Mondial Center Console Repair

OK, like many on this string, I had the warped center console with peeling decal. I too removed it from the car and very carefully peeled the decal. I removed all the glue from the plastic console using a pretty efficient 3M adhesive remover. I ended up with a nice clean piece of plastic albeit warped (someone posted good pictures above). I did not attempt to clean the back of the decal. I did a test swatch and there was some concern it would eat at the decal. So.... this morning it was time to re-attach the decal using 3M Super 77 Multipurpose Adhesive. Before doing so, however, I figured I would try one more time to "flatten" the plastic piece. I had tried weights on it but the plastic had too much memory. How about heat? 30 seconds in the microwave didn't do much. Nor did 1min in the microwave. How about the toaster oven for 30 secs at a pre-heated 350 degrees....? BIG mistake - DON"T DO THIS! Even while diligently watching it the thing shriveled in front of me all of a sudden. So, I am indeed an idiot. It is ruined... Time to get one of the ones we've been talking about on this site......

 

I have to applaud your efforts, and I respect anyone who can admit to goofs 'thumbsup' now we know what not to do. hopefully it won't cost too much to replace.

 

Russ:

Is that a cup holder in your car? If so, do you have any extras and if not can one be made? Looks neat!!

Art

 

Yes - I have CAD/CAMS of the f & r center consoles and the cup holder, so can have them made anytime and drop-shipped by the shop.

I am halfway through doing a clear plastic switchboard to re-use with the original topsheet to save the backlighting, but it is less of a priority until I get my car up and running.

 

I have one of these cup holders in my mondi, sure saves spilling the stuff!

 

Russ:

I sent you a private message on the clear perspex plate.... Can you help rescue me from the diaster I have created by ruining the original piece? Need to get the car back on the road before winter leaves me no option but to admire it in the garage. Thanks! I'd consider the cup holder too....

Look forward to hearing from you,

Thanks.

 

As soon as I get moved into the new house I'll be happy to begin measuring for the light holes - the rest of the plate is pretty much done. Just as a warning with all of the milling it might not be cheap - could Verell mold one easily?
Perhaps combining the perspex back plate with lusso's decal we may get somewhere...

 

Russ and David....

Thanks for the notes (and support)... Russ, I can be patient on seeing what it would cost to replicate the plate so it could accomodate the fiber optic harness. But, if you have a clear perspex one ready to go and it is about $100 I might just do that to plug the gap. The car is all disassembled at the moment and I need something to tie it all back together..... Or, maybe a black one if you have it and then I skip the application of the decal until we have clear one that works..... David, I would definitely look into replicating the decal as well. What did you have in mind and any guesses on cost?

Thanks,

Andy

 

Guys:

A couple of new pieces of information...

1) At a truly exhorbitant price you can actual get the center console piece (including decal) from Ferrari. Price is about $1,000 - and it takes four to six weeks. So, my little experiment of heating the plastic turned into a $1,000 error subject to Russ and the perspex versions;

2) The proper way to have heated it was apparently a hairdryer (for those who still want to try). Perhaps this is obvious.... Anyway, I was told that all of the paint jobs are baked on at temps around 150 degrees so everything in the car is built to withstand that temperature. 300 degrees in a toaster oven was apparently too much. But a hair dryer could get you there and is obviously also more focused in its application. Two people suggested the hairdryer.

That's it for now.

AML

 

Dave:

I am still game on the decal....let me know.

On a separate note, there is a 12v 5w bulb at the beginning of the fiber optic harness that serves the center console. The bulb has a magnifying tip. The one in my car was made by Osram. There are not other identifying numbers on it. It is burned out and I have been unsuccessful in getting one from Ferrari or my Napa auto parts store. I cannot find it on the Osram website. Any ideas?

I will post a string on this...

Thanks,

AML

 

Russ:

Don't know if you are in the new house yet or not.... good luck moving and settling in though. If there is a clear perspex plate absent the channels for the fiber optic harness that you have ready to go today? I seem to recall that was something that was doable and was around $100. If so, can you let me know how to go about getting one? I am desperate to get the car back together and going..... If not clear, can I get a black one?

Also, Dave, any progress on getting a new decal made?

Thanks,

Andy

 

Andy
Just home and leaving again Saturday.
The Perspex version is done all except the channels for the light bars which I am starting to measure and tackle.
Options will be clear perspex or black anodized aluminum.

 

Thanks Russ. I'll ping you in a week or so to see how you are getting on with it. In the interim, I would probably just take a plain black one (no channels) to plug the gap if you had one "off the shelf" - Just so I can get the car back on the road looking reasonably fine. But I have two weeks in any event while I await some upholstery repairs.....

Thanks again.

 

pm sent

 

FYI, I actually received a new center console plate for my '89 Mondial T direct from Ferrari. I took about 3-4 weeks. It is perfect original equipment but comes with an extraordinary price tag....$950. Ridiculous for a piece of plastic... I also got a new fiber optic harness which was a much more economical $65. Anyway, just to let everyone know it is available contrary to earlier reports....

 

This was a while ago, but I thought this mistaken assumption should not be left un-commented. You can, in fact, reach from behind although it is only marginally easier than yanking the console. Still, my console is wedged in so tightly that it might get broken if I were to remove it, so I had no choice but to learn the reach from behind drill.

First, remove the "doghouse" in front of the console, next to the gas pedal. The doghouse consists of two pieces: an L shaped piece on the driver side that goes up and over, and a flat piece on the passenger side. Remove the screw on both sides, lift up the carpet on the passenger side, (it's velcroed), and then lifting up just a bit the driver side. That should be sufficient to free the passenger side from the clips attached to the overhanging part of the driver side so that you can take it out.

If you need to take the driver's side piece out, you need to take the gas pedal out. Inside the doghouse the control units for the stupid seat belts are bolted to the driver's side piece. If you have that type, either unbolt them or unplug them and you can pull the thing out from under the dash.

Then to access the nuts holding the metal plate the plastic face is attached to, I had to remove the driver side seat and the knee bolster. Then I could lie on my back with my head by the pedals, and just see to install the four nuts.

P.S. The knee bolsters are not going back in. They weigh a ton and do nothing for the looks except reduce legroom. I am going to fab some small trim strips covered with black vinyl to go in the holes they leave on the lower part of the dash.

 

I recently refurbished my upper console plate. I removed the decal, cleaned it and the black plastic piece with denatured ethyl alcohol, Then I took some sheet metal screws, ground the tips off so that they no longer had a taper at the tip, and used them with some washers to securely screw the black plastic piece to the metal plate. I used four screws, two in the original location and two through the clock's ears. My black plastic plate is warped, but with it being securely screwed to the the metal plate, and pretty tightly wedged into the console's surrounding bezel, you don't notice it after it's back in place. Anyway, next I noticed that where my decal had a thin layer of white, i.e. where the light shines through, the white stuff was mostly gone. Probably this is not an issue when the lights are shining through, but in normal light, the icons looked crap. I took some white spray enamel primer, sprayed some into a cup, took a tiny little brush, and brushed two light coats over the "light holes". I didn't bother to try to make it too neat as far as keeping the paint in the borders of the light holes, but didn't make a big mess of it either. It looks fine in normal light, and I held the light bar up near a light, and could see the light bar glowing through the paint, so I think it's a go.

Then I masked off the part of the decal that goes over the light bars and sprayed on a medium coat of 3M 77 adhesive. Yanked the masking tape and pressed the decal back into place. I think that there must be a better adhesive for this than the 3M product as it doesn't seem like it will last forever, but it is a lot better than it was. Oh yeah, I left out a step: when I test fit the decal to the plastic plate because of the warping or whatever, the decal seemed a bit oversize. If I pressed both sides neatly into the recesses on each side of the black plastic plate, the middle of the decal bowed up. So I duct taped a piece of 800 grit wet and dry sand paper to my flat table, and holding the decal on edge, gently sanded it down to get a reasonable fit. I reinstalled the plate by lying on my back and going in the front of the consle, using a socket extension like a screwdriver with the nut propped up at the front of the socket by stuffing a bit of rubber in the socket. Then when I hooked the whole thing up the clock no longer worked. What could be wrong? Back on my back, out came the nuts, out came the plate, and that's when I realized that the little square peg in the back of the clock is a bulb holder. Somehow in the commotion my bulb had gone south. I have an LED version, and an incandescent version rated for 15,000 hours, (which translates to 750K miles at an average of 50 mph), on order so we'll see which one seems like the best bet. You can bet I will test the clock before I bolt that baby down again.

Links for ordering clock bulbs:

15,000 hour type: https://www.bulbtown.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=73

LED type: http://www.superbrightleds.com/specs/74.html (Part No 74-WWHP3 is the one I ordered as it seem most like the original in terms of light pattern) (10,000 hour life span, but lower current draw, so this is the one I'll use if it looks OK)

Original type: http://www.bulbtown.com/74_MINIATURE_BULB_GLASS_WEDGE_BASE_p/74.htm

Our friends at Ricambi list a brand new upper panel for $144 which is awfully cheap compared to $950 for the lower (conversely, the price for the upper piece places the absurd price of the lower piece in stark relief), but I have other priorities for my F-bucks at present. Anybody tried a different glue? At Ace they have 3M high strength and high tack as alternatives, but which one, if either, sounds likely to be better for this application is anybody's guess - the high tack scared me, as I can just see my self sticking the thing down off by a little bit, and not being able to adjust it...

 

I received the led type sub-miniature wedge-base lamp today, that I ordered to fix my clock. It has 3 LEDs, one on the end and one on each side. Installed it and the clock was too bright. I put a piece of black shrink wrap over the two LEDs on each side. Then it was not bright enough. I removed the black shrink wrap and put a piece of white shrink wrap in its place - perfect. The bulb is rated for 10,000 hours and draws 30 miliamps as opposed the incandescent's 800 miliamps. That is the one for me.

I also received the 6 LED bayonet mount lamps that I am trying out as replacements for the Osram fiber optic light source bulb that is apparently only available if one purchases the harness for 60 odd dollars. So far I have only tested the upper console plate that I reconditioned and it looks good. Still, I may take it apart one more time to lightly sand the primer that I put behind the icons so that more light comes through. They light up but not as nicely as I like, especially the one for the filler cap, where I know I ended up with a thicker layer of paint. Also I think that I will rough up the black plastic with some coarse grit sandpaper so that the spray adhesive sticks better. It sticks fine to the decal, but not so well to the black plastic. I tried a white 6-LED bulb and a red 6-LED bulb - I think the white will work fine on my lower console, and the red looks pretty good on the upper, however they also offer an amber yellow that I think will look better than either, so I am going to order one of those, along with a special single LED model that is supposedly much brighter, but will be a bit of a fiddle to make fit. If I can get it to fit, that will probably be best for the lower console.

Regards,

 

For more information see: http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=168724

 

Has anyone ever sucessfully "un-warped" one of these panels????

 

about a 1/2 year late, but thanks....gave up on a response as I thought others were thinking me hijacking it....

will go into that area when weather warms up.....PM sent.

rik

 

strangely i wondered weeks ago how to custom this pannel also. my question is : do you try to design the same as original or do you try to add some lightning on it ? to my mind, this pannel, and especially the knobs are not illuminated at night ( or very few do to the age ).
it should be, to my mind, very usefull to add a lightning knobs system on the pannel. I post this message because i am not fluent in english, and i wondered if that was what you mean in the previous messages when you wrote "highlighting".
thanx