I've been thinking about doing some stuff to it for a while...
It is just a big cavernous hole that collects junk down in the bottom that you can never find when you need it.
Here's a list of things I want to do:

I want to install a CD changer in it and maybe build the rear part into a subwoofer enclosure.

Modify the cup holders. Make them deeper so a bottle of coke doesn't tip over when going round a corner, with drain tubes that run down thru the floorboard so when my McDonalds drink cup sweats out the bottom, it won't collect up and get nasty.

Build a tray for small items, so they don't sink to the bottom.

Add a map pocket to the front side of it, with maybe a coin tray and some 12V outlets...

Pad the top of it, so I don't kill my knees when climbing ito the back seat with my wife. LOL

Anyways, I wondered if anyone else has thought of any improvements, or even better, actually done any of these?

If you have pictures of what you've done, I'd love to see them.

Any other ideas?

 

sounds good to me! I wish that my bronco even had a console. but if you build it for a subwoofer remember that you need to make the enclosure a certain size to get the best out of the subwoofer,do it right and it should look good.

 

You know I have been wanting to do the samething to mine. The drink holes for sure. Some engineer must have been smoken something when they designed the console. Anyways, it sounds great. Let me know how it goes.

 

Sounds good, I'd like to fix my cup holders too, they aren't big enough to hold anything. Sometimes when I am in a hurry the the plastic piece sticks to my coke bottle and I take it inside. One day I will solve this problem. One day........

 

I didn't think I was the only one with issues with the cup holders.
Best thing I could think, is that they only had cans in the 80's. The bottles and supersize drinks weren't around then.

What I plan to do is cut out the bottom, and use some PVC pipe to deepen them, and drill a hole in the bottom of both and run some rubber hose to a hole in the floor so it drains onto the ground.
Or I may find another console from something else, and cut out the cupholders and mold them into mine... Haven't decided yet.

 

Just some thoughts:

>I want to install a CD changer in it and maybe build the rear >part into a subwoofer enclosure.

This is fine, but don't forget you will have to run power, audio, and any control cables out to the console. Putting a sub in there would probably make it rattle like crazy or maybe even make the CD skip depending on how big/powerful it is.

>Modify the cup holders. Make them deeper so a bottle of coke >doesn't tip over when going round a corner, with drain tubes >that run down thru the floorboard so when my McDonalds drink >cup sweats out the bottom, it won't collect up and get nasty.

Amen to that...dunno about the drain tubes, though...never seems like my cups sweat that much. I'd be afraid it would be just enough to make the tubes sticky, then you have two sugar coated tubes leading right back to the cab for all sorts of critters to crawl into.

>Build a tray for small items, so they don't sink to the bottom.

Mine has a little coin holder / cassette tape holder / small parts bin...maybe you could find one of these at a salvage yard.

>Add a map pocket to the front side of it, with maybe a coin tray >and some 12V outlets...

Not a bad idea, but by the time you run power out to the console, it may be just as easy to install separate power outlets in the dash.

>Pad the top of it, so I don't kill my knees when climbing ito the >back seat with my wife. LOL

Um...OK. Do your seats tilt and slide forward? I'd be afraid of breaking that flimsy console by climbing on it too much, it's just blow molded plastic.

 

ive been thinking/planing one of those for a whie. I was going to include 3 gauges (tranny temp,oil temp, and one more i havent decided on yet) right under the dash (where the 2 would meet) maybe a TV and possibly a built in CB. I just havent had time. supid work

 

Corey, Good point on the sub vs. CD changer... May have to do just the CD changer.

And the lid is stornger than it looks! of course, I'm only about 150# and my wife is about 120#... Anyway, ussually we don't put all of our weight on it. Ussually just a knee when we're climbing in back to retrieve something while traveling. Also, I've found it's easier to load the car seat and kid between the front seats instead of tilting and sliding the seats forward... Just my preference maybe.

I have a power outlet with 4 ports on it and have already painted it to match. I jus thave to decide where to mount it. I't like to mount it up on the headliner to plug my radar detector into so I don't have the cord hanging to the ashtray where it's in the way.

 

well, i kinda just took mine out, talk about easy acess to the back seat. i, like you, found it only to collect junk in there so i ust eliminated it. i dont miss it. i have my cdplayer monuted in my dash and my sub behind the rear seat. as for extra outlets, i have 3 mounted under the dash. a great mod to the dash i made was taking out the cig lighter and coin tray, and mounting a piece of accrilic to through cd's into without having to mess w/ viser holders and all that crap. works great the last few years

 

I finally mounted the cd changer in mine last week. It had been sitting in the garage for a year. I bought an fm modulator model, so the only thing you can see when you look in the window is the factory tape deck. Put the modulator box in the the glove box, and the changer in the console. Drilled a hole in the bottom front right corner for the cables, and then ran them under the carpet. Works great, but now there's no space for anything else in the console.

 

I cut the bottoms out of the cup holders with a large hole-saw. Now I can drop most sizes of drinks in there no problem, no spills. You can use an electric drill with a hole saw bit or use a "brace and bit" with an expansive bit.

I installed a triple cig lighter socket on my dash and relocated the factory lighter that used to be in the ashtray to the top of the console between and forward of the drink holder holes. I can use it for my cellphone or for an aftermarket LED map light. Where my ashtray used to be, I installed an equalizer/booster. I also extended the wire that powered the ashtray light so it would reach inside the console. That way there is a light in the console that you can control with the dash light dimmer.

In the back part of the console I installed a Pioneer 12 disc changer, upright. Changers don't generate a lot of heat so no additional cooling fans were necessary. The wiring is simple. One special wire from the changer to the Pioneer head unit, plus power and ground.

On the outside front of the console I installed my CB.

All wiring goes under the carpet. It's a snap, just remove the left door sill plate and reach under there. At worst you might have to loosen the seat bolts for some wiggle room.

I put a 10" Infinity aluminum cone sub in a wedge box at the left rear of the truck near the tailgate and my sub amp is under the driver's seat. Sounds pretty good.

 

An idea....One that I used for adding a second amp for my truck...I built a small box, one that matches the size of the back of the back seat. I made mine about half the size..and there are metal supports and frame work in the seat that you can attach to. They are also grounded so it makes for a convienient ground point. I used self tapping scews to attach to the supports and frame and ran them through the back of the box I built. Then attached the amp to the box, then screwed on a lid to hide it. You can get small carpets pieces from just about anywhere that sells carpeting to cover the box.

Just my 2 cents

 

in my 79 i used the 3-way bucket bench seat from another truck. ridded the bench brackets and mounted the bench buckets to my bronco's bucket frame. the factory consol i pulled out and placed the center consol/flip up seat in. thus gives me the look of the bronco buckets or flip the consol up to look like a bench seat. since the 3-way bench was out of a newer truck it has all the updated drink holder and small storeage space for cd's and such. Since no body sits in the center consol/seat i didn't bolt it down so it can easily and quickly be removed. With the wieght and size of the center it don't bounce or slide around while offroading. the seat i used came out of a 90's model coughcough dodge cough cough. but it was the easiest found in my area in good shape cheap. but it works with all the new comfert updates.

 

Just my two cents, but it worked for me. I cut down a "cozy" you know the sponge rubber things that are suppose to keep your beer cold. Only I found if you drink fast it does'nt get warm. Anyway I cut the bottom out and cut it down to the same height as the hole. Just a suggestion.

 

I put my cd changer in my cemter console and It fit perfectly. (the changer and deck recently blew out, but not because of the location I put it. when wiring it into your deck, make sure the wire clips or screw tips dont fall off and then touch eachother, thus shorting out the deck and changing unit.) I ran the wires under the carpet and I cut a hole in the bottom of the console. I screwed one of the mounting brackets in front of the changing unit to hold it in place. I put some terry cloth towels behind the unit (in between the changer and the back wall of the console) to reduce rattling. My bronco is an XLT and has little molding strips running the length of the dash. I took off the little one just to the right of the steering wheel and drilled a hole big enough for the plug and the cord from the control box into the FM modulator. The power cord from the FM box to the changing unit went around the front driver seet (under carpet) and into the console. Then I drilled a hole in the dash molding (just cut into the top of it with the drill bit to make room for the control box cord). and attach the controll box to the dash to the right of the steering wheel. Ill try to grt pic in my gallery if anybody wants them. just look at my profile and get my email address and email me.