It took me awhile to complete but I finally rebuilt the front overhead console. I didn't take many pics when doing it unfortunately, but here's what I have.

Below is the original version. There was a center piece on it originally but it was a clunky looking badly aged hunk of cheap wood like substance so I removed it years ago. The whole console extended back over the drivers and passengers heads which made it essentially useless.



Here's what the roof looked like underneath it. That crossbeam is one that Mark III just cut out from somewhere else and then screwed it up with self tappers to hold the console up in back. I removed that. In front they also just used some real long self tappers. In this shot you can only see about half of the rats nest of wires that are up there.



This is a view of the inside of the reworked console. I shortened it quite a bit. The three blocks of wood up front hook over the remaining steel lip left from when they cut out the original roof to put on the high top. On the far left and right of the vertical piece are two scrap metal lengths which get bolts through them and into some t-nuts that are in blocks that I epoxied up into the sides of the high top. I neglected to take pics of those. On each side of the large rectangular hole for a CB are steel pins. They slide into blocks that I also epoxied up to the roof of the high top to hold up the console (and provide extra support) while I screw in the bolts on the sides. On the far right of the vertical piece is a small rectangular hole for a switch panel. Directly behind the black CB mount are two grey steel scrap pieces I fabbed up to hold an external speaker for the CB. It goes up from underneath through a square hole thats hard to see because there's cardboard under it in this shot. Also hard to see are two holes cut for aircraft style lights.



This is just the 1/2" foam padding but you can see the holes better.



And BAM! it's all done! Well I did say I didn't take many pictures. The bare areas will all be covered eventually since I'm redoing the entire interior slowly, very slowly.



The radio is a Galaxy DX 979 and the external speaker is (iirc) a Uniden Bearcat. The vinyl is the same I used on my door panels and will be using everywhere else. The aircraft style lights and the switch panel both came from JC Whitney.
Currently one switch is for my fog lights and the other three are for future use. The best thing about this console though is that I just have to remove two bolts and slide it back a few inches and the front will drop down enough for limited access, or just slide it back a couple more inches and the whole console comes down. This was extremely handy when doing (and redoing) the wiring. If I were doing it again the only thing I would do differently is make the console even shorter, it's usable now as is but a bit hard to see the CB controls. Also just in case anybody's wondering, the epoxy I used is not the little tubes you get at the hardware store but a real boat building type that I thickened with micro spheres and chopped strand.

Nice job!

That's really sweet! Thanks for all the great pictures.

I'm curious, was there a particular type of foam you used, and does the vinyl just lay over it, or is it held on with staples or an adhesive?

Was the boat building adhesive you used like automotive body panel adhesive? I've been planning to make some metal block attachment points like you did using it. I haven't heard of anyone else doing it, so I'm pretty excited to hear how it works out for you.

Wow! That looks great! Gives me some ideas for when i eventually re-do my overhead.

Nice job!

I used gorilla glue to put mine in.

The foam is an upholstery type. Don't remember what exact type. Spray adhesive for the foam to wood then spray again and staples for the vinyl.



No, it's a two part liquid that is just like any fiberglass resin except it's epoxy not polyester. Polyester does not bond as well to wood. I had to thicken it to toothpaste consistency to use it as a glue but it's super strong. There are easier options but that's what I had on hand.

And now you have more room for those bouncing boobies.....

I can just hear them... err I mean her saying YAY! now.

boobies make me smile

Looks great!!!

I have been wondering what to do with my CB and I have a stereo where yours is, but I want to put the stereo in the dash, so this might just work...