I’m going to have to rebuild the center Shift Console in my 69. Does anyone have any photos of one showing the top and underneath?

 

I'm doing this on my 69 and 68.
I can post mine this evening.
What specifically are you looking to see?
Are you going to replace the piece in your pictures?
I purchased mine from Al Knoch. the exterior looks great but the underside is very crude and some tabs are missing such as the riviet tabs.

 

I’ve spent so much on my car this last year I was going to try and repair what I have. I really need to see the top where the metal bracket mounts to the console. I need to see how the rivets are mounted.

 

Jeff,
those rivets are in the correct place. I don't think mine had the washers from the factory though.

 

I’m trying to figure out how to rebuild the area around the rivets. I’m assuming originally there was plastic affixed to the console where the rivets went.

 

Before I jump in with maybe useless information, what is it that you see as an issue and what are you trying to achieve? In the shown pics, I see a very solidly mounted rivet area and no cracks or missing material.

“Restoration” means different things to different people. What you are showing to me looks easily restorable (depending on end goals) to a very respectable level. If that were my console, I would:
1. Remove the fiber optic plate.
2. Remove the plastic lens from behind that plate
3. Strip that plate via aircraft stripper
4. Polish the lips of that plate, as well as the words
5. Wipe it all down with denatured alcohol, etc (your favorite oil & grease remover)
5. Tape up the lips using a combination of masking tape/pinstripe tape
6. Spray the plate in a few coats of good primer
7. Carefully wipe/rub the primer off of the words
7. Lightly wipe the primer after dry with a super clean micro fiber towel
8. Apply a few coats of good satin or flat black
9. Carefully buff/wipe the paint off of the words
10. Plastic polish the plastic fiber optics display piece and reinstall it
The Console…
1. Clean it very well with Dawn Platinum, using a toothbrush or other not too rough, but not too soft brush
2. Wipe down with alcohol or your favorite oil & grease remover
3. Repair the circled area with a vinyl repair kit
4. Wipe again for oil and grease
5. Re-color with a quality vinyl dye, (such as available through the various ‘Vette vendors, in all of the colrs they came in), by applying 2 light mists, then 2 heavier coats.
Reinstall the fiber optic plate and shift plate into it, stick it back in and look like you spent a lot but did not.

 

My guess is that the assembly line workers gave the new kid the task of mating the console to the cluster. Some here don't even bother to try to fasten the two together.

Having both out at one time, I decided that "blind mate" should be reengineered a bit to make it somewhat more feasible. Here's what I came up with:



This is of course out of the car. Once partially mated, you can reach things a little easier to get the bolts started. Then you can get a small ratcheting allen wrench on that bolt to finish the job. I won't say it's easy but it a lot more so than the factory connection.

What you see in the lower part of the picture will be unfamiliar to you, but I extended the cluster with two new gauges in place of the radio.

 

Very nice work ignatz!

 

Spend more!

 

The first photos may have been misleading. The rivets are not connected to the console so I assume they were attached to plastic which broke away from the console long ago. Here are photos which depict what I’m working with.

 

Great instructions! Thanks, I’ll use these.

 

Thanks litevette. I think if I were doing this again, I might just use rare earth magnets. Click and done!

 

Ah, now I see. It looks like you will need to do some fiberglass and resin repair. I would attempt to explain, but plenty of thorough youtube vids that explain it better than I could.

 

Here a couple of pictures of my 1968 and my 1969.
Seems these plastic consoles that are riveted to the metal support piece are prone to breaking

 

As far as repairs, what works best? Epoxy or fiberglass?

 

I think fiberglass, if you either used chopped strands and/or a combination of fiberglass matt, the glass reinforces the resin. Epoxy can also be super strong, but does not have that reinforcement. I glassed in the firewall of a ‘69 I once had, where the heater box had been, using resin, reinforced with the chopped glass, then covered with fiberglass matt soaked in resin. I think that area was as strong or stronger than the rest of the firewall. I would first use a dremel or a file to open up the joining areas. You want as much surface area as possible for the mending materials to bite into and bond to. In addition, for future reference, look up youtube videos on super glue and baking soda.

 

I think that litevette's update #6 is a pretty good start. You have a small tear on the upper left of the console near the fiber optics plate. Loctite makes a vinyl repair in a 1oz tube that works very well. I used some of it many years ago to repair a tear in the back of my passenger seat and it still looks good. If you use a toothpick and get the Loctite under the tear and then use some of the masking tape that is easy to remove you might find that the repair is almost invisible. All of that plastic in the console gets brittle and breaks after all of these years. The Corvette suppliers now make a kit to repair mounting holes for the upper trim plate to fasten into. Once the plates are glued in place the screws will hold everything together. Zip has one that you can buy "I-1188". I made my own years ago before the repair parts were available with some aluminum and JB Weld plastic epoxy. Has lasted for years. The more that you can repair on your own is a good thing.

 

As always, I appreciate everyone’s help whenever I reach out. I’ve almost completed everything I set out to do this winter. Hopefully I can enjoy it during the nice weather and continue with the improvements when the cold returns.
Thanks everyone!