Console Swap
Well, i finally got the swap done. I ran into a few more difficulties than i thought. There isnt much to doing the swap. First thing your gonna want to do is take the switches and buttons off of your consolette. Once thoe wires and all are out of the way, time to take out the seat. You gotta take off the 4 little covers that cover the seat bolts, 3 of them are 1/2 inch, the other one i think was 18 mm, leave it to ford to mess with the poor americans head, why couldnt they all use standard sizes. Once itys unbolted, i picked it up, folded it and layed it back so the bottom was easy to get to, you gotta unhook the wiring harness if you have power seats and for the seatbelt light. Then you can pull the seat out. If its a power seat, be ready for it to be kinda heavy, it caught me off gaurd. Once you find a suitable cutter, i used a roto zip with a cut off wheel, pull back the fabric and cut the metal as close to the bottom as possible, once you cut through both supports, just ditch that damn consolette. Now, if you got the proper year console for the year car you have, itll be no problem. Mine too a bit more modifications to fit because it was from an 85 and it has the long console and it was made to match up to the different style dash. What i did so i didnt screw up cutting the carpet, i mounted only the bracket that holds the console to the tranny tunnel on it and left everything out so i could get my hands in there. I used a magic marker and outlike the brackets. Then i cut a "D" shape in the car so i could just fold the carpet back and expose the metal. Then i set the console back in, marked the holes id need to drill and drilled them. I used 2 self tapping screws to hold it in place, i put everything back together, seat back in, console peices, everything and then took pictures.
Before i start id like to give a little bit of info before you start the console swap. First, your gonna want to locate the right console for the year car you have. I put an 83-84 in my car, and it doesnt fit properly, I had to cut a bit off of the front for mounting, and things just dont work completely right so try to get one for your specific car. Also, if you want to do this swap, your gonna need the radio surround, the bracket at the bottom of the surround and the lighter panel that fits in place of your push out ashtray. Im not sure about the stuff youd need for an 83-84. If the console you bought was the wrong color, or just faded or whatever, use a high quality vinyle spray paint, I used SEM's vinyle/fabric/plastic paint and it worked beautifully, doesnt scratch off, flake or anything. And another thing, its nice to do it on a cool day, because working on your car in the heat and being in the interior gets extremely hot, it made me sick and i dont want this happenening to anyone else that does this. Now onto the swap information.
This is the bit i had to "cut" to get the console to fit. I actually didnt cut it...i broke it off. You do not need to break it off if you are using a 83-84 console in a 83-84.
This shows the metal bracket and how its mounted. Well...it sorta does. It basically shows what mounts to it, but you get the idea.
Thats a shot of the main mounting bracket. I would have 2 matching screws if i was patient enough to dig through the screw jars...but they work.