Stu's 1972 4 Door

[Stu]

Original center consoles are expensive, hard to find, and would most likely not fit my modified tunnel. I drew up a center console with a small front pocket, a shift boot, seat heater switches, power port, and a couple of big cup holders. I have a friend with an NC router and we cut the top plate and end plates out of 5/8" birch plywood then made the sides out of 1/4 sanded plywood. The console has a pretty aggressive change from the wide area near the shift boot to the narrow space between the seats and I made multiple kerf cuts to get better flexibility. The sides were glued/nailed and the 'hips' were strengthened with fiberglass reinforced body filler and then fiberglass mat on the inside corners.







I rounded the corners with 1/8" router bit then covered with black vinyl. The font depression/pocket is 3D printed then lined with velvet and the switch plate is 1/4" textured ABS then screwed into a depression so the top surface is flush with the surrounding area.





To attach to the tunnel, I drew up some brackets and sent to Send-Cut-Send. These were attached to the tunnel with nutcerts and M4 screws. I did not quite know what the screw spacing should be, so put in 'lots' of holes in the brackets since holes are pretty much free compared to the overall part cost. The console is then attached to brackets through the sides with washer trim screws.

[Nerius]

I can't say anything else than;

wow

[ostaylor]

Great looking center console - very creative and nicely fabricated.

[RONSLYCHUK]

Very impressive work.

[gooned]

X4 very nice!

[cwd240z]

Really nice work on that console, looks awesome. What did you use the cover the rear of it, is that a piece of ABS? How did you attach the shift boot?

[Stu]

Thanks everyone for the kudos. I'm pretty happy with it and hope it stays looking tight and smooth. I've never done a console before so will see how it goes.

Really nice work on that console, looks awesome. What did you use the cover the rear of it, is that a piece of ABS? How did you attach the shift boot?

I did put a very thin piece of ABS on the end because I could not figure out a nice looking fold/trim, so folded and cut flush so that a cover would lay flat. I used a super strong contact adhesive to attach. If it starts to lift or look odd, I'll put some very small trim screws in the corners.

The boot is "Leather Shift Boot Console,96935-35F10" and it has 4 mount tabs, but I just used the tabs to set the level then some hot glue around the interior perimeter to keep it from popping up or getting pushed down.

[Stu]

Way back, I built speaker mount plates for the front speakers in the doors. Once I picked out my speakers, I added additional threaded inserts (not shown) that fit the speakers.



I ordered my door cards over two years ago from Tree-Ausawa Retro Car out of Thailand https://www.facebook.com/datsun.tatum. At the time, this was the only place I could find that had 4 door cards that kept the door release lever in the correct location vs. the cards that require you to move the latch handle to the wagon (upper) location.



When making holes in the door cards, if you just drill, it will pull the under layer and ruin the cushiness of the panel. In order to get around this, I either precut with a razor or melted with an old socket or a screw heated up with propane torch.



In order to get the speaker holes to line up, I started with a 'smaller' center hole, traced the larger hole, used a sharpened screw to mark the hole location from the back side, melted the vinyl with a socket, then made all the holes larger.







Baffle to help speaker performance and protect from water.



6 mil plastic sheet held by the top retention rail.



When I cut the center console on my friend's CNC router, I cut a pair of speaker pods that space the main speaker out enough to avoid the window mechanism and mount the tweeter. I covered the 5/8" plywood with extra vinyl I bought from Retro Car when I got the door cards.







I put in new rubber plugs (Nissan 80928-32200) that the door panel clips go into (rubbing alcohol really helps) and to help the clips not be ridiculously tight, I pre-pinched the clips with pliers. They are still tight but did make the panels so much easier to install and remove if needed.





New rear pulls (Nissan 80960-H8800). They are not stock but I like that they are stiffer and all the reproductions are not great.



And some front door arm rests (Nissan 80940-11401). I think these are from a 720 truck but were available and look good. If I ever find nice 510 style with the chrome band, I'll swap them out.



I've got some new window cranks (80760-A0600) on order then my doors should be 'done'

[cwd240z]

I've been looking at ordering door panels from Tree-Ausawa as well, for the exact same reason. It looks like they do nice work, are you happy with the quality?

Excellent job on the speaker installation!

[MikeY]

I've ordered a few sets. Great quality and communication. Well packaged for shipping. I did get a set with a faux lower trim for a 68. I wouldn't do that again. I'd try and keep the original aluminum trim and reuse or have nothing at all. Not his fault it just no to my taste. Its materiel not metal, and that's a high wear area for a foot rub. I don't see it holding up.

[Stu]

I've been looking at ordering door panels from Tree-Ausawa as well, for the exact same reason. It looks like they do nice work, are you happy with the quality?

Excellent job on the speaker installation!

Thanks. I really like the door panels. They are the correct size with all the big holes cut and the little ones for you to decide. The only small nit pick is that the tiny 'tank tread' emboss next to the large swoopy emboss ribs are sometimes not as defined as stock, but that is very minor and you will never notice once they are inside the car. I would buy again for sure. And they sold me a couple of extra yards of material that was used on the rear wheel wells, the rear wall by the parcel shelf, the C pillar lower metal trim parts, the center console, and the speaker pods so it all matches.

I've ordered a few sets. Great quality and communication. Well packaged for shipping. I did get a set with a faux lower trim for a 68. I wouldn't do that again. I'd try and keep the original aluminum trim and reuse or have nothing at all. Not his fault it just no to my taste. Its materiel not metal, and that's a high wear area for a foot rub. I don't see it holding up.

Agree about great communication and shipping packaging. Good to know about the 68 panels. Mine are pretty basic comparably.