned insert looking really good.
Just before closing up for the night, I took the Snap On box parts out of the parts washer, wiped it all dry and repaired the two sliders I had to remove forcefully:
The backside rivet ends protruded a bit and I didn't want them to get hung up in the future, so I hammered the ends flat. After that I also hammered a lot of the damage out of the boxes - but forgot to take pictures!
Lastly, I put the box on a sheet of plastic and gave it a liberal dose of Metal Prep - POR15s phosphate rust fixing agent.
/Wrapping it up keeps the solution active for much longer - like 24 hours, vs, the 20-30 minutes you would get allowing it to evaporate.
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