what are your console design ideas?

[indiana818]

im dreaming of the console that i would design and all of the options needed
im looking for all of your ideas

[wallace18]

I made a simple one that holds 3 gauges. O/P, volt and boost. see my thread.

[AZPete]

I'm thinking about a storage compartment and cup holders in my console, behind the shifter, but I'm not there yet. I'm working on wiring now which will determine how much space is left in the console for the shifter, E-brake and mods. I've got the Boyd tank and I've moved the firewall back so I should have enough console space for storage. Hopefully I'll get some ideas from this thread before my wiring is done. Any pics of cool consoles?

[Racebrewer]

FWIW:

My wife's Honda Fit has cup holders built into the dash in the top left and right corners near the side windows. I thought that was kind of silly, until I used them. Beats standard console cup holders all to Heck.........

[Xusia]

^Prob keeps spilled liquid away from the center console electronics too!

[Goldwing]

I'm still working on a theme, but I'll need to incorporate some form of radio and hoping for heat & A/C controls in the transition to the dash. Of course, cup holders are needed too, effective, hand-of-God cup holders.

[Justen]

I used the stock center console and it came out pretty good, It already has a cup holder in it and the control for the power mirrors that I am keeping. It also has spots for 2 more switched that I might use for heated seats. I will try to post a pic from my phone.

[Justen]

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[Kurk818]

That looks like a great idea. How does the merge with the front end of the tunnel look? Any difficulties mounting the e-brake?


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[Mechie3]

That looks fantastic. Unfortunately it won't work for 05+ cars. Those years had the center console integrated with the tunnel portion. The 02-04 had them separate design wise so it looks great.

I should say, not that is won't work for other cars, it'll take more work in 05+ to look like it belongs vs hacked in.

[svanlare]

I have ideas about what I "want" in the center console but haven't figured out yet how I will get there or how to make it look good.

I'd like HVAC, ABS and TC on/off/controls (race logic), radio (can be just a volume knob with iPod input), and seat heaters. Will be playing around with a raspberry pi controller this summer to see if all the secondary controls can be managed through a web interface to a phone or tablet, so for the most part the dash can be very clean with very few controls and I'll mount a bracket to hold the phone for Nav and control functions when I want them.

[gpaterson]

I have a 2004 JDM donor and had thought of using the centre console also but skinning it in carbon fibre ... http://www.carbonmods.co.uk/products/carbon-fibre-skinning-starter-kit__cmcfsk300.aspx. Seeing Justen's pics has convinced me that it is the way to go.

In my console I am thinking of retaining the HVAC controls. The blank area where the head unit was will be filled with an 8" Android tablet. There are many apps that would be great in the car like Google Maps, Torque (supplementary gauges fed from OBDII and GPS), music, hands-free phone, laptimer and interval timer etc. I want to leave the spartan feel of the 818 dash and as it drops below eye line to have a centre-console with the controls.

[Justen]

That looks like a great idea. How does the merge with the front end of the tunnel look? Any difficulties mounting the e-brake?
I had to cut the brace on the front to bring the sides in but it fits almost perfectly around the shifter. I also cut the back to fit around the firewall to get the console back far enough to fit the e-brake properly. It only took about 10 minutes for get a nice fit. I will post a pic of the front later tonight.

[305mouse]

Will be playing around with a raspberry pi controller this summer to see if all the secondary controls can be managed through a web interface to a phone or tablet, so for the most part the dash can be very clean with very few controls and I'll mount a bracket to hold the phone for Nav and control functions when I want them.

I'm curious to see where this takes you. I was thinking about the raspberry pi due to it's size and simplicity.

[AZPete]

Here's a start on my console with 2 cup holders and a little coin cup. I dropped the K-Tuned shifter down to make room for the cup holders and then found a space in front of the shifter for a little compartment I'm calling a "coin cup" because it has a curved bottom. As you can see, I'm still planning how to make an arm rest to cover the E-brake mechanism. All this will look better once it is upholstered, of course, but it's a start.
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[billjr212]

Pete - looks good. Great start. I like the "coin cup" up front. Nice place to balance an ipod/phone/GPS/package of twizzlers. Can you provide a dimension from the floor to the top of that console (in the center section near the cupholders)? Curious if you had to raise it up to squeeze the cupholders in over the top of the plethora of wires.

Maybe easiest just to edit your previous post to keep the thread short. Thanks!

Edit: Just found your post in the K-tuned shifter thread. I see that you didn't have to raise it up at all. Nicely done!

[tango68ss]

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Justen, Any follow-up pics of your console?

TC