Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2003 22:04:54 -0600
Reply-To: Joel Walker <jwalker17@EARTHLINK.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Joel Walker <jwalker17@EARTHLINK.NET>
Subject: Re: vacuum forming
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> Wow! What a handy tool to have in you garage! How about making
a
> shelf/map-pocket/cup holder thingie to replace or attach to the
plastic
> center housing underneath the dash. I always thought VW could
have been
> more creative with that piece. And add a waste-basket bag
holder to it,
> too, while you're at it. I'd buy one. How do you plan to make
tooling?
i found some cup-holder thingies that work great ... will
actually hold a decent size cup, and spare change. :)
got them at www.auto-barn.com ... skipping forward through
Accessories-Interior, and Consoles/Cup-holders,
you get to this page ...
http://store.yahoo.com/rodi/consoles1.html
the ones i got were Rubber Queen Cup-n-stuff holders for $3.99.
the black matches the dash/console pretty well.
but you might see some other stuff in there that you might like
better.
the trick is attaching them to the center plastic console piece.
getting the piece off the dash is the worst part.
it's held on by two little clip-grabber thingies on each side at
the top. the clip-grabber thingies are molded into the piece and
stick into a slot in/on the dash. so you have to gently pry the
corners of the piece away from the dash ... and it feels like
it's not gonna let go. but if you wiggle it enough on one side,
you can get the grabbers to let go on that side ... and then the
other side is easier. once it's been out a time or two, it comes
off easier ... the grabbers edges get a bit rounded off. :)
anyway, i used small stove bolts, washers and nuts to attach the
cup-holders to the console piece. you have to test several
positions before drilling, because of the ducting on the backsie
of the piece ... put the hole in the wrong place and you won't be
able to get the nut on the bolt. :(
one DISadvantage is if you like cold drinks when the heater is on
... forget it: the heater blows right down onto the cup-holders.
nice if you wanna keep coffee or tea hot, but otherwise, whatever
is in the cup holder is gonna get warmed up. unless you move the
cup holders higher on the piece ... then you have a problem
fitting decent sized drive-through cups into the holders without
interference from the edge of the dash.
.. it's always something! ;)
joel
|