New Transmission  50                 May  2012

The console is held down with five screws on each side but once I cut the hole in the floor (for the transmission) I lost three of the five. What I'm doing here is adding places to hold it down using riv-nuts. The two that you see here are for the middle clamps on the console (one for each side) and I did the same thing on the smaller piece behind this one with two more. Once I had the console installed using my new threaded aluminum blocks, I found where these new screw locations needed to be. These are 6-32 riv-nuts that were installed from the other side on both panels. The last and most rearward screw locations were in the floor of the car and I used riv-nuts for those as well. Now that I have a place to screw down my console again, it's time to make a new center section for it.
 

 

 

What you see here is the new piece that will go between the sides of the console. I started with a cardboard template and transferred all of the dimensions to the metal one which was left a little long. The new center piece is made out of 6061-T0 aluminum that is .050 thick and is very soft. What I mean by soft is aluminum comes in many different grades and heat treatments.

The grade 6061-T6 for instance is a very common grade of aluminum and is widely used in the aerospace industry, automotive, etc. The T6 on the end determines the hardness and is easy to machine when in this condition. On the other hand the material I used is a T0 (zero) condition which means no heat treat at all. The good news here is that it will be very easy to bend compared to a piece in a T6 condition. The bad news is that it can dent and bend very easily.

The piece I had in the car previously was 6061-T6 and was very hard to bend properly. It took me hours to end up with the shape I had and to be honest it was never really right. After I worked on it to the point of frustration, I finally said it was close enough but one little area didn't come out right and it has bothered me ever since. Nobody ever noticed this area but I did.
 

 

 

To bend the larger radius I started with a bucket but that ended up being to large so then I used a new roll of paper towels which was much closer. Once I had it close I ended up with that large pipe in my vise to tweak here and there. I placed a rag over the pipe while bending so it didn't damage the soft aluminum.

The second bend (below) was more challenging because it needed to be in just the right place compared to the first one. The first bend was measured from the top of the new center piece which ends up under the dash by an inch or so. If I was off by a small amount while bending this it would be no big deal because there would be extra material under the dash that nobody would see. On the other hand, the second bend would need to follow the contour of the side pieces and placed a certain distance from the first bend. If I get this one wrong then you would see it very easily.

To find the exact location of this second bend I marked the piece at the starting point of the bend. Then I slowly rotated the center piece around the stationary side piece till I had it placed at the end of the second bend. This would mark the ending point of this radius which was critical because I needed to find that center point between them. I double checked my starting and ending point once more and it repeated just to make sure. Once I had this center line I marked my piece and went for it.
 

 

 

Here you can see the center piece all finished which came out pretty good and was very easy to bend (almost to easy). The cutouts that you see are for two switches, shifter and six switches (left to right). I will still need to make a trim ring to go around the shifter area along with a boot which I'm still not sure what I want yet but it's another thing I'll be thinking about.
 

 

 

Next I'll be gluing a thin piece of cardboard onto to the aluminum. This cardboard helps give depth to this piece and it's easier to round the corners which I'll show you later. I gave the surface of the aluminum a quick scuff with some Scotch-brite and then cleaned it with lacquer thinner. I'll be gluing two pieces of cardboard instead of one (end to end) because it's much easier this way. I also made the cardboard oversize and it will be trimmed later.
 

 

 

Here is what it looks like after gluing. I got pretty close to the edge on the bottom side but I just made it. I should have cut the cardboard a little larger but it came out fine.
 

 

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