Hello all,
Ive been a Ford van owner since the 1990's. Ive been riding in ford vans since the early 1980's with my father. It always bugged me on how these vans never had a console between the seats. The screwdriver or water bottle skirting across the floor board at a panic stop has always been fun for me.

I know the Rubbermaid container between the seat method is quite sufficient however i had some free time on my hands and also wanted to share. Any other custom consoles out there? Would love to see.. Thanks

edit: I'm not very happy with the black console lid that i made myself using an old leather jacket and carpet pad. I think ill cut another piece of MDF and send it out to an upholstery shop. I think it would look much better in the seat color gray.

 

Nice job.. the LED lighting is a nice touch. Curious why you cutout the rear and bottom though?

 

I think it looks great myself and you do wonderful work! I like the LED touch.

My father built one years ago for his e100 shorty converted vampervan. IT was about the same size as yours and had a cushion on top so a third person could sit up front if they wanted to. (that was before seat belt laws) But his had a twist built into it.. Being a shorty van you have to utilize all the space you can. You remember the old baby training potties with the removable porcelain pot you slide out and clean after they used it? Instead of storage, his doubled as a seat and porta potty in case of emergency!

 

Thank you, the bottom i left out for 2 reasons. I wasn't sure if the floor of the van was completely flat or contoured. Didn't want to take the risk of having any gaps in between the floor and console around the perimeter. 2nd, im mounting a that will take up 1/4 of the console. Ill be sure to take pics once bolted down to the floor of the van. The back section i left out because originally i was going to mount my security dvr with a slide out drawer accessible from the cargo area of van. However i scratched that idea. The opening isn't really an issue for me being that i have a partitioned wall directly behind it.

Thank you, haha I think that will be my next project!

 

I like that!

 

Looks a little better than the milk crate I use....

 

I finally had a chance to finish up this project yesterday. I ran into a problem when i installed the gun safe though. It was actually .75" taller than what it was advertised and the console lid did not close all the way. They didn't include the top plastic bezel in their measurements. So as you can see from the pics, i made a modification with some oak stock. I used a gloss black instead of staining and polyurethane on the modified oak. I added some green leds inside the safe and also a solenoid electric door lock powered by a (hard wired) momentary switch for the console lid. Its really just for prying eyes (not so great for security as someone can just pry it up easily with force). The safe however is secure and primarily for my tablet inside a protective soft case. It fits perfectly. The safe is bolted to the console and then bolted through the floor underneath the van with carriage bolts. If and when the solenoid fails, i have drilled a 1/8" hole for an emergency release. You just need to pop it with a pin or piece of hard wire (see the video). The led lights are powered with ignition on and also have a separate switch. I ran some stranded 4 gauge wire from the battery to run a 1000 watt power inverter inside the console. The inverter will power a bluetooth printer that i can control from my tablet. Also yes the 1,2,3,4 combination code will be changed. Thats the kind of combination only an idiot would have on his luggage

 

Heres the demo video,

 

All it needs is a seat belt.

 

Yeah actually now that you mentioned it, I guess so.. And a seat back too would be nice..

 

I really like that!
Nice job.

 

Thank you!

 

Cool indeed--where ya'd get that kewl azz 'lectric latch anyway?

 

Thanks and i feel a lot better about leaving my tablet and lunchbox in my van while wandering into HD every morning
The latch i got from amazon. Its probably meant more for like a commercial application however it works pretty well for me.

 

Thank YOU----I can see a lot of applications where that type device could be utilized for security and/or convenience inside our vans!