Have you ever been on that long trip in your Fiero and hated how your forearm would "stick" to the console? Well I have and I hate it. I always carried a towel or a shirt to throw across the console to make things more comfortable. I have spent a lot of time thinking about building an arm rest that incorporated a cup holder but could never dream up something I liked. No matter what I did, the "Drinks" would be in the way of the my arm when going through the gears. I had decided to just find one of those console covers and be done with it. The only ones I could find were either vinyl or leather covered - same problem - arm sweats an sticks! So This afternoon, I decide to try and build my own arm rest. This was an easy project and would be a great one for anyone just starting in the fiberglass world.
First thing I did was take a spare console - you can use the existing one in your car but you will have to remove it from the car - I had a few spots that were warped so I had to do some repairs. I just used hot glue for this fix:
Next I used packing tape and covered the lower part of the console - I made sure that I extended it forward and aft to be sure I had a large enough area to work with. Once the console was covered, I cut my glass to the size I wanted. 1 layer of cloth, 2 layers of mat and 1 layer of cloth. I find that this gives it some good strength yet stays a little flexible. Using a 2" chip brush, I brushed on a layer of resin on the taped area of the console. Then laid down the 1st layer of cloth - wet it out, layed the 1st layer of mat - mixed some more resin and wet it out, layed the 2nd layer of mat and wet it out, layed the 2nd layer of cloth, mixed some more resin and wet it out. Then I used a roller to break up the air bubbles and smooth it out some. Then let it set up.
Once it was cured, I popped it off the console:
Then I trimmed it to size and sanded all the edges. I also sanded the surface inside and out. If you are using - off the shelf - resin, like form Lowes, AZ, etc. you want to sand the surface to remove any wax - if you leave wax, paint will not stick - nor will any adhesives.
Then I grabbed some left over headliner material and cut it to size:
Then I sprayed a layer of glue on the material and a layer on the glass and started fitting the material:
Test fit on my spare console:
And in my Formula:
I was a little worried that it would not fit well due to the extra material under the glass but found that it just made it fit nice and snug. I'll need to make a brown one for the Formula - this one will go in the XTC.I suppose you could use just about any material you could find. A leather one would be nice for show. I am not sure how the headliner material will hold up but it will be easy to swap out later on. Let me know what you think!
Pat
[This message has been edited by katatak (edited 05-05-2010).]
Thats Classic... I looks very nice Pat. I dont even have a console to cover.. 
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