Whats that? where? what? the empty space infront of you!
Infront of the gearstick looks so bare, i think its time to add a little storage!
Its easier than it looks!
Tools Needed:
screwdrivers (Various)
Socket set
Sharp Knife
Small drill bit
Pin Vice Drill bit holder or
Right angled drill adapter and drill.
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Mind the gap?
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It Fits
Get the right colour
Applies to:
All MK3's without center console
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What you need from a scrap yard or ebay:
Centre console (same colour of dash)
Front bracket and small mounting screws (Coarse thread self-tappers)
Rear bracket and small mounting screws. (Coarse thread self-tappers)
Four long self-tapping screws to mount console to brackets.
Heater pipe with foam end.
Small gear gaiter cap.
Large external gear gaiter (Rubber or leather)
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Now its make up your mind time on a few things.
The first being. what gear gaiter do you want? Rubber or leather?
The second being, coin tray or switch Panel? where are you going to have your electric window switches?
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Start off by fitting the rear bracket mount.
Remove the gear knob by twisting it to unscrew. Pull up your existing gear gaiter
and feel under the carpet facing to the rear of the car. There you will find two holes in the metal bodywork.
Using a knife cut the carpet back bit by bit till you get to the holes.
Place bracket over holes facing inwards towards the gear stick and cut around it.
Now screw down the bracket with the small screws.
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Now to the front bracket, this is a little trickier to fit.
Firstly remove the heater outlet pipe in the middle of the heater matrix base (The one at your feet).
This is done by grabbing the pipe with both hands and pulling it towards you while tilting it backwards, to free itself from the retaining lug.
Now feel the carpet on the mound just under where the heater pipe was till you find a ridge under the carpet.
If you feel around this area you will notice a rectangle shape, stick your knife into the carpet in the middle of the rectangle and cut away,
With the carpet removed you will notice that the underlay is cut in a rectangular shape
but one edge is a perforated line. This perforated line is where it will hinge up,
so grab the underlay and fold it upwards.
Now the underlay is out you will notice that the hole is the right size for the rear bracket.
Now a tricky part, feel and look at the metal floor and you will notice two dimples in the floor.
These are where the holes need to be drilled to take the screws for the bracket.
It is completely up to you how you drill these, bearing in mind that space is limited,
so a normal drill wont fit. I used a pin vice and a 3mm drill bit from a model
shop but you could use a right-angled attachment for a drill.
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Once the holes have been drilled, place the bracket over them with the angled side to the Passenger side
ensuring that the underlay is out of the way,
and screw in the screws with the screwdriver attachment on a ratchet handle (space limitations again).
Once secure, fold the underlay down to cover the bracket.
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Place the Small gear gaiter cap over the gear stick and firmly attach to the lip
around the gear stick workings. The purpose of this is to stop rubbish from the
heater blowing into and clogging the gear workings up.
Grab hold of the heater flow pipe and remove the original grill and replace it with
the open ended one with the foam surround. Place the pipe back onto the heater matrix base,
simply slide it back in till it clicks.
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Put the centre console over the gear stick and manoeuvre it under the handbrake and glide
it under the dash ensuring that the plastic lugs on the console are on the outside of the
rear mounting bracket and that the heater pipe is inside the hole in the console rear.
Drop the front onto the mounting plate,
align the screw holes and drive the long screws home, making sure not to over tighten them.
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As mentioned above it is time to choose a gear gaiters, on the Fiesta, the higher spec models had the
rubber gaiter same as the lower spec cars but on the mk3.5's some models, generally high end all
came with a leather gaiter that looks more nicer than the rubber version.
When you have decided on the gaiter it is installed by placing it over the gear stick and pushing
the fixing lugs on the bottom into the centre console, it will only go one way so don't force it!
Screw your gear knob back on or replace it with a "sports" version, making sure that the numbers
are the right way around.
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If you haven't already done so, put the storage tray into the bottom hole in front
of the gear stick and the coin tray into the top hole, alternatively put the electric windows
and boot switch panel in place of the coin tray, depending or not if you're wanting electric windows at a later date.
It is also possible to fit a head unit in the place of the lower storage tray and route the wires up to the original loom.
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If you chose the later spec centre console then there will be a hole for the boot release switch
at the side of the gear stick, if there is no switch you will need to bung it with
either a switch or a blanking plate available from ford for around 50p.
As you can see, it has filled the gap adequately i think.
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There you have it, a simple guide to fill an empty space at your feet.
Hope this guide is of some help.
Guide Written and © On 14 Aug 2005 by Andrew Whiteman (AW3K)
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