General Bumble's Bee

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General Bumble's Bee

Just bought a replacement centre console/armrest from Henk. A bit more than I wanted to pay but very good service. The arm rest has the lock assembly, which I don't need, but I can't remember who was looking for one? I will get round to fitting the centre console at the weekend and I will take up a bit more slack in the hand brake cable at the same time. I'll post some pics if I can. If you're needing the lock bits, let me know.

Steve

Ah ****! I completely forgot about the arm rest!

I'm sorry.

If its any consolation to you, it had algae all over it...
 
As I have posted previously, my replacement centre console/arm rest arrived in the week from Henk. The following pics describe it's fitting and, although I know many members are far more competent mechanics than me, it may be beneficial to others.

The first pic shows the original centre console with the damage adjacent to the passenger seat belt socket. This was probably caused by a passenger stabbing the trim with the seat belt clip whilst trying to locate it.

Remove the suede trim from around the handbrake lever by carefully prising it upwards and then slide it off the handbrake lever. There are two large phillips screws below a thin rubber mat inside the locker and a further, smaller screw immediately below the handle on the handbrake lever. Remove the screws and the console can be lifted upwards and over the handbrake lever. Be careful as the cigar lighter is still connected. The wire on mine was long enough to allow the console to be inverted which made unclipping the connector easy.

With the console removed, the handbrake lever assembly is revealed. I decided to take the opportunity to adjust some slack from the cables as the handbrake, whist effective, would have made a good advert for viagra.

The cables can be adjusted by a 10mm nut below the lever but this is virtually impossible to access with a spanner. I removed the two, allen screws securing the assembly to the floor of the car and rolled the mechanism sideways to reveal the adjusting nut. Because the mechanism is now totally loose, adjusting the slack is trial and error and you will need to refit the allen screws to see the results.

With the handbrake adjusted, I turned my attention back to the console and the pic shows the replacement together with the original. The replacement did come with a complete lock but I removed this and sent it to HP who needed some of the components to repair his defective lock.
 

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Initially, I did think I would swap the complete lid from my original console onto the new one as this obviously had the lock already fitted. Removal of the two small phillips screws adjacent to the hinge does not release the lid and, even after removing all of the screws, the lid remains riveted to the console. What is released though is the padded arm rest from the lid and it is this that contains the lock. I was about to swap the arm rests when I noticed that my original was damaged on the edge where it has been in contact with the drivers seat. It seemed silly to refit the damaged arm rest when I had a perfect one from Henk so now I needed to change the lock assembly. The plastic lever that is turned by the key, is held in place by a flimsy wire 'circlip type' clip which is easily removed. The plastic lever simply lifts off and allows the barrel of the lock to be withdrawn through the padded armrest. The barrel is located into a thin cylindrical plastic trim and this is also easily removed. Refitting the parts took minutes and the padded armrest was screwed back onto the hinged lid. Check the orientation of the plastic lever at this stage as it is easy to get this 180 degrees out.

Reinstallation of the rebuilt console was easy, just remember to reconnect the cigar lighter and make sure the rear of the console is located over the plastic peg protruding from the bulkhead. I took the opportunity to brush the sued trim with 'er indoors's' handbag brush before refitting it. The complete job took less than an hour. Oh, one more thing... when doing any jobs inside the car, its much easier with the top down. Steve
 

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please sir !!! if you go to the home page on the top is a guides button, that where it would be nice for you to write a guide of how you did it.
i dont want to pinch this thread and move it lol
guides are very usefull to other owner go on you know you want you :devil:


Nothing wrong with guides... took one to the pictures once, when I was 12.
 
Had the car up to Edinburgh today. Cold but full sun. Er indoors just had her hair done so wasn't allowed to take the lid off. Edinburgh is a mass of roadworks at the moment as they are installing tram lines for the new public transport system. I did notice the temp gauge got to above half way before the fan started - It usually stays at below a quarter. Also tick-over got a bit 'lumpy' requiring a few more revs when pulling away from stationary. Is this normal? Steve
 
Had the car up to Edinburgh today. Cold but full sun. Er indoors just had her hair done so wasn't allowed to take the lid off. Edinburgh is a mass of roadworks at the moment as they are installing tram lines for the new public transport system. I did notice the temp gauge got to above half way before the fan started - It usually stays at below a quarter. Also tick-over got a bit 'lumpy' requiring a few more revs when pulling away from stationary. Is this normal? Steve

Yes this is normal. My fan kicks in after the gauge reads just over half way. It then cools to just below half way. I have a lumpy tick over when the engine gets hot.

Don't worry!
 
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